31 
ME. gale’s non-explosive gunpowdee. 
would not explode, and, in the great majority of instances, when tried in tolerably large 
quantities, it would not even burn. No experiment on a very large scale, however, was 
tried till Wednesday afternoon. This was made in a condemned Martello tower, called 
the Pett Tower, No. 37, situated on the beach about seven miles south of Hastings, and 
halfway between that town and Eye. General Lefroy superintended all the arrange¬ 
ments, and most of the other members of the Ordnance Committee were also present 
with General St. George, Professor Abel, the Government chemist, etc. For the experi¬ 
ment five tons of gunpowder had been mixed with 20 tons of Mr. Gale’s composition, 
and packed in 838 barrels. Of these, 100 barrels were placed in the magazine of the 
tower and 238 in its upper wooden floor, the usual passages being left between the bar¬ 
rels for the purpose of examination. It was proposed to lire the magazine under con¬ 
ditions representing as far as practicable what might occur in reality, either by accident 
or design. In the first instance it was intended to try to fire it by means of the magneto- 
electric machine; then, if this failed, the interior woodwork of the tower was to be lit, 
to ascertain the mode of action of powder thus protected when stored in a burning 
building. A strong body of police were stationed at first to keep the spectators at a 
safe distance from the tower ; but this precaution, though wise, was soon found to be 
unnecessary, and after a time every one came as near the building as he liked. In three 
of the barrels thus stowed away were three powerful fusees, each connected with a small 
quantity of pure gunpowder. These were fired one at a time from a voltaic battery in 
No. 38 Martello tower, about half a mile distant. On the discharge of the first fusee, no 
visible effect whatever was produced outside the tower. When the second fusee was 
fired, a small quantity of smoke was seen to issue from the chimney at the top of the 
tower roof, and no further effect beyond this was produced by the firing of the third 
fusee. After a short interval General Lefroy, with three other gentlemen, entered the 
tower, and found that the heads of two of the barrels containing the fusees had been 
blown out, and a small portion of the contents had been scattered over the surrounding 
barrels. The protected powder, however, had ceased to burn and was nearly cold. The 
third fusee had not taken effect at all. 
It was then determined to set fire to the building. This was very easily done, as the 
floor of the first story consisted of loose planks, placed at a little distance from each, 
other, so that they would rapidly burn, as the air could get between them. A pile of 
dry firewood was placed on this floor at the edge of the barrels of gunpowder, and on 
this being fired dense volumes of smoke were seen to issue from the door and windows 
of the tower. It was soon evident, from the peculiar colour of the vapour, that the gun¬ 
powder was being slowly consumed; and although the quantity of smoke was irregular 
and sometimes very dense, nothing in the slightest degree approaching to an explosion 
occurred. General Lefroy was soon so far satisfied of the non-existence of danger that 
he allowed several gentlemen to look in at the door of the tower, to see how the gun¬ 
powder was burning. 
Two barrels of protected gunpowder were then placed on a pile of faggots, which 
were lit. From this a huge bonfire soon rose, and its flames were fanned into an intense 
fierceness by the strong sea breeze. These quickly penetrated the casks, which broke up 
and let loose their contents in the midst of the fire. Still there was not the slightest 
symptom of explosion. On the contrary, the mass of protected gunpowder rather 
deadened down the flames at first, and it was only at its edges that the mixture fizzed 
and spluttered like a bad portfire. During this time the fire in the tower continued, 
and smoke, but no flame, steadily issued from the openings. Occasionally a sudden 
increase in the volumes of smoke indicated that a barrel had burst and exposed an 
unusual quantity of powder to the flames ; but so confident had the gentlemen become 
who had witnessed the experiments that they continually looked into the building, and 
actually went inside the door to see how the powder was burning. This they were 
enabled to do from the strong in-draught of fresh air which entered at the bottom of the 
doorway, while dense columns of smoke issued from the top. So totally was the ex¬ 
plosive character of the gunpowder mastered that after the fire had been burning for 
nearly two hours, a window which had been closed on one side of the building was 
found quite perfect, and the glass was broken from the outside in order to admit more 
air to increase the fire. Apparently, however, even this considerable accession of air 
produced no effect. The barrels kept smouldering from one to another, emitting the 
most dense volumes of suffocating smoke, but no more. In spite of the interior of the 
