THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
369 
organic substance may undergo when treated as above will differ, however, 
according to circumstances. Even if, as a rule, we assume that for every 
equivalent of water displaced, an equivalent of nitric acid is appropriated— 
or, what amounts to the same thing, if the assumption be that every single 
equivalent of hyponitric acid exchanges with a corresponding equivalent of 
hydrogen—still, variations of result may be accounted for by reference 
to the modifying conditions already indicated. However, the general 
deduction may be arrived at, that the amount of hyponitric acid appropriated 
is directly as the amount of hydrogen lost. 
Possibly, the results obtained by chemists on the small scale, using small 
amounts of cotton and relatively large amounts of acid, may not be identical 
in composition with corresponding results of large-scale operations; time- 
in both cases being constant. It may also be fairly assumed that certain 
portions of the original cotton may escape nitrification, wholly or partially. 
These suggestions tend to show the little value that can justly be attached 
to past experience with gun cotton, if cited in reference to the specific gun 
cotton of Baron Lenk. 
Experiments by the French . 
3 An extensive series of experiments with gun cotton must, however, not 
be passed over; the material having been produced commercially on a large 
scale,'and the investigation moreover conducted by military and scientific 
authorities. A record of these experiments may be seen in BerthieFs 
“ Memoire de FArtillerie ;” Paris, Bathelier, 1852. 
Immediately after the discovery of gun cotton in 1846, the Erencli 
Minister appointed a Commission of inquiry relative to it. 
Por a period of six years this Commission prosecuted its investigations, 
and the results are printed in the pamphlet above-mentioned. 
These experiments were conducted on a large scale; five tons of gun 
cotton being manufactured. This Commission instituted the most searching 
inquiries relative to every possible ballistic and other military use to which 
gun cotton could be applied. No less than thirty tabulated digests resulted 
from the labours of this French Committee. 
Experiments so seemingly exhaustive might reasonably prompt the 
assumption that no point relative to gun cotton and its application had 
remained undetermined. It might seem that the subject of gun cotton was 
definitively set aside after the decisive verdict which the following quotation 
records:— 
“ Dans Tetat actuel, il n*y a pas lieu de continuer les experiences au point 
de vue de leur emploi dans les armes de guerre.” 
Perusal of the Report leaves no doubt either as to the pertinence of 
questions raised, or the intelligence manifested in the corresponding 
replies. 
The French neglected to ascertain the true composition of the Cotton . 
4. One point, however, was lost sight of by the French Commission, 
namely, the precise composition of the gun cotton operated upon. On this 
point the Commissioners are silent: hence the question, whether one and 
the same chemical compound formed the subject of every experiment in the 
