GUN 
naked. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. Introduced 
in 1767 by Mr. William Malcolm. 
GUNNE'RUS (John Erneft), a Norwegian bTftiop„ 
born in 1718, at Chriftiana, in Norway. His fatherwas' 
Erafmus Gunnertis, town-phyfician of that place, and 
bis mother, Ann Gerhard, a native of Scotland. He 
received the early part of his education under private 
tutors, and in 1729, at which period he had the misfor¬ 
tune to lofe his father, was placed at the public fchool 
of Chriiliana. Here he remained till 1737, and then pro¬ 
ceeded to Copenhagen, where he purified his fhidies at 
the univerfity with fuch fuccefs, that he foon diftin- 
guifhed himfelf by his knowledge of Greek and Latin 
philology. On his return to Chriiliana, he engaged in 
the inftruftion of youth, and applied to the ftudy ofphi- 
lofophy and theology. In 1742, he repaired to the uni- 
verfity of Halle, where he fludied theology, philofophy, 
and the mathematics. He afterwards accompanied two 
■young gentlemen to Jena; and in 1754 was invited to 
be extraordinary profeffor of theology at Copenhagen, 
preacher at Herlufsholm, and leCturer orntheologyuind 
and the Hebrew language in the public fchool of that 
place. Soon after he was ordained pried at Copenhagen, 
and in 1758 was appointed by Frederic V. bilhop of 
Drontheim. Being fond of the fciences, and enabled 
by his fituation to gratify his defire of diftfifing lifeful 
knowledge among his countrymen, he founded the royal 
Norwegian fociety at Drontheim, of yvhich he was elect¬ 
ed vice-prefident, and in the Tranfadtions of which he 
publilhed many curious and ufeful papers. He was a 
member of the academies of Copenhagen and Stockholm, 
as well as of other learned focieties, and died at Chriftian- 
fund in 1773. Of his papers in the Tranfactions of the 
Society of Drontheim, the greater part relate to fubjeCts 
of natural hidory, particularly fi(h, fea-fov/1, and marine 
productions. He publiflied, in 1766, Flora Norwegica, 
Pars I. folio, containing 314 fpecies of plants, with iome 
new fuci. To each are added the medical and economi¬ 
cal ufes. Some figures are given. The bifhop’s other 
works are theological and philofophical tradts in Latin, 
and fome ferinons in the Danifh tongue. 
GUN'NERY, f. The fcience of artillery; the art of 
managing cannon by the laws of projectiles. The an¬ 
cients, without tiling gunpowder, had machines which 
were capable of dilcharging dones, darts, and arrows, 
yvith furprifing/orce. Thefe were impelled chiefly by 
the eiaftic- force of ropes, or of ftrong fprings, and the 
machines required a great number of men to work them ; 
for which reafon, the expl'ofion of gunpowder, as aCt- 
ing indantaneoully, and feemingly with irrefidible force, 
feemed to be a'mod proper (ficcedaneum for all the 
powers by which thefe ancient military engines were 
actuated. See correct: figures of thefe engines, and 
modes of working them, under the article Artillery, 
vol. it. p. 229-232, and the correfpondent engravings. 
