Chemical wonders--Ice obtained in a red-hot vessel--The
corpse candles of Wales--Luminous appearances after
death--Sadoomeh the magician--The laughing gas--Sulphuric
ether--Chloroform--Gunpowder compared with gun-cotton.
The word chemistry is, probably, derived from a Coptic root, signifying
obscure or secret; and the German word _geheim_ is traced to the same
origin. The objects of this department of science are, to investigate
the nature and properties of the elements of matter and their mutual
actions and combinations; to ascertain the proportions in which they
unite and the modes of separating them when united; and to inquire into
the laws which affect and rule these agencies. A few of the wonders
connected with this science may, therefore, appropriately follow the
terrestrial phenomena which have just been considered.
The Romish church has rendered chemistry available in connexion
with one of its prodigies, the so-called blood of St. Januarius. A
substance is shown to the deluded worshippers in a phial, appearing
in a congealed state; but, as masses are performed by the priests,
it becomes fluid. The illusion practised in this case may, however,
be easily effected by reddening sulphuric ether with orchanet, the
_onosma_ of Linnæus, and then saturating the tincture with spermaceti.
This preparation is solid at ten degrees above the freezing point, and
melts and boils at twenty degrees. Let the phial which contains it when
coagulated, be held in the hand for a few minutes, and the temperature
of the substance rises, and it becomes fluid. Even the warmth of a
public assembly is sufficient for this purpose.
Marcus, the chief of one of the sects in the second century, who wished
to amalgamate with Christianity the doctrines and rules of pagan rites,
filled with white wine three cups of transparent glass; and, while
he was praying, the liquid in one of the cups became like blood; in
another, of a purple colour; and in the third, sky-blue. But these
effects might easily be produced by chemical action. Professor Beyruss,
at the court of the duke of Brunswick, promised that his white dress
should become red during a repast; and the change took place, to the
astonishment of the prince and his guests. M. Vogel, who relates this
fact, does not reveal the means employed; but observes that, by pouring
lime-water on the juice of beet-root, a colourless liquid is obtained,
that a piece of cloth dipped in it and quickly dried becomes red in a
few hours by the contact of the air alone; and that this effect may be
accelerated in a room where champagne and other beverages charged with
carbonic acid gas are abundantly used. Still more rapidly might the
chance be effected in some temple, in the midst of rising incense and
burning torches; and the veil which covered things deemed sacred, might
thus have been seen to change from white to the colour of blood--a
presage of fearful disasters.
A series of remarkable experiments was performed by professor Boutigny,
at the British Association at Cambridge, in 1845. He commenced by
showing, that when cold water is poured on a hot metallic surface, the
heat is not communicated to it; and that the water assumes a spheroidal
form, and continues to roll about, upheld at a minute distance from
the heated surface, without boiling. The water was poured into a hot
platinum cup kept in rapid motion, and resembled a small globe of
glass dancing about. There was no hissing noise nor appearance of
steam, though the globule of water must, nevertheless, have evaporated
rapidly; for, after gradually diminishing in size, in the course of
about two minutes it disappeared. The same result takes place when any
substance capable of assuming a globular form is placed on a heated
surface. In proof of this, the professor placed in the heated cup of
platinum, iodine, ammonia, and some inflammable substances; each of
which became globular, and danced about like the globule of water, but
without emitting smell or vapour, or being inflamed, until the platinum
cup was cooled.
Another experiment was yet more curious. Professor Boutigny heated a
silver weight, of the same shape as the weight of a clock, until it
was red-hot, and then lowered it by a wire into a glass of cold water,
without there being any more indication of action in the water than if
the weight had been quite cold. Professor Boutigny advanced no theory
to account for these peculiar actions, further than that a film of
vapour intervenes between the heated body and the substance, which
prevents the communication of heat. The facts, however, he thought
were of importance in a practical point of view, both as regards
the tempering of metals, and in the explanation of the causes of
steam-boiler explosions. It would seem, from experiments in tempering
metals, that, if the metal be too much heated, the effect of plunging
it into water will be diminished. In steam-boilers, also, if the
heated water be introduced into a heated surface, the heat may not
be communicated to the water, and the boiler may become red-hot, and
without any great emission of steam; until, at length, when the boiler
cools, a vast quantity of steam would become suddenly generated and the
boiler burst.
