The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-26 00:00:00

United Service Institution.

Yesterday Mr. F. A. Abel, F.R.S., chemist to the
War Department, Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, deli-
vered a lecture in the theatre of the institution
upon gun cotton and other new explosive agents.
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales honoured
the lecture with his attendance, and arrived at-
tended by General Knollys and Major Teesdale.
Next to the prince was seated his Royal Highness
the Count of Paris, and the theatre was fully oc-
cupied by members of the two services, and others
interested in the subject. The lecturer began by
remarking that little, if any, change had ever been
made in the manufacture of gunpowder since its
first introduction as an explosive element, and, after
describing various compounds of chlorate of potass,
gum, resin, antimony, &c., and exhibiting the ex-
plosive properties of many of them, he introduced
nitro-glycerine, which had, he said, first been made
practical :use of by a Swedish engineer. It was
difficult to manage, and was peculiarly dangerous.
It was liable to explode violently with almost a
scratch, and if subjected to a moderate high tem-
perature there was great danger of chemical changes
taking place which led to spontaneous explosion. If
it could be safely employed, it would be much more
economical than gunpowder for blasting. The
lecturer went on to say that a Prussian officer,
Captain Schultz, had been commissioned to ex-
amine gun cotton, and had invented a combination
of nitric acid and sawdust, which possessed much
the same properties. He, however, finally made
his explosive of half converted wood fibre, adding it
to chlorate of potass or some other oxide, to make
it more properly explosive. The lecturer exhibited
the effects of the ignition of these compounds, and
they left a good deal of ashes, and made a good
deal of smoke. He came then to gun cotton, the
manufacture of which, by Lenk's process, seemed
hardly susceptible of improvement, and he explained
how certain improvements in the arrangement of
this material were now being tried. One, which
the Messrs. Prentice of Stowmarket had introduced
with good results, was to moderate the action of
the gun cotton by weaving it in combination with
ordinary cotton, thereby diluting as it were
the material, and moderating its action. Another
mode, in which he was conducting experiments,
was to reduce the gun cotton to pulp and make
paper of it, which was then formed into thick cart-
ridges. This seemed to promise to be very manage-
able. Mr. Abel exhibited specimens of gun cotton,
which he had subjected for months to heat of 150
deg. Fahrenheit, and afterwards exposed to sun-
light for a long period without inducing any change
in its structure. He also showed the safety with
which it could be kept by wrapping up a red hot
iron in a skein of damp gun cotton, which refused
to burn, and by drilling a hole with a red hot wire
in a damp cartridge. The lecture-was illustrated by
a number of other interesting experiments, and con-
cluded with a display of gun cotton fireworks. At
the conclusion of the lecture his Royal Highness
thanked Mr. Abel, and stated that he had been
highly interested. He said he had found the gun
cotton cartridge very good for partridge shooting,
and accepted from the lecturer some specimens of
his thick paper cartridges.

THE GRASS-TREE. —There are few who have ever
travelled any distance in Victoria but have met with the
grass-tree (Kanthorea), which is to be found in nearly all
parts of Australia. Up to a few months ago it was sup-
posed only to be a useless growth, encumbering the land.
A few knew from the blacks that it contained a very tena-
cious gum—the blacks used it as a glue for joining parts of
their weapons; but it is only within the last few months
that the following valuable articles have been obtained, after
great labour and expense, by a Mr. Dodd. St. Ronan's,
the place where Mr. Dodd has erected his works to carry on
the experiments, is situated about 18 miles in a southerly
direction from Colac, and here for some months past expe-
riments have been carried on in connexion with the grass-
tree. The root is the portion used in these experiments,
and usually weighs from 101 b. to 501 b. Tho root is com-
posed of the stems growing in a close mass around the
inner portion or kernel. From the outer portion of the
root gum-shellac in large quantities is obtainable ; the
refuse contains a large quantity of gas, and can be made
available for lighting the works. From the inner
toportion
the
is extracted, by pressing or distilling, a spirit equal
of
best brandy, also alcohol ; after distilling, a quantity
saccharine matter remains, from which sugar can be ex-
tracted. The present supply of grass-tree in the neigh-
bourhood of St. Ronan's is computed to be equal to
t 0 aGsruepat-
ply of GOO tons per week for the next ten y ett
quantities of young grass-trees abound,
w.uld
which will keep
the supply up, and doubtless cultivationgreatly en-
large the roots.—Melbourne Herald