30 
MINUTES OF PEOCEEDINGS OF 
Eesult of 
experiment 
with magazine 
No. 1. 
Eesult of 
experiments 
with magazines 
Nos. 2 and 3. 
They appeared to agree that no gunpowder magazine could 
ever be subjected to so intense a heat (the heat, as one Superin¬ 
tendent said, not of a fire, but of a “ blast-furnace 3, ) } for so long 
a period as six hours. 
At 4.10 p.m. (or exactly six hours and ten minutes after the 
first fire had been lighted), steps were taken, by pulling down the 
furnace, to examine magazine No. 1. With some difficulty the 
magazine was disengaged from the furnace. 
It was found that a hole had been burnt through the outer 
iron of the magazine, at the right hand lower corner—due, no 
doubt, to the heat, directed by the blast-holes, having impinged 
upon this part of the magazine. The heat had been sufficiently 
intense to fuze several of the bricks of the furnace. 
The contents of the magazine were intact, except the powder 
in the paper, which had become damp and inexplosive. The 
powder in the canisters was dry, except in one instance, when 
some of the vapour appeared to have penetrated into the canister 
and slightly damped a portion of the powder. However, all the 
powder in the canisters was explosive, as I established experi¬ 
mentally by firing it. The steam had detached the paper labels 
from the canisters, and the vapourisation had evidently been 
entirely satisfactory. 
The thermometers registered 210°. None of the alloys were 
melted. 
It appears clear, therefore, that notwithstanding the intensity 
of the fire, the interior of the magazine had been preserved by the 
action of the vapourising material at about the heat of boiling 
water. 
It was determined to leave the other furnaces to burn them¬ 
selves out, and if not consumed or exploded by the following 
morning, to extinguish them. Sentries were placed on the ground, 
to warn persons off, and to note the time of an explosion, should 
one occur. 
On reaching the ground the following morning (10th October), 
I found that magazines Nos. 2 and 3 had exploded. No. 2 
exploded at 2.22 a.m., having resisted the fire 15 hours 52 minutes. 
No. 3 exploded at 5*45 a.m., having resisted 18J hours. No. 4 
magazine was still resisting at 9.15, when, as I will presently 
explain, the experiment was arrested. 
On examining the scenes of the two explosions, I found that 
they had both been of a violent character. The explosions had 
taken effect in each case more or less in the form of a cross, the 
sides having furnished the lines or directions of least resistance. 
In the case of No. 2, I found the door blown bodily 19 yds. to 
the front—the fire had burnt a hole completely through it; while 
to the right, fragments were blown 13 yds., to the left 17 yds., and 
to the back 20 yds. I picked up one of the canisters which this 
magazine had contained unexploded at about 20 yds.—a circum¬ 
stance upon which I shall have to comment presently. 
The explosion of No. 3 (which had contained 25 lbs. of powder) 
