The evening times., 1896-01-12

QUESTION OF sucifritaiinterest as the strength
and quality af explosives.
This history says DE-. Munroe, forms
! an interesting chapter in popular science
| OF course, everyone knows that by an
explosive is meaGt substance which con
| tains within itself the materials for lis
own combustion and that the discharge is
the result Of this combustion.
GUN COTTON AND NITRo-GLYCERINE
| "Frem military standpoint gunpo wdef
is naturally the most effeetive explosive
: known for certain purposes The fact That
l cotton when 'fmmer.cd ID nitric afl<kssai-
phuric acids became a. most powerful ex-
| pIdsive was startling discovery to Tie
| chemists of the early forties. Peiouze. n
| eminent French chemist, together with
| his pupil, Sobrero, tried number or ex-
| periments of.nitric acid on glycerine, and,
| as a consequence, the latter discovered
nitro-glycerine. 1t announced its birth by
| a violent explosion which shattered the
windows of islabora tory, wrecked his ma
chine and almost ended the career of It's dis
| coyerer.
THE great power which this explosive
exhibited ard the apparent readiness with
which it iaaited-made chemists someWbat
reluctant to pursue an investigation or lts
urapeetttesSsYn6ughS ura Sofyrrp Usaeshis dis
glycerine until the Crimean war. AT this
time Prof. jacob, in the employ of the
Russian government, manufactured guam
titles of this deadly explosive and by its
presence prevented the English from en-
tering the Harbor of Croustadt.
1.-The practical use of this substance is
due to a Norwegian, Alfred Nobel who
invented process for its RAPID manufac-
turc, and in 1863 factories were estab-
lished on the European continent, under
his supervision.
Great expectations were aroused by
the fact that Nobel had placed the eDor-
nous force stored in nitrO-giycerine com
pletely under control and that it could be
used al will 10 doing useful WORK. Scarcely
a year had elapsed after Nobel had secured
his patents in Norway before this explosive
made its appearance on this continent in 4
startling aud dramatic manner.
USED AS A POLISHING POWDER.
"One of the guests In the Wyoming
Hotel, in New York city, wishing TO polish
his boots, drew from under the counter
a box which had been used for this pur-
pose for some months back. While busy at
his work he noticed reddish vapor issuing
from the side, ard becoming alarmed,
threw the box into the open street.
"It instantly exploded, and SO violently
that the pavement was torn up, the pass
eTsDy were psdhoe eiS bouoSS, anu
the windows Of every house within 100
yards were completely shattered.
CAUSED GREAT EXCITEMENT.
"As the war of tire rebellion was then in
full progress, the greatest excitement pre-
vailed oncerning the explosion. After
diIigent inquiry it WAS ascertained that
the box had been left at the hotel by
German, who was unable To pay his board.
He stated that 1t contained glonoin ola
material used in Germany for blasting.
Glonoin oil is but another name for nitro |
glycerine. As an explosive this substance
needed no further test in New York to insure |
belief in its properties.
"But as war weapons, the notwithstanding
is that of nitro-snBstitution explosives |
thoseused tn cha arge shells. Itisnot generally !
known that almost every great nation !
has its own particular kind OF explosive. |
The process is The same in all the powders; |
that is, chlorate is substituted for inter, but
they vary in destructive power.
1.-THE Germans pin their faith to hell
hoffite, comparatively new explosive in-
vented by. Cruiser and Hellhoff, and first |
tested at st. Petersburg in 1885. In COM
parison with gunpowder and nitro-glyC- |
crime hellhoffite showed wonderful su-
Three bottles were used, one :
FILLED with gunpowder, one with nitro /
ylycerine and the third with hellhoffite. |
In exploding the gunpowder the block on
which the bottle was fixed was torn into
four pieces, as IL split with a Ratchet, !
a nd the pieces ere il, fled eighteen, twelve,
,levenl and ten feet away. In exploding
he nitro-glycerine tie upper portion of the
block, as far as the bottle was let into it,
was torn transversely In such a manner that /
} smooth cut was formed. The explosion