Wichita eagle., 1886-09-25
ABOUT EXPLOSIVES.
AN ENTHUSIASTIC DOCTOR WHO IS
PRACTICALLY BOYcOTTED.

thAC iCAIIy 6OYCOt tCO.
Dynamite and Nitro-Glycerine Lying
Around Loose-An Interesting Chat
Concerning Gunpowder.A Little Kx-
periment-Explanation Of Mystery.
Dr. Cyrus Edison, Of tho health department,
is an enthusiast on the subject Of explosives.
He comes by his taste through his intimacy
with Lieut.. Zalinski, Of the artillery, the dyn-
amiter of the United States army. The two
are interested in more than one Internal ma
chine designed to destroy more lives in war
times than the doctors activity in hunting
down food adulterators has saved in days Of
peace. The clerks at the sanitary headquar-
tiers give DR.. Edson's desk wide berth, for
its secret drawers are known to contain dyna-
mite, nitro-glycerine and giant powder enough
in various forms to blow Gen. Shalers health
brigade into the middle of next week. On
quiet afternoons, when the army of clerks and
employees has cleared out, DR.. Edison enjoys
little private seances with his pet playthings.
4 reporter came upon the doctor on one OF
these occasions and found him asserting little
piles of what appeared TO be coal ground into
different sizes and shapes. On one side lay
half dozen of sticks of candy wrapped in
tissue paper The doctor often seizes lots of
candy, and the reporter made grab for one.
DR.. Edson stayed his hand
You'd better he said, -leave that TO
others to chew. That candy is nitro-glycer-
inc done up in convenient cartridge, and
one piece of it would blow you and Ele and
all of this room into such small bits that they
would have to carry Us home in a bag-what
was left of US. A very small bag would prob
ably do. However, you need not be afraid.
1t viii only explode by detonation. Never
tneless it is safer not TO fool with it. But,
look here What do you suppose this Isl"
pointing to the little heaps of black grains on
the desk
Warned by experience, the reporter all
mitted that it might be anything
A CHAT ABOUT GUNPowDER.
'sWell,n unused the doctor, from the looks,
so it might. As it appear, it is powder.
These little black heaps represent successive
stages of human progress in the science of
doing unto his neighbor as he is straining
every nerve to avoid being done by. See
this heap of black pebbles, like black peas of
erratic shape That is the common, coarse
ordnance powder for field guns. This, that
or sharp edges. is what they give the big guns
to make them bark; and this you thought
was black coffee grounds IS the mortar
powder for bomb guns with very short bore.
1t has prodigious energy, burns quickly, as
the small grains present the largest surface to
the action of the fire. | say quick burning.
AU powder burns quickly to the eye; but
science distinguishes easily between the real
and the apparent, end the terms quick burn
ing and slow burni. :. as applied TO powder,
are not nisnone -. The difference Is
% very important one. The small grain
powders that flash Iicily We're never TO
be counted on. Ever once in n while they
burst the gun. Why tley did it was a mys-
terry, until an apparatus was invented that
measured accurately Ike pressure exerted in
side gun barrel By the explosion of q given
amount of powder. Then it was found that
the pressure varied enormously unGer exactly
similar circumstances. Careful experiments
led up 10 the discovery that IN the firing of a
charge Of large grained powder, the part of it
nearest the point Of ignition at times, by ex-
ploding, reduced the size of the grains III the
rest of the charge to dust, thereby presenting
suddenly an enormous surface to combustion
with far more violent results than antici-
pated.
The doctor pat into the hands of the re-
porter two little humps of what appeared to
be stove polish, one resembling exactly a
round mtlsket bullet fresh from the mould
and with the rough edges adhering yet, the
other good sized marble that had been
forced into hexagonal form at both poles
when soft. Put in that shape he resumed,
"the powder burns with more uniform and
constantly increasing pressure. 1t no longer
flashes, but burns. Look,' and, suiting the
action to the word, DIR. Edison held one of the
bullet shaped grains over lighted gas jet on
the end of stick. In moment il bIazed up
and flew like a burning meteor, throwing of
clouds of smoke, across the room. 1t burned
all the way across, and was consumed before
it reached the door, leaving no mark where it
fell.
"They have since improved even on that,
said thu doctor, "and made powder Of enor-
nous density by COMPRISING il with hy-
drauis pressure into certain peculiar shapes,
and now the sudden h;gh pressure explosives
are of rare occurrence, though they do occur
still New York Mail and Express.