Extended Table of Contents
Reading edition
PAGE
INTRODUCTION. i
CONTENTS iii
ERRATA. iv
HISTORY OF GUNPOWDER. 1
GREEK FIRE. 4
ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOWDER. 7
SALTPETRE, OR NITRE. 7
OLD METHOD. 7
NEW METHOD. 8
CHARCOAL. 9
SULPHUR. 11
PULVERIZING THE INGREDIENTS. 11
MIXING THE INGREDIENTS. 12
THE INCORPORATING MILL. 12
INCORPORATING THE INGREDIENTS. 13
BREAKING DOWN THE MILL CAKE. 14
PRESSING THE MEAL BY THE HYDRAULIC PRESS. 14
GRANULATING THE PRESS CAKE. 15
DUSTING LARGE-GRAIN POWDER. 16
DUSTING FINE-GRAIN POWDER. 17
GLAZING FINE-GRAIN POWDER. 17
STOVING OR DRYING POWDER. 17
FINISHING DUSTING. 17
EXAMINATION AND PROOF OF GUNPOWDER. 18
PROOF OF MERCHANT’S POWDER. 18
REMARKS ON THE PROOF OF POWDER BY THE EPROUVETTES. 19
OF THE SIZE OF GRAIN FOR GUNPOWDER. 19
OBSERVATIONS ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOWDER ON THE CONTINENT AND AMERICA. 20
PRODUCTION AND PURIFICATION OF THE INGREDIENTS. 20
PULVERIZING AND MIXING THE INGREDIENTS. 20
INCORPORATING PROCESS. 21
GRANULATING. 21
STOVING OR DRYING. 21
NEW RIFLE POWDER. 22
ON MAGAZINES. 23
LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS. 24
ON THE EXPLOSIVE FORCE OF GUNPOWDER. 29
FOULING. 35
EFFECTS OF GUNPOWDER ON METALS. 35
MISCELLANEOUS EXPERIMENTS. 36
ON THE TIME REQUIRED FOR IGNITION OF GUNPOWDER. 38
EFFECTS OF ACCIDENTAL EXPLOSIONS OF GUNPOWDER. 38
ON ANCIENT ENGINES OF WAR. 39
THE SLING. 43
THE BOW. 44
MERITS OF THE LONG BOW. 45
Our Forefathers encouraged to acquire skill in archery by legal enactments, and by the founders of our public schools. 47
1ST. BY LEGAL ENACTMENTS. 47
2ND.—BY THE FOUNDERS OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 48
MEANS BY WHICH SKILL IN ARCHERY WAS ACQUIRED. 49
PROOFS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF ARCHERY. 52
MILITARY AND POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF SKILL IN THE USE OF THE BOW. 53
THE ARBALEST, OR CROSS-BOW. 54
DESCRIPTION OF CROSS-BOW. 57
COMPARATIVE MERITS OF THE LONG AND CROSS BOW. 59
COMPARATIVE MERITS BETWEEN BOWS AND EARLY FIRE-ARMS. 59
HISTORY OF ARTILLERY. 62
ETYMOLOGIES. 72
HISTORY OF PORTABLE FIRE-ARMS. 73
THE BAYONET. 83
ACCOUTREMENTS AND AMMUNITION. 84
HISTORY OF THE RIFLE. 86
RIFLED BREECH-LOADERS. 92
ON RIFLING. 95
ON THE NUMBER, FORM &c., &c., &c., OF THE GROOVES. 96
ON RIFLE PROJECTILES. 101
CONCLUSION. 108
THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES. 110
DEFINITIONS. 110
MOTION OF A PROJECTILE. 111
GRAVITY. 113
ON THE TIME TAKEN TO DRAW A BALL TO THE GROUND BY THE FORCE OF GRAVITY. 114
ATMOSPHERE. 115
RESULT OF THE AIR’S RESISTANCE. 115
EXPERIMENTS IN FRANCE. 116
ON THE EFFECT OF THE RESISTANCE OF THE AIR UPON THE MOTION OF A PROJECTILE. 117
ON THE RESISTANCE OF A FLUID TO A BODY IN MOTION. 117
ON THE VELOCITY WITH WHICH AIR WILL RUSH INTO A VACUUM. 118
UPON THE RESISTANCE OF THE AIR TO BODIES OF DIFFERENT FORMS. 119
RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS WITH SLOW MOTIONS. 119
RESISTANCE OF THE AIR, AS AFFECTED BY THE WEIGHT OF PROJECTILES. 121
DEVIATIONS OF PROJECTILES FROM SMOOTH-BORED GUNS. 121
1st CAUSE, WINDAGE. 121
2nd CAUSE, ROTATION. 122
CASES BEARING UPON THE FOREGOING THEORY. 122
ILLUSTRATIONS OF ROBINS’ THEORY OF ROTATION. 124
ON ECCENTRIC PROJECTILES. 124
Original Table of Contents