The last and most curious experiment performed by professor Boutigny,
was the freezing of water in a red-hot vessel. Having heated a platinum
cup red-hot, he poured into it a small quantity of water, which was
kept in a globular form, as in the other experiments. He then poured
into the cup some liquid sulphurous acid; when a sudden evaporation
ensued, and, on quickly inverting the cup, there came out a small mass
of ice. The principle of this experiment, which called forth loud
and continued applause, is this:--sulphurous acid has the property
of boiling water when it is at a temperature below the freezing
point; and, when poured into the heated vessel, the suddenness of the
evaporation occasions a degree of cold sufficient to freeze water.
Liquid carbonic acid takes a high position for its freezing qualities.
Mr. Adams, of Kensington, manufactures this curious liquid as an
article of commerce, and has, occasionally, as much as nine gallons of
it in store. In drawing it from its powerful reservoirs, it evaporates
so rapidly as to freeze, and it is then a light porous mass, like snow.
If a small quantity of this is drenched with ether, the degree of cold
produced is even more intolerable to the touch than boiling water; a
drop or two of the mixture producing blisters, just as if the skin had
been burned! Mr. Adams states that, in eight minutes he has frozen a
mass of mercury weighing ten pounds.
In one department of knowledge--that of vapours and gases--on which
chemistry casts so much light, we discover many remarkable phenomena.
Few persons have resided, for example, in the fenny and swampy
districts of our island, without seeing, at least occasionally, the
ignis fatuus, Will-o’-the-wisp, or Jack-o’-lantern, hovering a few
feet above the surface of stagnant water.
“Wild fires dancing o’er the heath,”
may be observed, indeed, at almost all times of the year, but it is
chiefly in autumn, and particularly in November, that they flit in mazy
circles and irregular evolutions; sometimes at the edge of a morass,
over the tops of withered sedges, reeds, and brushwood; and, at others,
over palings and hedgerows, or the still surface of the oozy bog.
It has been argued by some, that they are effects produced by luminous
insects, as the glow-worm, the gnat, and the mole-cricket. But this
theory is very unsatisfactory, and the cause which is now generally
acknowledged to be the real one, is far more natural. There is a
substance readily obtained, but of very offensive odour, called
phosphoret of lime; and, if a piece of this be taken and dropped into a
pool of water, little flames will be seen on its surface. These arise
from the power of the substance to decompose water, in consequence of
which, the hydrogen ascends to the surface, and ignites on coming in
contact with the air.
Dr. Weissenborn has given the following interesting statements:--“In
the year 1818, I was fortunate enough to get a fine view of the ignes
fatui operating on an extensive scale. I was then at Schnepfenthal,
in the duchy of Gotha; and in a clear November night, between eleven
and twelve o’clock, when I had just undressed, the bright moonshine
allured me to the window, to survey the expanse of boggy meadows, which
spread two or three English miles in length, a quarter-of-a-mile from
the foot of the hillock on which the house in which I then was, is
standing. Through the first third of the meadows there was a winding
rivulet, of the breadth of seven or eight feet, which then turns off
into an artificial bed, whilst the old bed continues in the direction
of the meadows, which are bounded on one side by a range of brushwood,
and on the other by cultivated grounds, with marshy dells here and
there. My intimate acquaintance with the locality, together with
the bright moonshine, enabled me to discover every object round the
meadow-ground, sufficiently well to judge of the position and direction
of the luminous phenomena, the display of which I saw as soon as I had
posted myself at the window. I perceived a number of reddish yellow
flames on different parts of the expanse of almost level ground. I
descried, perhaps, no more than six at a time, but dying away and
appearing in other places so rapidly, that it was impossible to count
them; but I should say, on a rough calculation, there were about twenty
or twenty-five within a second. Some were small and burned dimly;
others flashed with a bright flame, in a direction almost parallel
with the ground, and coinciding with that of the wind, which was
rather brisk. After having for some time looked with amazement at the
brilliant scene, as a whole, I tried to study its details, and soon
found that the flames which were nearest originated in a quagmire, the
position of which I knew exactly, by a solitary cluster of willows;
and I could trace a succession of flashes from that spot to a certain
point of the margin of the wood across the rivulet and meadow. The
distance of the two points from each other was more than half-a-mile,
and the flames travelled over it, perhaps, in less than a second. The
first flash was not always observed in the immediate neighbourhood
of the quagmire; but the succession of flames lay always in the same
straight line, and in the direction of the wind; whilst other sets were
observed, though not with the same distinctness, in the more distant
parts of the meadow-ground.
