to be fired horizontally from a common gun. 7 
a circular hole in the target, and a deep indentation on the 
cone, where it came in contact with the target. 
During the following summer of 1823, I made several 
hundreds of experiments with grooved leaden musket-balls, 
fired from a plain barrel, at all ranges. When constructed 
with sufficient accuracy, they were found to fire very true, 
and to strike invariably point foremost. In order to balance 
them, the content of the cone, that of the cavity, and that of 
the part surrounding the cavity, must all three be equal, and 
the depth of the cavity must be equal to two-thirds of the height 
of the cone (Plate I. fig. 1.) The experiments with respect 
to twist, were found to correspond with those of rifles; that 
is, the velocity of the ball was found to diminish, in propor- 
tion as the twist was increased. In some of the balls used, 
the obliquity of the grooves was carried as high as a turn in 
6 inches, which was found to diminish the velocity so much, 
that the person marking the shots repeatedly supposed the 
ball to have passed, before it reached the target. Numerous 
experiments were made during the same year, with wooden 
shot from a 24 pounder at the fort of Kinsale. They were 
found to range 400 and 500 yards ; the largeness of their 
size rendered their position and flight easily perceptible to 
the eye ; any imperfection in their construction was easily 
detected ; and by firing them into the sea, each shot bore to 
be discharged a great many times before it became unservice- 
able. Others were afterwards fired by night with lighted 
fuses fixed in their sides, in order to mark their revolutions 
with greater distinctness. It was found that they possessed 
the spiral motion, and that it was maintained undiminished 
throughout their flight. 
