Ernest Christian Wilford

“ The barbed arrow-head was immeasurably more dangerous, imbedded in the flesh, than a mere lump of lead. Hundreds of men, hale and well to-day, have had fire-arm bullets imbedded in their flesh for years. ”

“ The difference of time observable in the fall of bodies through the air, is due to the resistance of that medium, whence we may fairly conclude, that if the air was altogether absent, and no other resisting medium occupied its place, all bodies of whatever size, and of whatever weight, must descend with the same speed. Under such circumstances, a balloon and the smoke of the fire would descend, instead of ascending as they do, by the pressure of the air, which, bulk for bulk, is heavier than themselves. ”

“ When considering the resistance of the air to a body in motion, it is important that the velocity with which air will rush into a vacuum should be determined; and this will depend upon its pressure or elasticity. ”

“ It is evident that the most essential points are strength, and facility of pouring into your enemies’ ranks a powerful fire. Troops do not halt to play at long bowls; a field of battle presents a series of movements for the purpose of outflanking or closing in upon your enemy, and when within two hundred yards, to deliver your fire with effect. Firing at 500 or 600 yards is the business of artillery, and, therefore, to fire at 300 or 400 yards is a misapplication of the musket, a loss of time, a waste of ammunition, and tends to make men unsteady in the ranks. ”

“ A solid bullet cannot be pointed without sending backward the centre of gravity. The sharper the point, the more it is liable to injury, and if the apex of the cone does not lie true, in the axis of the projectile, then such an imperfection of figure is calculated to cause greater deflections in the flight than any injury which a round surface is likely to sustain. In penetrating into solid bodies, it is also important that the centre of gravity should be near its work. ”

“ If a body moving at first with a certain velocity is afterwards observed to move with double or triple this velocity, the quantity of motion of the body is conceived to be doubled or tripled, hence the momentum of a body, depends upon its velocity, as the quantity of motion of a body is the product of the velocity by the mass or weight. ”

“ Great substance was at one time considered necessary for accurate firing, it being supposed necessary to prevent vibrations in the barrel; this is true within certain limits, and the heavier the charge, the heavier the metal ought to be, especially at the breech, but diminishing the thickness, has been proved in no wise to lessen the accuracy. A heavy barrel also lessens recoil, but it would be folly to carry more weight than would neutralize the recoil which could be produced by a greater charge of powder than could be consumed in a given length of barrel. ”

“ Our countryman, Roger Bacon, who was born 1214, and published works at Oxford 1267, expressly mentions the ingredients of Gunpowder, not as any new discovery, but as a well known composition, used for recreation. He describes it as producing a noise like thunder, and flashes like lightning, but more terrible than those produced by nature; and adds that it might be applied to the destruction of an army or a city. Bacon, in his treatise “De Secretis Operibus,” says that from saltpetre, sulphur, and wood coals, we are able to make a fire that shall burn at any distance we please. ”

“ Granite rocks are split open, oak and other trees, of enormous size, rent in shivers, and masonry of every kind frequently laid in ruins. The lower masts of ships of the line, 3 feet in diameter, and 110 feet long, bound with hoops of iron half an inch thick and 5 inches wide, the whole weighing about 18 tons, have been, in many instances, torn asunder, and the hoops of iron burst open and scattered on the decks. It is, in fact, this terrible expansive power which we have to dread in cases of buildings struck by Lightning, rather than the actual heat attendant on the discharge itself. ”

“ The most important consideration is the weight and form of projectile; the inclination of the grooves, the charge, weight of metal in the gun, &c., are regulated almost entirely by it. The charges used with rifle pieces are much less than those with which smooth-bored guns are fired, for little or none of the gas is allowed to escape by windage, there being therefore no loss of force; and it is found by experience that, with comparatively low initial velocities, the elongated projectiles maintain their velocity, and attain very long ranges. ”

“ Some gun makers are of opinion that there should be a greater proportion of groove or furrow than of land or plain surface, because they say the ball is thus more firmly held, while others maintain that by diminishing the number of the grooves, the accuracy and range would be increased, and this has led to the opposite theory, that perhaps if anything, the plain surface of the bore should predominate over the grooved. ”

“ When a body has only a motion of translation all the particles of which it is composed move with equal swiftness, and also in parallel directions; and by the first law of motion, every particle put in such motion will constantly move with the same velocity in the same direction, unless it be prevented by some external cause.
Rotation.
By a motion of rotation, a body without changing its place, turns round on an axis passing through its centre of gravity. ”