“After about an hour, a bank of mist began to overspread the meadows,
but I saw the light still glimmering through it, whilst I dressed
myself, in order to examine the phenomenon in its laboratory. However,
when I reached the meadows, the atmospheric conditions which gave rise
to the ignes fatui had ceased to exist.” Weissenborn then expresses his
belief that the phosphoric hydrogen gas, exhaled by certain swamps,
is kindled into flame by coming in contact with the atmospheric air;
but, as the hydrogen is not saturated with phosphorus, (the greater
portion of the latter being precipitated in passing through the water
as red oxide of phosphorus,) there is a certain electric condition
of the atmosphere necessary to cause the combustion. Thus, under
common circumstances, the gas is evolved and dissipated without being
observed; but when the state of the atmosphere is competent to effect
its combustion, the proper degree of electrical tension is lost at
the place where the explosion is effected; and, until it is restored,
or the gas comes in contact with that layer of the atmosphere which
possesses the requisite degree of electrical tension, a considerable
body of bog gas may collect, and be carried in the direction of the
wind, so as to give rise to a sort of quick fire, with occasional
flashes; in those places of the stream of gas where there happens to be
a considerable volume of it. The lights, which still frequently excite
apprehensions in Wales, and are popularly termed “corpse candles,” have
the same origin as the “ignes fatui.”
At the village of Wigmore, in Herefordshire, there are fields which
may be, and two houses which really are, illuminated with a natural
gas. This vapour, with which the subjacent strata seem to be charged,
is obtained in the following manner:--a hole is made in the cellar of
the house, or other locality, with an iron rod; a hollow tube is then
placed therein, fitted with a burner similar to those used for ordinary
gas-lights, and immediately on applying a flame to the jet, a soft and
brilliant light is obtained, which may be kept burning at pleasure. The
gas is very pure, quite free from any offensive smell, and does not
stain the ceilings, as is generally the case with the manufactured
article. Besides lighting rooms, etc., it has been used for cooking;
and, indeed, seems capable of the same applications as prepared
carburetted hydrogen. There are several fields in which the phenomenon
exists, and children are seen boring holes and setting the gas on fire
for amusement. It is now several months since the discovery was made;
and a great many of the curious have visited, and still continue to
visit, the spot.
If the Chinese are not manufacturers, they are, nevertheless, gas
consumers and employers on a large scale; and have evidently been so,
ages before the knowledge of its application was acquired by Europeans.
Beds of coal are frequently pierced by the borers of salt water; and
the inflammable gas is forced up in jets twenty or thirty feet in
height. From these fountains, the vapour has been conveyed to the
salt-works in pipes, and there used for the boiling and evaporation of
the salt; other tubes convey the gas intended for lighting the streets,
and the larger apartments and kitchens. As there is still more gas
than is required, the excess is conducted beyond the limits of the
salt-works, and forms separate chimneys or columns of flame.