Since the general introduction of artillery into the art 
of war, which took place in the fifteenth century, very 
confiderable improvements have been made in the fci¬ 
ence of gunnery. The large and unwieldy cannon which 
were then fo much prized, as carrying bails of upwards 
of fixty pounds weight, have been totally laid afide, the 
fame ends being now accoraplilhed with greater facility 
by fmaller pieces. Thus the battering cannon now chiefl y 
approved are thofe formerly called demi-cannens , carrying 
a batl of twenty-four pounds weight; it being found by 
experience, that their Itroke, though lefs'violent than 
that of larger pieces, is yet fufficiently adapted to the 
ftrer.gth of the affial profiles of fortifications; befides 
that the facility of their carriage and management, and 
the ammunition they (pare, give them great advantages 
beyond the huge cannons formerly employed for making 
breaches. The method alfo of making a breach, by firlt 
cutting off the whole wall as low as poflible before its 
upper part is attempted to be beat down-, feems alfo to 
GUN m 
be a confiderable modern improvement in the practical 
part of gunnery. But the molt confiderable improvement 
in the practice is the method of firing with fmall quan¬ 
tities of powder, and elevating the piece but a little, fo 
that the bullet may juft pafs over the parapet of the 
enemy, and drop into their works. By this means the 
bullet, coming to the ground at a fmall angle, and with 
a fmall velocity, does not bury itfelf, but bounds or 
rolls along in the direction in which it was fired, carry¬ 
ing all before it. This method was firlt pradtifed by 
M. Vauban, at the fiege of Aeth, in 1692 ; and a funik.r 
method was fuccefsfully adopted with bomb-fiiells by 
the late king of Prilflia, at the battle of Rotbach, in 
1757. He had feveral fix-inch mortars, made with trun¬ 
nions, and mounted on travelling carriages, which were 
fired obliquely on the enemy’s lines, and among their 
horle. Thefe being charged with only eight ounces of 
powder, and elevated at one degree and a quarter, did 
great execution: for thefe (hells, rolling along the lines 
with burning fufes, made the (touted of the enemy not 
wait for their burfting. . 
But the ufe of gunnery in a rude way was long prac- 
tiled before any theory of projeCtiLgs was formed. The 
Italians were the firlt who made any attempts at the for¬ 
mation of a theory, which they did about the beginning 
of the fixteenth century ; and amongft them it feems the 
firlt who wrote profeffedly on the (fibjeCt was Nicholas 
Tartalia, of Brefcia, the fame author who had fo great 
a (hare in the invention of the rules for cubic equations. 
In 1537 he publilhed at Venice his Nova Scicntia , and in 
1546 his Qurjiti et Invmtioni diverfi ; in both which he treats 
profeffedly on the motion and flight of cannon balls, as 
well as in another work, tranflated into Englifh with ad¬ 
ditions by Cyprian Lucar, under the title of “ Colloquies 
concerning the Art of Shooting in great and fmall Pieces 
of Artillery,” publilhed at London in 1588. He difeo- 
vered that the greateft range of a fhot was, when dif. 
charged, at an elevation of 45 0 ; and he afferted, con¬ 
trary to the opinion of his contemporaries, that no part 
of the path deferibed by a ball is aright line; although, 
the curvature in the firft part of its flight is fo fmall, 
that it need nut be attended to. He compared it to the 
furface of the fea ; which, though it appears to be a 
plane, is neverthelefs incurvated round the centre of the 
earth. It is faid that he invented the gunner’s quadrant, 
for fixing a piece of ordnance at any point or degree of 
elevation ; and though he had but little opportunity of 
acquiring any practical knowledge by experiments, he 
yet gave (hrewd gueffes at the event of many untried 
methods. The philofophers of thofe times took part in 
the queftions arifing upon this (fibjeCt; and many dif- 
putes on the flight of balls took place, particularly in 
Italy, which continued till the time of Galileo, and pro¬ 
bably gave rife to his celebrated Dialogues off Motion. 
Thefe were not publiflied till 1638 ; and in the interval 
there were many theories of the motion of military pro¬ 
jectiles, as well as many ‘tables of their comparative 
rafiges, though for the molt part fallacious, and inconi, 
filtent with the true motion of thefe bodies. 
ft is remarkable however that, during thefe contefts, 
few of thofe who were intruded with the care of artil¬ 
lery thought it worth while to bring their theories to 
the teft of experiment. Mr. Robins informs 11s, in the 
preface to his New Principles of Gunnery, that he had 
met with no more than four authors who' had treated 
experimentally on this fubjeCt. The firft of thefe is Col¬ 
lado, in 1642, who has given the ranges of a falconet, 
carrying a three-pound lhot, to every point of the gun- 
oner’s quadrant, each point being the 12th part, or leven 
degrees and a half. But from his numbers it ismanifeft 
that the piece was not charged with its ufual allotment 
of powder. The re Cult of his trials (hews the ranges at 
the point-blank, aud the feveral points of elevation, 
as follow. 
Points, 