“ It is always to be remembered that the earth’s surface and the clouds are the terminating planes of the action, and that buildings are only assailed by Lightning because they are points, as it were, in, or form part of, the earth’s surface, in which the whole action below finally vanishes. Hence buildings, under any circumstances, will be always open to strokes of Lightning, and no human power can prevent it, whether having Conductors or not, or whether having metals about them or not, as experience shows. ”

“ The flame of all fulminating powders will pass through the centre of a box filled with gunpowder without igniting one grain of it. If a train of gunpowder be crossed at right angles by a train of fulminating mercury, laid on a sheet of paper or a table, and the powder be lighted with a red hot iron wire, the flame will run on until it meets the cross train of fulminating mercury, when the inflammation of the latter will be so instantaneous as to cut off all connection with the continuous train of powder, leaving the remaining portion of the gunpowder unignited. ”

“ The velocity of the expansion of the gas is a most important point, upon which depends, chiefly, the peculiar value of the substance as a propelling agent. Many of the warlike machines of the Ancients produced a momentum far surpassing that of our heaviest cannon, but the great celerity given to the bodies projected from guns by gunpowder cannot be in the least approached by any other means than by the sudden production of an elastic gas. ”

“ It is well known that the continued action of a lesser force, will produce a much greater effect, than a greater amount of power applied suddenly; hence mild gunpowder is more suitable for rifle shooting than strong, or that which evolves the whole of its gas instantaneously. Time is necessary for the entire combustion of a charge of gunpowder, consequently more mild gunpowder can be fired out of a long, than out of a short barrel, as if fired out of a short barrel, some of the grains might be ejected unconsumed. ”

“ Greener advocates decreasing spirality. It is to be hoped he is the only advocate for so seemingly absurd an idea. To give a certain measure of spiral turn at the breech, to be withdrawn gradually as the bullet reaches the muzzle, is simply ridiculous, and which, with other conceits previously referred to, it is to be hoped are no more to be repeated. ”

“ The great argument against breech-loaders as military weapons is the expense, their intricate construction, the escape of gas, and the probable waste of ammunition, in the hands of an uneducated soldier. ”

“ But as the first position of the axis is uncertain, and as it may perpetually shift in the course of the bullet’s flight, the deviation of the bullet is not necessarily either in one certain direction, nor tending to the same side in one part of its flight that it does in another, but it more usually is continually changing the tendency of its deflection, as the axis round which it whirls must frequently shift its position during the progressive motion. ”

“ When the charge of powder in a gun is ignited the grains being enveloped by the heated gas, we may consider that each grain is ignited over its whole surface at once. If the grains of powder were of equal or regular form, the time each would be consuming, might be easily calculated, but since in ordinary cases they are irregular in form, although the grains may be of the same weight, the time necessary for their complete decomposition will be very different. ”

“ It is said, those people bore three kinds of slings, some longer and others shorter, to be used as their enemies were nearer or more remote; the first served them for a head band, the second for a girdle, and the third they always carried in their hands. In fight they threw large stones with such violence, that they seemed to be projected from some machine, and with such exactness, as rarely to miss their aim; being constantly exercised from their infancy, their mothers not allowing them to have any food, until they struck it down from the top of a pole with stones thrown from their slings. ”

“ On making experiments, it appeared that not one shot in a hundred, when floated in mercury, was indifferent as to the position in which it was so floated, but turned immediately, until the centre of gravity arrived at the lowest point, and consequently that not one shot in a hundred was perfect in sphericity, and homogeneity. Shells can be made eccentric by being cast with a solid segment in the interior sphere, left in the shell, or by boring two holes in each shell, diametrically opposite to one another, stopping up one with 5lbs. ”

“ I wish our companies consisted of fewer shots and more pikes, for they are not only always in readiness but need no ammunition, which cannot be said of the musket which requires powder, bullet, and match, and in wet or windy weather often disappoints the service. ”

“ Effect of gravity.Gravity is an accelerating force, acting constantly upon, and causing the bullet to move towards the earth, with a velocity increasing with the length of time the bullet is exposed to its influence. It has been found from experiment that this increase of velocity will cause a body to move through spaces, in proportion to the squares of the time taken to pass over the distance. ”

“ Guns are used for projecting shot and shell, horizontally or at very low angles, and as they are fired with large charges of powder, which are fixed for each nature of gun, very great strength and considerable weight are required in their construction. Guns are of two kinds, viz., (solid) shot guns, and shell guns. Some guns are also classed as heavy, medium, and light. Those generally employed for field service, are made of bronze or gun-metal; all guns of higher calibre, of cast-iron. ”

“ It is desirable to give a bullet as much velocity as it can safely be started with, and the limit is the recoil of the gun, and the liability of the bullets to be upset or destroyed, for as soon as this upsetting takes place, the performance becomes inferior, and the circle of error enlarged. ”