The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-24 00:00:00

EXPLOSION AT METZ.

It is no new observation that there seems to be
curious fatality about the autumn in the matter of
explosions. Last year there was the sad accident
in Woolwich Arsenal ; in 1866 there was the ex.
plosion of gun cotton ; in 1865 the explosion at
Erith. These accidents all occurred, if we are not
mistaken, early in successive Octobers. Now, late
in September, we receive accounts of the terrible
disaster at the cartridge factory at Metz, which,
measured by the loss of life and suffering which it
has occasioned, far surpasses the three English
accidents put together. Indeed, we scarcely know
as yet the extent of the calamity. Oue report
states that twenty-six people were killed and some
seventy wounded ; another report estimates the
dead at over forty. But, in any case, it is quite
clear that the disaster has been a very awful one;
and, if we may judge from the rather vague and
uncircumstantial accounts which have reached us,
a great deal of blame must attach to those wh°
were responsible for the management of the factory.
The great number of girls and workmen engaged
in one building and involved in one common risk is
au arrangement in itself open to grave censure. If
to this we add that a very large quantity of gun-
powder—in the form of partially completed car-
tridges—was in the building together (as it would
appear, although this last point seems almost in-
credible) with some exposed fulminate, we have 3
condition of things about as reckless as could well
be conceived. It scarcely needed the "larking"
of a pair of unhappy girls, or the throwing of a
pair of (steel ?) scissors, to precipitate au exple'
sion which might have been regarded as inevitable
sooner or later. Since the explosion in Woolwich
Arsenal a change has, we believe, been made in the
system of manufacture by which any accident en
a large scale seems to be quite secured against. The,
percussion cap is not fitted into the cartridges until
after they are filled ; and as the cartridges after
filling are proof against explosion en masse, the ac-
cidental explosion of a single cartridge is attended
with no serious consequences. And by thin
arrangement it is impossible for even a loose Per-
cussion cap, much less any loose fulminate, to enteer
into the same buildings as loose powder or half
finished cartridges.
We commend this simple precaution to the notice
of the French Government, observing, however'
that although it would greatly diminish the risk, it
would not in the case of the Chassepot cartridges
altogether obviate it, as it does with us. For it la
improbable that the Chassepot cartridge, which
le
merely covered with thin paper and silk gauze' If 4
stout enough to resist explosion en masse, and °',/sl a
explosion in a filled cartridge even might thus 'is'
attended with serious results unless some extra pre'
cautions were taken. These extra precautions
readily suggest themselves. In the first place, the
number of operatives in any one building blleul`:
be reduced to the lowest number which maY t.,
deemed practicable. Work should only be carried
on on the ground floor of a building, and all build
i; l
iugs used for this purpose should therefore be single
storied. The buildings should be isolated; and I
may even be desirable under some circumstances to
separate them by traverses. Further, the quantitY,,
of powder (or filled cartridges) in a building
any one time should be as small as is consistent
with the proper progress of the manufacture.
Finally, the cartridges might be rendered tempo"j
rarily or artificially secure against explosion is
bulk by means of stout separations between the
workpeople, a system now adopted in most of our
well-conducted lucifer-match manufactories, anal),"
which the risk is limited to a single operative
working within his partition or cell.
By precautions like these the manufacture of
cartridges containing their own ignition may be
conducted without any apprehension of a great ho-
locaust of human beings, such as that which has
just shocked France. Minor accidents win pro-
bably be inevitable to the end of time. But the
accidents under proper management may be re'
duced within very moderate dimensionsindett
Unhappily, however, the general conduct of
tchoonutinhetnfutall
darsenals i
tion.
s.o
not
Our
rf thisown cautiousoxpe rexperience
c ea and
thou
establishments, acquired a few years ll:elle/oil;
the reverse of favourable ; and we were re
a t e
informed
years—an
that matte
opinionrs
h d
havew h io not
ormuchive
s u
i Ttprroovge of
l
firmation from the accident at Metz.
As regards the liability, or non-liability, act:.
Chassepot cartridges to explode en nzasse—ouLt i 3
tridge being ignited by another, and so on---;ut
a point on which we can express 1:10 c°l3 0
opinion. We know not what experinlents._talf
been made on the subject ; but if the exPl°sltoi..
one cartridge in a barrel is liable to be coal_trutic_
cated to the rest, as, judging from the e01.1,5_, wo
tion of the ammunition, seems highly probablU
have an additional and very strong objection to
the
use of so-called " self-consuming" cartridges. le
sing
army may in this way be deprived by a
accident of its whole reserve of ammunitio
n lo-
say nothing of the loss of life which suchexP
ding
sions may occasion. Our own breech-I: tuo
cartridges, as is well known, are not liable
sort of wholesale destruction.- of °I-
It is impossible to explode a barrelful
v.__ by
ridges by firing one cartridge within it, or er
exploding a considerable quantity of povvde__oolo
in it. And this security we regard as indisperli
in the case of cartridges containing thhei tov
elements of ignition ; its absence oug-
accepted as a sufficient condemnation of
system.

___-,....0.=.......
TIIE VATICAN NEW TESTAMENT.—We Ilay.-: he
, eel'
long-expected
Messrs. William's and Norgate's copies o.lsTteff
Testament in Greek. The entire work vril clots
of six volumes, five of which will contain tile -t-her
of the old and New Testaments; and then° 10
critical notes, apparatus, and fac-similes. "i tio
been very properly arranged that the Clir'snot
books should first appear. The volatne n--- i,
printed in a brown ink, on good
brought out is a noble specimen of tyPegi.,3"-hbe
Paper' fr°', „tc,"
type which was used upon the ,‘ Codex Siniait'e"..-e0
The form of the book is a large folio, with tflit'ho
columns. on each page, answering to those Ivo
work appears under the special original MS. line for line and letter for letter't tile
auspes °I and
_ Pope, and is edited by Fathers Vercellone:the
Cozza. We may note that the editors pre'llis 0 ;
remaining volumes at intervals of ten 111°.11; of
portf
olio,
and we must observe that the mi.sing
the Vatican MS. is supplied in ordinary type „ire
another MS. of the same collection—the
salli
'rjol
believe, as the one which was used by C
Mai.—Atheiurunt. ~r 'oei'"
MADAME TUSSAUD'S. —The hosts of ese--51 oe •
who are now daily visiting Madame Tussaud's tralYt9:lll
nificent Wax-work Exhibition, Baker-street, fullY:: itV
to the great interest taken by our provincial frica"'polig
deed at no other place of resort in the great rae„tr:
can a more interesting and intellectual hour he FP3'