Pioche daily record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1872-1876, 1875-12-31
Great Guns Of Ancient Times.

Speaking Of the great guns recently
cast in Germany and England, q cores.
pendent SAYS: TIL" monster canops now
in existence are simply examples of the
manner in which history repeats itself.
Fonr centuries ago. in 1873, the Turks
erected battery OF guns against Scutari,
the largest OF which was capable OF
throwing stone. shot SO inches in diam.
eter. and weighing $40 pounds, where
as the proiectile OF the English sO-ton
gun weighs only 1850 pounds. tits evil
dent, moreover, that these enormous
guns were OF practical service, for il il
r,rorded that 1854 rounds were fred
from them in thirty days.
At the castle Of Asia. on the Dardan.
eles, there still exists battery of bronze
cannon, some OF which have bore OF
twenty eight inches in diameter. When
the British Admiral, SirJohn Duckworth
forced the passageA of the Straits in
March, 1907, one Of his ships was struck
by a huge stone.bullet thrown from one
Of these guns, and it is said that the
missile made 30 large hole in the side
OF the vessel that the captain, when he
looked over the side to see the extent of
the injury, was surprised to see two OF
bis sailors thrust their heads through the
aperture at the same instant.
The Royal George, whose name is
familiar to all readers Of Cowper's poetry,
was one of the ships injured in this en-
counter. The great gun Of Beejapore.
with a calibre Of twenty EIGHT inches, is
another instance OF what gun founders
could accomplish more than three GEN.
turtles ago This weapon was last dis.
charged. it is said during the eighteenth
century. on the occasion Of visit from
the Rajah OF Sattara. The shot weighed
more than 1000 pounds. The liar
Pooshkar. or great gun OF Moscow, has
bore fifty-fve inches in diameter, but
has never been fred with shotted charges,
and We think that few persons would be
anxious to make the experiment now.
-
The FORMATION OF HABITS. are
all familiar with this process. A move.
ment or series Of movements, at first
painfully difficult and requiring the
whole thought and attention, by repeti.
ton become so easy and semi-automatic
that attention is no longer necessary.
| The most remarkable OF these, such az
walking, speaking and the like. probably
belong partly to the third category; the
capacity for these is partly Inherited.
Playing on musical instrument is,
therefore. better example. We all
know the painful attention necessary a,
nrst, and the ease and rapidity Of the
most compiler movements attained BY
practice. Now. by what means, ana.
tomical or physiological. do these at frs,
difficult movements become, by repeti
ton, easy? The answer in general terms
seems to be this. Every volitional act il
attended with change in the brain
which, however. is slight, liable to hi
affected by subsequent changes. ant
therefore evanescent. II the same act
however. be repeated many times, thu
change becomes deep and permanent
becomes petrifed in brain. structure; ant
this structure, whatever be its character
or it's seat, determines the approprat,
acts with precision. 1t is as If ever,
volitional act produced faint line, labl,
to be erased. on the tablets Of the brain
by running over the same lines man,
times these are ideepened into groove
and finally into ruts. and motion il
these becomes easy and certain. becaus,
the ruts guide the motion instead of ID,
will. The repetition produces structur
aud structure determines habit.