72 
MINUTES OE PROCEEDINGS OF 
details, without which the statements are only liable to be misunderstood. 
Experiments on dynamic force and initial velocity will be made by the 
present Committee; in the meantime the following may be taken as 
illustrations of the comparative results that have been obtained:— 
In 1846, with a 68 lbs. shot and an 8-in. mortar, \ oz. of gun-cotton 
gave a range of 255 ft.; whilst 2 oz. of gunpowder gave a range of 152 ft. 
A rifle, with the ordinary powder charge (60 grains) carried the bullet 
through three 1 in. elm boards, the same rifle with half the weight of gun¬ 
cotton (30 grs.) drove the bullet through six similar boards. 
In 1862 Mr Abel made frequent trials at Waltham Abbey with the usual 
proof mortar and small charges. The range obtained with gun-cotton was 
never less than that obtained with three times the weight of ordinary 
cannon powder, but the cotton was wound round a wooden plug, and the 
range was found to vary according to the strain to which the cotton was 
subjected when it was being wound. Eor instance, when the strain was one 
pound the range was as above mentioned, but when the strain was only two 
ounces the range was longer, and equal to what was afforded by Enfield 
rifle instead of cannon powder. 
Explosive effect in shells .—The first observable effect of substituting 
gun-cotton for gunpowder as the bursting charge of a shell is that the 
splinters produced at the explosion are doubled in number, but an 
experiment to test more closely the comparative powers of destruction 
possessed by such shells was tried at Comorn in 1853, and gave a very 
striking result in tbeir favour. Shells filled with cfltton and powder 
respectively were buried in the earth over bombproof casemates at the 
depth to which they might be expected to pierce if they had been fired from 
mortars in the course of a siege. They were then ignited. The powder 
shells did no harm to the masonry arches beneath them, they only threw out 
one crater and did not disturb a covering of common fascines which rested 
upon the masonry. The cotton shells caused a much larger crater, and 
loosened the surrounding earth in a much greater degree; they threw the 
fascines out of position and broke through the arch below. Consequently 
the construction which made the casemates safe against a bombardment 
with powder shells would have failed in its purpose if bursting charges 
of cotton had been used. 
Explosive effect in wines .—The superior explosive powers of gun-cotton 
for damaging palisades or other military obstacles, for sinking ships, for 
mining bridges, for blasting hard rocks, or for destroying large masses of 
masonry, seem to be more generally admitted than its applicability as a charge 
for artillery and small arms. The force exerted on everything in the near 
neighbourhood of the charge is undoubtedly greater than with powder, and 
the difficult problem of adapting the rate of explosion, to meet the exact 
circumstances of the case, may generally be overlooked. In artillery practice 
the safety of the gun has to be studied as well as the movement of the shot; 
in mines a general destruction is desired, and the full power of the gas is 
applied to its utmost instead of being controlled; consequently the com¬ 
parative effect is doubled : 1 lb. of gun-cotton, as used in blasting rocks is 
equivalent to 6J lbs. of gunpowder, instead of 3 lbs. as in artillery cartridges. 
