332 
MINUTES OF PEOCEEDINGS OF 
It is much to be regretted that the other anticipations of advantages have 
not been fulfilled,* the unanimous verdicts of two Committees have declared 
the balance to incline on the opposite side, and after studying the trials and 
evidence recorded in the Armstrong and Whitworth blue book, the con¬ 
clusion is inevitable. 
Our situation now is briefly this:— 
If we had to take immediate part in a European war, we should bring 
into the field a delicate gun requiring constant care and a great variety of 
stores for its sole use; we should further be liable to the risk of the gun 
failing us at critical moments, but we should not have the satisfaction of 
getting any advantage in range, accuracy, or rate of fire which would not 
equally be presented by a muzzle-loading system. 
Note. 
Since writing the above I have met with a passage in an old French work on 
Artillery (Surirey de St Kemy, dated 1694) which is curious and interesting in 
connection with the “ coil ” construction. It shows that the advantage of using 
wrought-iron with the strength in a “ circumferential direction/’ or in other words 
the groundwork of Sir William Armstrong’s mode of construction, was perceived 
nearly 200 years before it was brought to a practical application. I do not mean 
to insinuate that Sir William was indebted to anyone else for the idea, but I believe 
that invention is generally in advance of the resources requisite for reducing theory 
to practice, and that many designs formed on perfectly sound principles fail and 
become forgotten in consequence. This seems to be a clear instance of it. 
The passage is as follows. The parts that are most striking are printed in 
italics. Whether any guns of this particular construction were tried I do not find 
mentioned, but a few wrought-iron guns were made, and all burst at an early stage 
of the firing, doubtless from the difficulty of properly welding them together. 
Similar difficulties impeded the earlier attempts of Sir William Armstrong, but 
were overcome by the superior skill and resources at his command. (See Evidence, 
Questions 134, 2499, &c.) 
“ Certains Particulars se sont mis en teste de composer des pieces de fer forge, 
et ils ont dresse de magnifiques memoires pour appuyer leur opinion et l’utilite de 
ces pieces. ...— Afin de contenter la curiosite du public, et de donner a 
Messieurs les Ingenieurs la satisfaction de le voir informe des raisons dont ils 
fortifient leurs propositions, je donne icy deux de leurs memoires.” 
Extract from the first Memoir. 
“ Les canons que nous proposons et qui sont de fer forge consistent dans plusieurs 
viroles de bandes defer roulees sur un mandrin du calibre de la piece a faire. Les 
viroles s’appellent Mises, lesquelles estant percees et soudees les unes aux autres, 
et en elles mesmes, foment le canon depuis le fond de l’ame jusqu’ a la bouche, 
et les mises qui sont remplies dans leur milieu foment la culasse, et le bouton.” 
“Nous faisons les canons de mises composeesde bandes defer roulees comme un 
ruban, parce que la grande force du fer forge est dans la longeur de ses fibres , qui, 
dans cette disposition resiste justement au plus grand effort de la Poudre qui 
se fait sur le travel’s du canon.”— From Memoires d'Artillerie , 2nd Edition, 
Yol. I. pp. 68 to 71. 
The two memoirs occupy several pages, but the rest need not be quoted, 
