IMPORTANT APPLICATIONS OF GUN COTTON.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 39, 3 September 1864, Page 3

IMPORTANT APPLICATIONS OF GUN COTTON.

(From the European Times.) At the Eoyal Institution, on the 13th, the recent improvements in gun cotton again formed the subject brought to notice, the lecturer on the occasion being Mr. Scott Russell. In the previous lecture on the subject brought by Mr. Abel, the chemical history of gun cotton, and the nature of the 'improvements in its manufacture recently made in Austria, were more especially dwelt on, while Mr. Russell principally directed attention to its uses. He stated that at a large meeting of the British Association a committee was appointed, of wliich he was a member, to investigate the nature of the great improvements which it was known had been made in Austria on gun cotton by General Leuz, but wliich were kept a profound secret by the Austrian Government. One ofthe first things the Committee did was to write to General Luez, to request him to come over ancl acquaint the Committee in what his improvements consisted. This impudent requestas Mr. Russell admitted it to have been— excited a commotion in Vienna, but the young Emperor, aeainst the advice of his councillors, consented to allow the secret to be known, and General Luez came to this country and informod the Committee what it was. The "object to be accomplished in the manufacture of gun cotton, to render it applicable, was to diminish the rapidity of combustion, and its liability to accidental explosion. These objects have been fully accomplished, as was previously stated by Mr. Abel, principally by spinning the cotton into yarn before it undergoes the process of conversion into gun cotton ; and it was shown by that gentleman, that by mechanical alteration of the structure of the cotton fibre alone the explosive material may be placed under complete control, and that, as he said, you may clo what you like with it. What can be done with gun cotton, ancl what cannot be done with it, and its merit 9, compared with gunpowder, as an explosive agent, were explained and illnstrated by Mr Scott Russell, who. though he commenced by mentioning some points of objection to gun cotton, finally removing them, and represented it to be in every respect superior to gunpowder, and to be , capable of producing far more destructive effefcts. As an illustration of the different degrees of rapidity of combustion attainable with gun cotton, he first ignited a. thick yarn of the substance that j was suspended round the gallery of the lectureroom, which burned along at the rate of about one foot in the second. He next took apiece of about a yard long which flashed off in half a second; and another similar length, ofthe most explosive kind, exploded instantaneously. A remarkable propert y of gun cotton, which constitutes an immense advantage in its use compared with gunpowder, is that it leaves no products of combustion behind, and produces very little smoke. Another important advantage is that it is not injured by moisture, and it may be wetted and dried again without impairing its power. This was shown by immersing a piece of gun cotton yarn in water * which was then squeezed out, though still clamp, the outer surface rapidly ignited, and wlien the remainder was squeezed the cotton again ignited. This property is a great safeguard in the manufacture of gun cotton, for all the processes may be conducted under water, and it is afterwards dried. For ordinary practical purposes the rapidity of its explosion is reduced to an equality with that of gumpowder, in wliich state one pound propels a projectile from a cannon with the same velocity as three ponnds of gunpowder. The recoil of the cannon when gun cotton is used is only two-thirds the amount of recoil with gunpowder ; there is no fouling of the gun, which remains also comparatively cool, and the absence of smoke enables the gunners to continue firing in easemated batteries and between the decks of ships without annoyance. As an explosive agent gun GOtton possesses some remarkable peculiarities, tlie causes of which have not yet been ascertained. A piece of loose gun cotton fired on a balanced scale produces no depression, the whole force going off into the atmosphere without any recoil ; but if the gun cotton be enclosed in a box or barrel, its explosive force in all directions is much greater than that of gunpowder. Some important experiments on a large scale have been tried wifji gun cotton made by a manufacturer of the substance in Suffolk A palisade was formed with the trunks of a number of large trees fixed in the ground close together, and a small box filled with gun cotton was exploded near them. A large gap was instantly made, the trees having been cut asunder quite straight, though at the top of tho fractures the wood was splintered into matches. Its destructive effect was tried on two wooden bridges, which were completely spintered j but the most important experiment was the blowing up of a ship of 400 tons burthen by means of 40lbs. of gun cotton enclosed in a barrel and placed under water at a distance of 20 feet. The ship, it was stated, was blown to pieces. The explosive force of gun cotton when applied to mining operations is equally effective. At the Claycross Collieries it has been found that a blast with one ounce of gun cotton will remove from 60 to 80 cubic feet of coal, and it has been applied to the . slate quarries in j North Wales with equal success. It is a great advantage in using gun cotton in mining or tunneling that the work is not impeded by smoke, which is a serious inconvenience when blasting with gunpowder. Mr. Scott Russell attributed the remarkable diminution of recoil in explosions of gun cotton to the absence of solid matter in the products of combustion. In gunpowder the solid refuse amounts to about 60 per cent, of the weight of the gunpowder, and the effort to blow away this " rubbish," he considers, produces the additional amount of recoil. In gun cotton, on the contrary there is scarcely any solid refuse, 25 per cent, of the products of combustion consisting of water,and he conceives that the expansion of the water into red hot steam by the ignited gases during their explosion is a main cause ofthe great explosive power of gun cotton. Mr Russell also ventured to speculate that the lower degree of heat caused by the explosion of gun cotton may be owing to the subsequent condensation of the steam into water. He admitted, however, that the causes of these and of other peculiar properties of gun cotton are involved in doubt, which he hoped the further investigation ofthe committee of the British Association would remove. He also mentioned that a j commission had been appointed by the Government to consider the application of gun cotton to j artillery. y.----yy.:- .•-.:•;

