The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-16 00:00:00

Important Applications of Guu Cotton,

At the Royal Institution, on Friday evening, the
recent improvements in gun cotton again formed
the subject brought to notice, the lecturer on the
occasion being Mr. Scott Russell. In the previous
lecture on the subject, by Mr. Abel, the chemical
history of gun cotton, and the Teature of the improve-
ments.in its manufacture recently made in Austria,
were more especially dwelt on ; while Mr. Russell
principally directed atten (ion to its uses. He stated
that at a late meeting of the British Association
committee was appointed, of which his was a mem.
ber, to investigate the nature of the great improve.
ments which it was known had been made in Aus-
tria on gun cotton by General Len; but which
were kept a profound secret by the Austrian Go.
vernment. One of the first things the committee
did was to write to Gen. Leuz, to request him to
come over and acquaint the committee in what his
improvements consisted. This impudent request---
as Mr. Russell admitted it to have been—excited a
commotion in Vienna, bat the young Emperor,
against the advice of his councillors, consented to
allow the secret to be known, and General
Lenz came to this country and informed the come
mitte whet it was. Th© object to be accomplished
in the manufacture of gun cotton to render it appli-
cable, was to diminish the rapidity of its combus-
tion, and its liability to accidental explosion. These
objects have been fully accomplished, as was pre-
viously stated by Mr. Abel, principally by spinning
the cotton into yarn before it undergoes the process
of conversion into gun cotton ; and it was shown
by that gentleman that by mechanical alteration of
the structure of the cotton fibre alone the explosive
material may be placed under complete control,
and that, as ho said, you may do what you like
with it. What can be done with gun cotton, and
what cannot be done with it and its merits, com-
pared, with gunpowder as an explosive agent, were
ex2lained and illustrated by Mr. Scott Russell,
who, though he commenced by mentioning some
points of objection to gun cotton, finally removed
them, and represented it to be in every respect
superior to gunpowder, and to be capable of pro.
clueing far more destructive effects. As an illus-
tration of the different degrees of rapidity of com-
bustion attainable with gun cotton, he first ignited
a thick yarn of the substance which was suspended
round the gallery of the lecture-room, which burned
along at the rate of about one foot in a second. He
next took a piece about a yard long which flashed
in half a second ; and another similar length of the
most explosive kind, exploded instantaneously. A
remarkable property of gun cotton, which consti-
tutes an immense advantage in its uze compared
with gunpowder is, that it leaves no products of
'combustion, behind, and produces very little smoke.
Another important advantage is, that it is not in-
jured by moisture, and may be wetted and dried
without impairing its power. This was shown by
immersing a piece of gun cotton yarn in water,
which was then squeezed out, and, though still damp,
the outer surface rapidly ignited, and when the
remainder was squeszsel the cotton again ig-
nited. This property is a great safeguard in
the manufacture of gun cotton, for all the pro-
cesses may be conducted under water, and it is
aftertyards dried. For ordinary practical purposh,,
the rapidity of its explosion is reduced an
equality with that of gunpowder, in wit,eh state
one pound propels a projectile freal a cannon
with the same velocity as three pounds of gun-
powder. The recoil of the cannon when gun
cotton is used is only two-thirds the amonut of
recoil with gunpowder ; there is no fouling of the
gun, which remains also comparatively cool;
and the absence of smoke enables the gunners
to continue firing in caeemated batteries and
between the decks of ships without annoyance. As
an explosive agent, gun cotton possesses some re-
markable peculiarities, the causes of which have not
yet been ascertained. A piece of loose gun cotton
fired on a balanced scale produces depression, the
whole force going off into the atmosphere without
any recoil, But if the gnu cotton be enclosed in a
box or barrel, its explosive force in all directions is
much greater than that of guncowder. Some im-
portant experiments on a large scale have been tried
with gun cotton made by a mseufacturer of the eub-
stance in Suffolk. A palisade was formed with the
trunks of a number of large trees fixed in the ground
close together, and a small box filled with gun cotton
was exploded near them. A large gap was instantly
made, the trees having been cut asunder quite
straight, though at the top of the fractures the wood
was splintered into matches. Its destructive effect
was tried on two wooden bridges, which were com-
pletely splintered ; but the most important experi-
ment was the blowing up of a ship of 400 tons
burden by means of Cab of gun cotton enclosed in
a barrel and placed under water at a distance of 20
feet. The ship, it,was stated, was completely blown
to pieces. The force of gun cotton when applied to
mining operations is equally effective. At the Clay
Cross Collieries it has been found that a blast saith
one ounce of gun cotton will remove from 60 to 80

cubic feet of e'ual, and it has been applied at the
slate quarries in North Wales with equal succes,
It is a great advantage in using gun cotton in min-
in -6. or tunnelling that the work i 3 not impeded by
smoke, which is a serious inconvenience when blast-
ing with gunpowder. Mr Scott Russell attributed
the remarkable diminution of recoil in explosions of
gun cotton to the absence of solid matter in the
products of combustion. In gunpowder the solid
refuse amounts to about 60 per cent. of the weight
of the powder, and the effort rtquired to biow may
this " rubbish," ha considers, produces the additional
amount of recoil. In gun cotton, on the contrary,
there is scarcely any solid refuse, 25 per cent.
of the products of combustion c ,nsisting of
water ; and he conceives that the expansion of this
water into redhot steam by the ignited gases during
their explosion is a main cause of the great explosive
force of gun cotton. Mr. Russell ventured also to
speculate that the lower degree of heat caused by the
explosion of gun cotton may be owing to the subse-
quent condensation of the steam into water, He
admitted, however, that the causes of these and of
other peculiar properties of gun cotton are involved
in doubt,, which he hoped the further investigations
of the committee of the British Association would
remove. He also mentioned that a commission had
been appointed by the Government t,) consider the
application of gun cotton to artillery.

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.fomented for some minutes with warm brime dried, ard
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:Slang valuable lives are annually lost which might be saved
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not do harm,