246 
CAPTAIN NOBLE AND MR, F. A. ABEL ON FIRED GUNPOWDER, 
But although certain minor points may, as we have said, require considerable cor¬ 
rection, we have little doubt that the main theories upon which we insist—confirmed, 
as they are, by experiments made or facts obtained under an almost infinite variety of 
circumstances—must be accepted as very approximately correct. It is satisfactory to 
find that the laws which rule the tensions and temperatures of gases under ordinary 
circumstances do not lose their physical significance, but are still approximately applic¬ 
able at the high temperatures and pressures we have been considering. 
At all events, whether we are right or wrong in taking this view, it appears to us 
certain that the rules and tables we have laid down, based on our analyses, experi¬ 
ments, and calculations, may for all practical purposes be accepted as correct, and may, 
bearing in mind the restrictions to which we have referred in this memoir, be applied 
to nearly every question of internal ballistics. 
Memorandum showing the elementary substances found in the products of explosion, 
and existing in the powder before combustion. 
Experiment 8.— 102-77 grms. pebble, density = -l. 
From analysis of solids 
„ „ gas . 
,, mean 
Calculated solid 
products. 
grms. 
56- 950 
58-411 
57- 680 
Calculated gaseous 
products, 
grms. 
45-820 
44- 359 
45- 090 
Elements in— 
K. 
C. 
S. 
H. 
0 . 
N. 
Remarks. 
Gaseous state .... 
9-518 
1-294 
■153 
22-298 
11-827 
Solid state ..... 
30*039 
2-803 
7-227 
•008 
17-517 
•086 
Total found .... 
30-039 
12-321 
8-521 
•161 
39-815 
11-913 
Originally in powder 
29-660 
12-456 
10-349 
•534 
38-720 
12-160 
Difference. 
+ -379 
-•135 
-1-828 
—•373 
+ 1-092 
-•247 
Oxygen in hyposulphite, 3'013 grms. 