A singular counterpart to this employment of natural gas, is witnessed
in the valley of the Kanawha, in Virginia. The origin, the means of
supply, the application to all the processes of manufacturing salt, and
of the appropriation of the surplus for the purposes of illumination,
are remarkably alike at such distant points as China and the United
States.
It has sometimes been stated of a departed person, that a luminous
appearance was observed to rest upon, and occasionally to surround, a
corpse. Such an effect has been described as supernatural--a Divine
attestation to extraordinary excellence; and, doubtless, Roman
Catholics have made the most of such circumstances in reference to
those whom they have denominated saints, and to whom a place has been
assigned in their calendar. And yet there was no departure in any such
instance from the ordinary laws of nature. Sir H. Marsh, in an essay on
“The Evolution of Light from the Human Subject,” states, that electric
sparks have been known to issue from the skin of some individuals
when rubbed lightly and quickly with a linen cloth. Not only has this
physician heard of such cases, but two had actually come under his
observation.
He was led to consider the subject by the following statement made to
him. “About an hour and-a-half before my sister’s death, we were struck
by appearances proceeding from her head, in a diagonal direction. She
was, at the time, in a half-recumbent position, and perfectly tranquil.
The light was pale as the moon, but quite evident to mamma, myself,
and sisters, who were watching over her at the time. One of us, at
first, thought that it was lightning; till, shortly after, we fancied
we perceived a sort of tremulous glimmer playing round the head of the
bed; and then, recollecting that we had read something of a similar
nature having been observed previous to dissolution, we had candles
brought into the room, fearing our dear sister would perceive it, and
that it might disturb the tranquillity of her last moments.”
A similar appearance around the person, and in the room, of a man who
fell a sacrifice to lingering disease in a remote district of the
south-west of Ireland, is recorded. All the witnesses agree in having
seen the light; many, however, came to the conclusion that it was
caused by supernatural agency, and a proof of miraculous interposition,
and even evidence of Divine favour. Considerable excitement was
occasioned in the south of Ireland by the following case, related by
Dr. D. Donavan, in the _Dublin Medical Press_, Jan. 15, 1840:--“I was
sent for,” the Doctor says, “in December, 1828, to see Harrington.
He had been under the care of my predecessor, and had been entered
in the dispensary book as a phthisical patient; and, on reference to
my note-book, I find that the stethoscopic and other indications of
phthisis were indubitable. He was under my care for about five years;
during which time, strange to say, the symptoms continued stationary;
and I had discontinued my attendance for about two years, when the
report became general, that mysterious lights were every night seen in
his cabin. The subject attracted a great deal of attention; and, like
everything else in Ireland, at once assumed a sectarian complexion;
some attributing the light to the miraculous interference of Heaven;
others, to the practice of the black art. Not regarding these views as
affording an explanation of the mystery, I determined to subject the
matter to the ordeal of my own senses; and, for this purpose, visited
the cabin for fourteen nights; and on three nights, only, did I witness
anything unusual. Once I perceived a luminous fog, resembling the
aurora borealis, and twice I saw the scintillations, like the sparkling
phosphorescence sometimes exhibited by the sea infusoria. From the
close scrutiny I made, I can, with certainty, say, that no imposition
was either employed or attempted. How are these appearances to be
accounted for? In answering this question, I would observe, that they
are never seen but in cases of extensive disease, and when considerable
alteration of structure has taken place. Processes analogous to
decomposition are witnessed in the human subject while the living
principle remains.”
On these, and similar facts, Dr. Marsh remarks: “Disease is but a
step toward dissolution, in which the vital powers are impaired; and,
unless the malady be checked, by the use of proper means, a period
will quickly approach when the chemical action will entirely prevail
over the whole frame. Phosphorescent matter may be generated in
organic bodies at a period of incipient decomposition; and when we
consider that phosphuretted hydrogen undergoes spontaneous combustion,
when brought in contact with the oxygen of the atmosphere, and that
the component parts of which this gas is formed exist in the body
in great abundance, an easy solution is at hand, accounting for the
luminous appearances which have been witnessed in dissecting-rooms, in
burial-grounds, and in marine substances, as well as on the approach of
dissolution.”
