CAPTAIN NOBLE AND MR. E. A. ABEL ON EIRED GUNPOWDER. 
73 
powders for purposes of experiment, on account of the comparatively wide differ- 
ence presented in composition between it and the English powders, the proportion 
of sulphur being high, and that of carbon being low. The charcoal in this powder 
(made from hemp) had the following percentage composition : — 
Carbon 76 '2 9 
Hydrogen 3*31 
Oxygen 14-87 
Ash 5-53 
The proportions of carbon and hydrogen are therefore similar to those existing in the 
F. G. powder ; but the amount of ash in the hemp-charcoal is very high compared to 
that contained in the charcoals from light woods used generally in the manufacture of 
gunpowder. 
All the powders used by the recent foreign experimenters differed very decidedly 
both from each other and from the powders employed by us. The sporting-powder of 
Bunsen and Schischkoff, and Karolyi’s small-arm powder, were of very exceptional 
composition, while the Russian powder used by Federow was the only one resembling 
our service-powders in composition. 
F. EXAMINATION OF THE ANALYTICAL RESULTS. 
Table III. gives the composition in volumes per cent, of the gases, and the percentage 
composition of the solid products furnished by a number of experiments with the 
different gunpowders, the charges exploded having occupied various spaces in the 
explosion-chambers. This Table also includes the results obtained by other recent 
experimenters in the analytical examination of the products of explosion of gunpowder. 
Table IV. shows the composition by weights of the products of combustion furnished 
by 1 gramme of gunpowder under the different circumstances of our experiments. 
The complicated nature of the analysis of these products has rendered it impossible to 
complete the examination of the entire series furnished by our experiments ; we trust, 
however, at a future time to fill up the blanks * remaining in this tabular statement.] 
* The majority of these blanks have been now filled up. — February 1875. 
MDCCCLXXV. 
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