THE HOREOBS OF WAB'. ' - AW ASCBBIOAir HOiPITAJt- ~~ -.-— -^ The sight ,of several stretchers, eachtwith. it* legless,' annlessVor desperatelywounded dccupant, entering my ward, admonished me that I-was-thar* to work, not to -wonder or. weep ; so, 1,-eorked up my feelings, and returned to 'the "path of- duty, which was rather '.'a hard road to travel" just then. The house had been a hotel before hotpital* were needed, and many- of ■ the b° w tlieir old names, some not so inappropriate M ' mio-ht be imagined, for my ward was in truth . ball-room,. if gunshot ..wipunds, could Jchtf ston it •Forty beds' were prepared j many- aire wl/texianted by tired men who fell down anywhere and drowsed till the smell of foodlrtfused them. Bound the great stove was gathered the dreariest group. I ever saw— -ragged, gaunt, and pale; : rnrtid **t<o*| th« knees, with bloody bandages untouched; since pufc on days before 1 , many -bundled up : ih; blahKeta, coats being lost or useless, and all -wearing thafc disheartened look which p?oclaimed defeat more plainly than any telegram of theßurnside blunder. I pitied them so much I; dared hot spedkJ;o them, though remembering all they had been through since the rout at Frederickßburg.;l;fe^ready % tp]be . handmaid to the" dreariest and dirtiest of them aIL Presently Miss Blank tore me from my refuge behind piles of one sleeved shirts, old socks, bandages, and lint — put basin, sponge, towels, and a block of brown soap into my hands, with these appalling directions: — " Ceme.'my dear, begintowaah as fast as you can. Tell them to take iy off. socks, coats, and shirts, scrub -them well, then, put on clean shirts and the attendants will finish them off, and lay them in bed." If she had requested me to shave them all, or dance a hornpipe on the atove funnel, I should hare been leas staggered j hub. to scrub some dozen lords of . creatlon_ftt K moment's notice was really— really—- -. ever, there was no time for nonsense, and, having resolved when I came to do everything I was bid, I drowned my scruples in my washbowl, clutched my soap manfully, and assumed a business-like air, made a dab at the first dirty specimen I saw bent on performing my task vi et armis if necessary. I chanced to light upon a withered old Irishman wounded in the head, which caused^ that portion of his frame to be tastefully- laid put like a garden, tho bandages being the" walk, his hair the shrubery. He was so overpowered by the honour of having a lady to wash .him, as he expressed it, that he did nothing hut-roll l up .his eyes, and bless me, in an irresistible style, which was toemuch for my sense of the ludicrous, so we lathed together, and when I knelt down to take off his shoes he " flopped" also, and wouldn t hear of mj touching " them dirty craters ; may your bed above be aisv, darlin', for the day's wprk-ye are doon— Wlioohs ! there ye are ahd bedad, it s harcUtellin which is the dirtiest, the fut or the shoe. -It was : and if he hadn't been to the fore, -I -should have gone on pulling under the impression, that the " fut " was a boot, for trousers, socksi; shoes^ and legs were a mass of mud. This * comical tableau produced a general grin, at. which propitiou. beginning I took heart and scrubbed away like any tidy parent on a Saturday night. Some of them took the performance like sleepy chddren, leaning their tired heads against me as I worked, .others looked grimly scandalized, and several ot tHe roughest colored like bashful girls. One wore a soiled little bag about his neck, and as I moved it to bathe his wounded breast, I said— lour talisman didn't save you did it?" "Well I reck-on it did, mann, for that shot would a gone a coupte a incheß deeper but for my old mommy's camphor bag, " answered the cheerful philosopher.— The Great Hospital at Washington. By Mist Alette.