The Arabs are well known as believers in wonders; and of one of their
magicians, named Sadoomeh, the following story is told. “In order to
give one of his friends a treat, he took him to the distance of about
half-an-hour’s walk into the desert, on the north of Cairo, where
they both sat down upon the pebbly and sandy plain; and the magician
having uttered a spell, they suddenly found themselves in the midst of
a garden, like one of the gardens of Paradise, abounding with flowers
and fruit-trees of every kind, springing up from a soil covered with
verdure brilliant as the emerald, and irrigated by numerous streamlets
of the purest water. A repast of the most delicious viands and fruit
was spread before them by invisible hands; and they both ate and drank
to satiety, taking copious draughts of the various wines. At length
the magician’s guest sank into a deep sleep, and when he awoke he
found himself again in the pebbly and sandy plain, with Sadoomeh still
by his side.” “The reader will probably attribute this vision,” says
Mr. Lane, who relates the tale, “to a dose of opium or some similar
drug; and such I suppose to have been the means employed; for I cannot
doubt the integrity of the narrator, though he would not admit such
an explanation; regarding the whole as an affair of magic, ‘jinn,’ or
genii.”
A story of Gassendi, one of the most distinguished of naturalists,
mathematicians, and philosophers of France, in the sixteenth century,
will place this solution in a still clearer light. As he was taking
a morning walk near Deigne, in Provence, his ears were assailed by
repeated exclamations of “A sorcerer! a sorcerer!” On glancing behind
him, he beheld a mean and simple-looking man, with his hands tied,
whom a mob of the country-people were hurrying to prison. Gassendi’s
character and learning had given him great authority with them, and he
desired to be left alone with the man. They immediately surrendered
him, and Gassendi said to him, in private, “My friend, you must tell
me sincerely, whether you have made a compact with the devil or not:
if you confess it, I will give you your liberty immediately; but, if
you refuse to tell me, I will give you immediately into the hands of a
magistrate.” The man answered, “Sir, I will own that I go to a meeting
of wizards every day. One of my friends has given me a drug, which I
take to effect this, and I have been received as a sorcerer these three
years.” He then described the proceedings of these meetings, and spoke
of the different devils, as if he had been all his life acquainted
with them. “Show me,” said Gassendi, “the drug which you take to attend
this infernal meeting, for I intend to go there with you to-night.”
The man replied, “As you please, Sir; I will take you at midnight, as
soon as the clock strikes twelve.” Accordingly, he met Gassendi at the
appointed hour, and, showing him two boluses, each of the size of a
walnut, he desired him to swallow one, as soon as Gassendi had seen him
swallow the other, and then they lay down together on a goat-skin. The
man soon fell asleep, but Gassendi remained awake and watched him, and
perceived that he was greatly disturbed in his slumbers, and writhed
and twisted his body about, as if he had been troubled by bad dreams.
At the expiration of five or six hours he awoke, and said to Gassendi,
“I am sure, Sir, you ought to be satisfied with the manner in which
the great goat received you; he conferred on you a high honour when
he permitted you to kiss his tail the first time he ever saw you.” It
was thus apparent that the deleterious opiate had operated upon his
imagination. Gassendi, compassionating his weakness and credulity,
took pains to convince him of his self-delusion; and, showing him
the bolus, he gave it to a dog, who soon fell asleep, and suffered
great convulsions. The poor fellow was set at liberty to undeceive
his brethren, who had, like him, been lulled by the noxious drug into
imagining themselves sorcerers.
In India there is a native plant, which, after it has flowered, is
dried and sold in the bazaars of Calcutta, for smoking. The Hindoos
call it “ganpah,” and they give the name of “bang” or “subjee” to
the large leaves and capsules which they use for the same purpose.
