The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-04-13

THE terror aroused i'm Great Britain
by the recent attempts to blow up pub
lie buildings is shown by the action of
Parliament on Monday. Both houses
passed Sir William %llarcourt's bill to
punish those guilty of causing eXplo-
sions. The bill contains nine clauses.
1t provides that the maximum penalty
for causing an explosion by which life
or property is imperiled shall be punish
able by lifelong scrvitude. An attempt
to cause an explosion is made punish
able by Imprisonment for a term of twenty
years. Persons supplying money or
materials incur the same penalty as
principals. The unlawful making or
keeping of the explosives under suspi-
cious circumstances is to be punishable
by fourteen years Imprisonment. Pro-
vision is made for the ordering of official
inquiries into the crimes specified, for the
arrest of ~absconding witnesses and for
searching for explosives. The penalties
are to be inflicted irrespective of the
damage done by the explosives. Chem
lists say that it will be a task of extreme
difficulty for the British government to
control the making of dynamite, the eX-
plosive most in favor with the reyolu-
tionists. The materials of which it is
composed are in everyday use by manu-
facturers. and to limit their sale would
seriously interfere with legitimate bust
ness. OF this explosive. Pref. Chandler
says:
This was invented in 1917 by Sobrero,
in Paris. and proved to he the most
violent explosive discovered that could
be handled with safety, but it remained
merely a chemical curiosity until Alfred
Nobel began its manufacture in Sweden
in 1862. Its popularity is that its en-
plosion is so instantaneous throughout
its entire mass that it produces the most
violent shock. GuDpowder starts a rifle
ball slowly at first, but nitro-glycerinc
acts like a baseball bat against "A ball :
it gives only one sharp shock and all is
over. The objection to its use is That it
is IA liquid. which renders it troublesome
to handle, and in using it for blasting it
is liable to be wasted by leaking into
creviccs. besides being spilled. The
great de,ideratum was to convert it into
a solid for convenience and safety in
handling. Nobel. therefore. conceived
the idea of solidifying ii by mixing it
with some absorbent. and in casting
about for the best. it occurred to him
that what is called infusorial silica
would be the most effective agent.
This is a clayey substance. composed of
skeletons of minute plants that live in
water and after death settle to the bot
tom in layers. They are microscopic
grains, but when examined look like
hollow glass boxes. In fact they are
hollow. and by virtue of being So they
absorb Il great deal more of the nitro
glycerine than any other substance. One
pound of the infusorial silica will absorb
three pounds of nitro-glycerine and
make a solid substance which can be
dried. and is then dynamite or giant
powder. No great chemical skill is
necessary to the manufacture of enough
dynamite to blow up all the government
houses in Europe. 1t must be made in
small quantities, and the whole process
consists of mixing sulphuric and nitric
acids. and adding glycerinc slowly while
the acid is agitated, and the vessel in
which the mixture is made kept cold by
surrounding it with ice water. The chief
danger comes from the necessity of
having it thoroughly washed to get the
acid ont afterward. or it is liable to un-
dergo spontaneous decomposition.