MELENITE SHELLS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2596, 2 March 1889, Page 1 (Supplement)

MELENITE SHELLS.

Korty civilian warkmen accustomed tothe manipulation of explosive substances lira at present employed at Toulon Arsenal, under the direction of the Artillery Stuff, in charging inelonite shells. To the latter composition, it appears, is now added another substance termed ' cresilite,' which is stated to materially iuorea>o the powers of meleuite, and at the sama time contribute to its preservation and safety in handling-. As fast as the shc-lls are loaded, and a considerable number are daily filled, they arc sent away to store nil the forts on the Coast or Alpine line. The process of filling the shells is supposed to bo a secret, but it is learnt that the eresi* lite, a hard gummy compound, is first melted in copper vessels, and then poured into a space occupying about two thirds of the interior of shell left in the casting. The remahiiugvacuiim is afterwards filled up with melenito, rammed in by means of a mallet, and the work requires the utmost delicacy to avoid accident. Ten men are specially selected for the latter part of the operation, who are kept separated one from the other in compartments enclosed by walls of empty shells, so that should an explosion occur, there would be but one victim. On beginning work in the morning the fillers have to drink a pint of milk, by medical order, as a prophylactic remedy against the noxious fumes of the substances they handle, which leave upon all the exposed parts of their skins a deep yellow tinge that cannot be removed, even by continuous ablutions. Spite, however, of the cutaneous •signs, and the forebodings of the surgeons the men, who gain from 4s to Gs per diy, seem to retain excellent health, and declare that the emanations from tho compounds they mix endow them with inordinu to appeti tes>, —Broad Arrow.