The plant is a species of hemp; the smoking of which is considered
so delightful, according to Dr. Thomson, as to have been denominated
by such epithets as “Assuager of sorrow,” “Increaser of pleasure,”
“Cementer of friendship,” “Laughter-mover,” and others of the same kind.
On the same authority it is stated, that in Nepaul, the resin only
is used; in some places it is collected by native coolies, walking
through the fields of hemp at the time the plants give forth the resin,
which, adhering to the skin, is scraped off from it, and kneaded into
balls. It is taken in doses, from a grain to two grains, and causes
a delightful delirium. When repeated, however, it is followed by
catalepsy, or that state of insensibility which allows the body to be
moulded into any form like a Dutch-jointed doll, the limbs remaining in
the position in which they were placed, though contrary to the law of
gravity, and continuing so for many hours.
We are well acquainted with various means of acting in an extraordinary
manner on the human frame. The writer, in common with multitudes, has
witnessed, for example, the operation of nitrous oxide, often called
“the laughing-gas.” It acts, however, very differently on different
persons; some laugh immoderately, others become depressed, others
assume the airs of vanity and importance which accord with their most
cherished dispositions; and some can only be forcibly restrained from
deeds of great violence. It is certainly a most singular sight to see
a person laughing most boisterously, or strutting with all the hauteur
of a newly-made potentate, suddenly subside as the action of the gas
ceases, into a very unobtrusive individual.
We may now briefly allude to one of the most extraordinary applications
of the present times. The late sir Humphry Davy made many experiments
on the effects of various gases on the human lungs. He found, in his
own person, that the inhalation of nitrous oxide removed head-ache,
and greatly assuaged the pain of cutting a wisdom-tooth. In his works,
edited by Dr. John Davy, is the following passage:--
“As nitrous oxide, in its extensive operation, appears capable of
destroying physical pain, it may probably be used with advantage during
surgical operations in which no great effusion of blood takes place.”
Here is the germ of the recent application of ether.
“The effects of this inhalation, as indicated by the patient’s own
recollection,” says a writer in the _North British Review_, “are very
various. In general they are somewhat as follows:--A pleasing sense
of soothing succeeds the first irksomeness of the pungent vapour--a
soothing of both mind and body. Ringing in the ears takes place, with
some confusion of sight and intellectual perception. The limbs are
felt cold and powerless; the hands and feet first, then the knees;
and the feeling is as if these parts had ceased to be peculiar
property, and dropped away. This sensation may gradually creep over
the whole frame; the patient becoming, in more senses than one, truly
etherealized; reduced to the condition of no body and all soul. The
objects around are either lost sight of or strangely perverted; fancied
shadows flit before the eyes, and then a dream sets in--sometimes calm
and placid, sometimes active and bustling, sometimes very pleasurable,
sometimes frightful, as a nightmare. Emerging, the figures and scenes
shift rapidly, and grow fainter and fainter; present objects are
caught by the eye once more, the ringing of the ears is heard again,
consciousness and self-control return, a tendency to excited talking is
very manifest, movement is unsteady, and, both in mind and body, a kind
of intoxication is declared. It is, however, of a light and airy kind;
very pure, very pleasant, and very passing, and, when gone, leaving
very little trace behind.
“Experience has fully shown that the brain may be acted on so as to
annihilate, for the time, what may be termed the faculty of feeling
pain; the organ of general sense may be lulled into profound sleep,
while the organ of special sense, and the organ of intellectual
function remain wide awake, active, and busily employed. The patient
may feel no pain under very cruel cutting, and yet he may see,
hear, taste, and smell, as well as ever, to all appearance; and he
may also be perfectly conscious of everything within reach of his
observation--able to reason on such events most lucidly, and able to
retain both the events and the reasoning in his memory afterwards.
