72 CHEMICAL HISTORY AND APPLIANCES OF GUN-COTTON. 
In France, gun-cotton was also made the subject of experiments as early as the winter 
of 1846, and ‘its manufacture was carried on at the Government powfler-works at Bou- 
chet, near Paris. Some interesting balistic experiments were instituted, under the di¬ 
rection of Piobert, Morin, and other men of eminence, with gun-cotton, in comparison 
with different kinds of gunpowder, the results of which indicated that, for producing 
equal effects to those furnished by a given weight of gun-cotton, it was necessary to em¬ 
ploy a double quantity of sporting-powder, three times the quantity of musket-powder, 
and four times the weight of cannon-powder. It was also found that the best results 
appeared to be obtained by arranging the gun-cotton so that it should occupy the same 
space as the charge of gunpowder required 40 produce an equal effect; and other data 
were arrived at, which show that the investigators were being led to work in a direction 
similar to that afterwards so successfully pursued by Baron von Lenk, in Austria. Un¬ 
fortunately, however, disastrous explosions occurred at the works at Bouchet; one as 
early as March, 1847, in a drying chamber ; and two, following closely upon each other, 
in 1848. One of these took place in a magazine, near which it was believed that no¬ 
body had been for several days ; the other occurred also in a magazine where gun-cotton 
was being packed, and on this occasion several lives were lost. These disasters appear 
to have put an end, until quite recently, to experiments with gun-cotton in France. 
After the material had been pronounced upon unfavourably by the committee of the 
German Confederation, one of its members, Baron von Lenk, continued to devote him¬ 
self to its study, and with such success, it appears, that a committee was eventually ap¬ 
pointed by the Austrian Government, in 1852, to inquire fully into the merits of the ma¬ 
terial. A sum of money w r as paid to Schonbein and Bottger, in recognition of the value 
of their discovery ; and an experimental manufactory of gun-cotton was established at 
the Castle of Hirtenberg, near Vienna. A particular form of gun was devised by Baron 
von Lenk, for employment with gun-cotton, of which a 12-pounder battery was esta¬ 
blished. The performances of these guns were considered sufficiently satisfactory to war¬ 
rant the preparation of four more batteries, which were sent to the army of observation 
in Galicia in 1855, but did not go into active service. It appears that, in consequence of 
a want of uniformity in the effects of the gun-cotton, and of an injurious effect upon the 
guns, added probably to the prejudice entertained against it by the artillery corps, the 
material fell into disfavour, and its application in cannon was for a time abandoned. 
It was received, however, with much greater favour by the engineers, and was applied 
with great success to mining and submarine operations. Meanwhile Baron von Lenk’s 
labours to perfect gun-cotton as a material for artillery purposes w r ere unceasing, and, at 
the close of the Italian war, the subject of its application was again thoroughly reopened 
at the instigation of Count Degenfeld, then Minister of War, who had, at an earlier 
period, taken an active interest in Baron von Lenk’s investigations. After upwards of 
one year’s experiments, a system of rifled.field- and mountain-guns, to be employed with 
gun-cotton which had been elaborated by Von Lenk, was introduced into the Austrian 
service ; thirty batteries of these guns were equipped, and it was considered as definitely 
settled that gun-cotton would before long be introduced into the service in the place of 
gunpowder, for artillery purposes. 
In 1862, however, an explosion occurred in a magazine at Simmering, near Vienna, 
where both gunpowder and gun-cotton were stored; and this disaster appears to have 
fortified to such an extent the arguments which were adduced against the employment 
of gun-cotton, by its opponents in the artillery service, that its use in this direction was 
again put a stop to for a time. Ultimately a committee of investigation was appointed, 
which consisted in part of eminent scientific men, and which appears, after careful deli¬ 
beration, to have reported highly in favour of the stability and important properties, as 
an explosive, of the material,—a report which was supported by the favourable opinion 
entertained of gun-cotton by the Austrian engineers, in whose name Baron von Ebner 
prepared a very complete and interesting account of the properties and effects of the 
agent, with particular reference to mining and other engineering operations. 
Gun-cotton appears, therefore, to have been again restored to favour in Austria, but no 
official accounts have reached England, up to the present time, with regard to its em¬ 
ployment in the recent war operations in that country. 
In the spring of 1862, full details relating to the manufacture and modes of applying 
gun-cotton were communicated by the Austrian Government to that of Her Majesty, and 
the War Office chemist was at once instructed to institute experiments upon the manu- 
