SHOUT NOTES ON PROFESSIONAL SUBJECTS. 
55 
any substance once held. Hence it may be described as brush made of innumerable 
springs of coir. 
I have chosen coir or bass as fulfilling best the conditions required; believing 
it to be the cheapest, the stiffest, and if well made the most durable kind of bristle 
that would do for the work. It does not easily burn, will not rust; and greasing 
or constant wetting is by no means detrimental to it, as the bass is fastened 
in by marine glue, and to wet it prevents it from breaking while in use 
without taking away their pliancy or rendering it soft. According to the 
length of the bristle, it will be stiff and searching or pliant ; also it can be made 
as cheaply as the sweeps in the navy, and rather more so than the present service 
sponge. 
In the hinder part of the brush-head the wood is turned smaller in diameter, 
and the bristles are longer than in the front half, so as to enable the latter to 
sweep well into the deep grooving of rifled guns. 
I have hopes, from the successful trials already made with it, that a brush- 
head of this make may solve the difficulty in sponging-out rifled ordnance, the 
great desideratum being a material that will search lands and grooves alike, and 
yet not be too high-gauge for easy service. It is intended for use as universal 
as the present sponge and searchers for all guns of similar calibre. 
48. Practice Carried on at ShoeburynesS', on May 15, 1868, from the 
undermentioned guns at a moving target, 5 feet square. 
The extreme traversing of the gun from right to left 55°. 
Distance of target from battery at extreme traversing, 1000 yards. 
AB , distance passed over by target, 980 yards. 
(l) 9-incli M.L. rifled 12-ton gun, mounted on a wrought-iron carriage and 
platform, and firing through a port. 
Gun charge: 30lbs. 
Projectile : common shell, 250 lbs. weight. 
Detachment: 1 officer, 1 non-commissioned officer, and 18 men. 
Traversing done by tackle and iron shod levers. 
