The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1862-10-17
History OF Cannon.

Tho following extracts from Mr.. Headley's
article in Harper's for October are just now
Of great interest:
"Thoro is grea: discrepancy among writer's
as to the time in which artillery wae USED
The word "caunou" Is evidently derived
from tho French word canine, "a reod :" and
they we're first made OF wood wrapped in
numerous folds Of linen, and secured 5y
iron hoops. Some say the Chinese used
thom eighty years after Christ. and that o
desortor fOom Iiclo2olis introduced thom
into Greece in G76 Conde in bis history
of the Moors OF Spain, says thoy used them
10 attack and defcnse OF fortified places as
early as ll6; and so on down till We have
Cordoya. in Spain, beseiged by artillery in
1880. FERDINAND ~. is said to have taken
Gibraltar from the Moors by artillery in
l40S. There seoms to be good reason for
believing that Spain aud Italy used artillery
about this period. Many doubt these state
ments and assert that thoro was not ten
years difference in the time in which artillery
was used by tho principal powers of Europe.
Taking this view, thoy place its introduction
in the commencement Of tho fourteenth con.
tury
Louis Napoleon seems to find no authority
for theft being used in France TIL 1909, in which
| year five hundred little cannon OF q paine de
! tongeur were made in the town Of PerOuse.
Others say that there is iuHnd in the archives OF
| Tournuy statement that in 1916 the town coun
| Gil having heard that worker in un, named
! Pete, Bruges. knew how 10 make an engine
named cons oilsS which could throw leaden balls,
! ordered him to construct one. lie did so, aud
presented tor their inspection hollow tuoe
weighing two pounds. This; at their request, he
fired of; and though TO their surprise, they could
not see the flight OF the ball they found that had
killed. man beyond the second wall OF the town.
This ~ frightened feteT thu he fled 10 church
Tor safety. la view, however, OF all the ciTcum-
stances lie was granted q free parCon his
seems good authority and other circumstances
render II probable thai tho general introduction OF
artillery into Eu rope could not have been much
antecedent to this. 1t is hardly credible that IN
military age, when the art OF war was the chei
STUDY OF all European princes, two centuries could
have elapsed after its introduction into SPAN and
ltnly before it was used by the bordering powers
The knowledge Of such an invention must have
travelled nst IN those wsr.like days when migh
mate right This also seems probable from one
of the letters of Pstrarch, who was born in 1904
lie Gays: IL am astonished that thou dost no
possess those brnZen globes, which, impeled by
fire, start of with horrible noise. Was II no
sufficient that the anger Of an immortal G0l
shoald thunder from the sky, but must irnglle
} being thunder in the earth This scourge tll
lately, was 50 scarce as to be looked upon as 8
prodigy ; but nov that mems minds are apt io
the most wicked deeds ii has become common.
= In contrast 10 this may be mentioned
n Tue aTEsr ARrILLEERv INVENTION.
"The Warrior, il is said has an invention OF
board, which il is claimed wal give her an od
d vantage independent of her shot.proof sides, ho
y will make her Overwhelmingly superior TO an
vessel that ever foated. By IL she is enabled I
throw molten iroE into an enemys chip. A Gu
DoIa furnace is constructed on board for meitin
iron, which is poured into thin shell whlc
breaks in pieces on entering ship, leaving tn
molten mass imbedded in the timbers. Savern
apparently insuperablc objections suggest them
selves to the pracicability OF this strange schem
and we predict its abandonment Sill it miggl b
a success If So it is a horrible one, Tor no woode
t vessel could Withstand many broadsides OF sue
q shot 1t would hardly have begun to fight beior
il would be in fumes"