208 
MINUTES OF PEOCEEDINGS OF 
<c When the bronze had contracted and cooled down the exterior and interior 
moulds were taken away, and the metal, which was scraped and polished, glittered 
on all sides. So much for the fabrication and form of the cannon. 
<c Now I will explain to you how it was made use of. 
“ First they put into it that which is called the powder, tilling the chamber 
behind completely, up to the mouth of the enlarged part of the bore which is 
intended for the stone shot. Then they introduced a great stopper ( boucJion ), a 
lid ( couvercle ) of wood, and very strong, which they batter down with iron rammers 
so that it shall closely confine the powder after such sort that nothing can dis¬ 
lodge it if it be not the force of the enflamed powder; then they placed the stone 
upon it, ramming it down with force so as to make it enter into the wooden stopper 
and make a round cavity.* * 
“ After this, having turned the cannon towards the object intended to be struck, 
and given it an angle of inclination according to the rules of their art and of like 
cases, they brought great beams of wood which they laid under it, and on top and 
on all sides so that it might not be disturbed and strike wide of the mark, by the 
effect of the shock and the recoil. After all this they applied the fire to the little 
orifice behind, making a train of the powder. This lighted quicker than thought, 
first ensued a terrible muttering, and a shaking of the very ground beneath and 
around, and a strange noise ; then with a lightning flash, a horrifying uproar and a 
flame scorching and blackening all around, the stopper borne on by the strong hot 
breath thrust the stone forcibly forth and issued from the gun. Borne by an 
irresistible force and energy this latter struck upon the wall and instantaneously 
broke it, knocked it over, shattered it and crumbled it into a thousand fragments. 
By sending pieces in all directions it scattered death all over the neighbourhood. 
Sometimes it knocked down all one section of the wall, sometimes half of it, 
sometimes more or less of one of the towers, or the great wall between two towers, 
or the battlements. There was nothing so hard, or so mighty, or so heavy, even 
in the strongest wall, as to be able to resist a shock like this, or ward off such a 
missile, f 
“ Thus inconceivable and incredible is the nature of this machine. The ancient 
princes and generals did not possess and had no knowledge of such a thing. For 
if they had had it no city could ever have resisted their attack, and they would 
not have had such trouble to breach and destroy their walls, and the very strongest 
would have been no obstacle to them. They were obliged to raise mounds against 
them, to gird them with trenches and lines of circumvallation, to dig mines and 
galleries to get below the walls, and to do many like things all to make themselves 
masters of cities or fortresses. With cannon all this would have been done quicker 
than thought, they would have easily battered and overturned the walls, but they 
had them not. It is a new invention of the Germans or of the Kelts made about 
150 years ago, or a little more. It is an ingenious and happy discovery, especially 
the powder, which is a composition made of the element most hot and most dry : 
produced. I proposed to establish a reverberatory furnace, and a boring machine. The idea of 
casting without bellows, of casting solid, and then boring, provoked the laughter of the Turkish 
founders.”—De Tott’s Memoires, about 1790, pt. III. p. 98. 
* This proves that the wad was raised at the edges, and concave.— Author. 
f A French writer quoted by the Emperor Louis Napoleon, in the “ Etudes sur le passe et l’avenir 
de TArtillerie,” II. p. 95, and who was present, (he does not name him), describes the defences of 
Constantinople as follows:—“ Les murs devant le Turc sont tres gros et hauts, et dessus y a 
barbacanes et machicoulis, et en dehors faux murs et fosses, et sont hauts les murs principaux 
de 20-22 brassees, et larges, en eaux (haut), en aucun lieu 6, et en aucuns lieux 8 brassees. Les 
faux murs en dehors ont le terrain haut de 12 brasses, le mur dessus, haut de 14 brassees et 
gros de 3 brassies. Les fosses sont larges de 26 brassees et profonds de 10.” 
