252 
ME. ABEL’S EESEAECHES ON GUN-COTTON. 
9. The introduction into the finished gnn-cotton of one per cent, of sodic carbonate 
affords to the material the power of resisting any serious change, even when exposed to 
such elevated temperatures as would induce some decomposition in the perfectly pure 
cellulose-products. That proportion affords, therefore, security to gun-cotton against 
any destructive effects of the highest temperatures to which it is likely to be exposed, 
even under very exceptional climatic conditions. The only influences which the addition 
of that amount of carbonate to gun-cotton might exert upon its properties as an explo- 
sive, would consist in a trifling addition to the small amount of smoke attending its 
combustion, and in a slight retardation of its explosion, neither of which could be 
regarded as results detrimental to the probable value of the material. 
10. Water acts as a most perfect protective to gun-cotton (except when it is exposed 
to sunlight), even under extremely severe conditions of exposure to heat. An atmosphere 
saturated with aqueous vapour suffices to protect it from change at elevated tempera- 
tures, and wet or damp gun-cotton may be exposed for long periods in confined spaces 
to 100° without sustaining any change. 
Actual immersion in water is not necessary for the most perfect preservation of gun- 
cotton ; the material, if only damp to the touch, sustains not the slightest change, even 
if closely packed in large quantities. The organic impurities, which doubtless give rise 
to the very slight development of acid observed when gun-cotton is closely packed in the 
dry condition, appear equally protected by the water ; for damp and wet gun-cotton which 
has been preserved for three years has not exhibited the faintest acidity. If as much water 
as possible be expelled from wet gun-cotton by the centrifugal extractor, it is obtained in 
a condition in which, though only damp to the touch, it is perfectly non-explosive ; the 
water thus left in the material is sufficient not only to act as a perfect protective, but 
also to guard against all risk of accident. It is therefore in this condition that all 
reserve stores of the substance should be preserved, or that it should be transported in 
large quantities. If the proper proportion of sodic carbonate be dissolved in the water 
with which the gun-cotton is originally saturated for the purpose of obtaining it in this 
non-explosive form, the material, whenever it is dried for conversion into cartridges, or 
employment in other ways, will contain the alkaline matter required for its safe storage 
and use in the dry condition in all climates. 
Although some experiments bearing upon the different branches of inquiry included 
in this Memoir are still in progress, with a view to the attainment of additional know- 
ledge of the conditions which regulate the stability of gun-cotton, it is confidently 
believed that the results which have been described amply demonstrate that the objec- 
tions which have been of late revived, especially in France, against the employment of 
gun-cotton, on the ground of its instability, apply only in a comparatively slight degree 
to the material produced by strictly pursuing the system of manufacture perfected by 
Yon Lenk; that, as far as they do exist, they have been definitely traced to certain 
