288 
MODERN GUNPOWDER AND CORDITE. 
moisture, it may get a little porous in its character, consequent on the absorbtion 
and ejection of water, while cordite has practically no moisure to part with. 
Captain Orde Browne —Then, so far as you know, if you did the same thing 
to powder at a comparatively low temperature, which might have moisture in it, 
and then to cordite, and put them in the.sun and tired them, the cordite would 
stand at least as well ? 
Colonel Barker—I think so; our experience inclines us to believe that it 
would. 
Captain Orde Browne —Then as regards the pressure, is it at all due to its 
being slower? May we suppose that there is a higher pressure forward in the 
gun, or is it entirely due to the absence of liquid and solid products of com¬ 
bustion? 
Colonel Barker —There must be pressure somewhere to get up the velocity. 
Captain Orde Browne—I thought the absolute pressure was reduced because 
there was no products of combustion except gasses—that there was not the same- 
necessity for re-action : that the common powder was discharging the projectile 
in a quantity of liquid and solid combustion, and the cordite was discharging- 
nothing but the projectile? 
Colonel Barker—I think that is very probable. 
Captain Orde Browne —Is not that the reason, that where you have no pro¬ 
jectile in front you have a noise with black powder because you have liquid and 
solid products of combustion, 1 and you have no noise with cordite because you 
have nothing but the gas in front ? 
Colonel Barker—I do not think that ; that is a complete explanation. 
General Goodenough —The lecturer, Sir, is one and we are many; but I 
hope on some future day the subject may be again considered when we may have 
the pleasure of hearing him again lecture, because a temperature of 110° is a 
mere nothing, and I feel convinced that if in India you put a cartridge down on 
the ground it would rise to 110° in a very short time. I think that the subject 
is an interesting one to pursue, to see what would emanate and what the remedy 
would be. 
There is a question that I want to ask, and that, is this : We have heard that in 
Trance they have had great apprehensions as regards the keeping qualities of their 
high explosives, and we were told that they were prepared to renew the stock at 
at short notice, and so forth; and I should be glad if you could explain why it is 
that nothing of the sort appears to be requisite with us; and then, when you 
answer me, if you would kindly help this humble and ignorant individual by say¬ 
ing what acetone is and what mineral jelly is. 
And I must just express the pleasure I have had in being at an interesting and 
valuable lecture of this kind, and how much I congratulate the Committee upon 
getting the lecturer to come here—all the more so on account of the great dearth 
that many of you have felt and suffered from of information on professional sub¬ 
jects in our professional papers, which has been felt by a great many people, and 
1 1 was reluctant to open the question of recoil and pressures which depend upon so many vari' 
ahles, each of which require careful consideration and discussion. For instance, recoil with blank 
depends, as Captain Orde Browne states, partly upon “the products of combustion” and partly 
upon the rate of combustion and other variables. Recoil with a projectile introduces another set 
of variables, dependant on the weight of the projectile, resistance of rifling, rotating bands, &c., 
and also on the rate of combustion and manner in which the charge is ignited. It is doubtless 
very interesting and useful to follow up this question fully in the light of all the practical experi¬ 
ence and published information now at our disposal, but I submit that the outside fringe of the 
question could only be touched in one afternoon’s discussion, and that erroneous conclusions could 
therefore probably follow.— F.W.J.J3. 