We have seen a patient following the operator with her eyes most
intelligently and watchfully, as he shifted his place near her, lifted
his knife, and proceeded to use it; wincing not at all during its use;
answering questions by gesture, very readily and plainly; and, after
the operation was over, narrating every event as it occurred; declaring
that she knew and saw all; stating that she knew and felt that she was
being cut, and yet that she felt no pain whatever. Patients have said,
quietly, ‘You are sawing now,’ during the use of the saw in amputation;
and afterwards they have declared most solemnly, that though quite
conscious of that part of the operation, yet they felt no pain. We
have seen a patient enduring amputation of a limb without any sign
of suffering, opening her eyes during the performance, at its most
painful part, descrying a country practitioner at some distance--under
whose care she had formerly been, and whom she had not seen for some
considerable time--addressing him by name, and requesting that he might
not leave town without seeing her.”
Since the period to which the writer just quoted refers, Dr.
Simpson, of Edinburgh, has discovered a substitute for sulphuric
ether--chloroform, or the perchloride of formyle. It is stated to
possess over sulphuric ether the following advantages:--1. A greatly
less quantity of chloroform than of ether is requisite to produce the
desired effect. 2. Its action is much more rapid and complete, and
generally more enduring. 3. The inhalation and influence of chloroform
are far more agreeable and pleasant than those of ether. 4. The use
of chloroform is less expensive than that of ether. 5. Its odour is
not unpleasant; nor does it exhale in a disagreeable form from the
lungs of the patient, as so generally happens with sulphuric ether.
6. Being required in much less quantity, it is much more portable and
transmissible than sulphuric ether. 7. No special kind of inhaler
or instrument is necessary for its exhibition. A little of the
liquid diffused upon the interior of a hollow-shaped sponge, or on a
pocket-handkerchief, or a piece of linen or paper, or held over the
mouth and nostrils, so as to be fully inhaled, generally suffices, in
about a minute or two, to produce the effect. This agent, however,
requires to be used to annul pain under the direction of a judicious
medical practitioner; it may otherwise be productive of serious
consequences.
A prodigious force often arises from chemical affinity. Of this,
gunpowder presents a familiar instance. It is formed of nitre,
sulphur, and charcoal, which, in the ordinary state, are only combined
mechanically; but no sooner is this compound ignited, than these
substances are brought, by chemical action, into such close contact,
as to evolve a mighty and destructive power. It seemed likely to be
thrown into the shade by the discovery of gun-cotton as an explosive
agent, which excited extraordinary interest throughout Europe. On
projectile experiments being made, a gun, charged with thirty grains
of prepared cotton, propelled an equal charge of shot, with greater
force and precision, at a distance of forty yards, than were gained
by the same gun loaded with a hundred-and-twenty grains of gunpowder.
A rifle, charged with fifty-four and-a-half grains of gunpowder,
sent a ball through seven boards, half-an-inch in thickness, at a
distance of forty yards; the same rifle, charged with forty grains of
gun-cotton, caused the ball to enter the eighth board. Another rifle,
which had been used for elephant-shooting, and consequently carried a
much larger ball, charged with forty grains of gun-cotton, forced the
ball through eight boards, at a distance of ninety yards. In no case
was the discharge accompanied by a greater recoil than usual; and the
reports were not louder than those accompanying the discharge of guns
and rifles loaded with gunpowder. According to the specification of the
patentee, M. Schönbein, cotton is preferred for this purpose, freed
from extraneous matters; and it is considered desirable to operate on
the clean fibres of the cotton in a dry state, by means of nitric and
sulphuric acids. These are mixed together in the proportion of one
measure of nitric acid to three measures of sulphuric acid, in any
suitable or convenient vessel not liable to be affected by the acids.
A great degree of heat being generated by the mixture, it is left to
cool until its temperature falls to sixty or fifty degrees Fahrenheit.
The cotton is then immersed in it; and, in order that it may become
thoroughly saturated with the acids, it is stirred with a rod of glass,
or other material, not affected by the acids. The cotton should be
introduced in as open a state as practicable. The acids are then poured
or drawn off, and the cotton gently pressed by a presser of glazed
earthenware, to take out the acids, after which it is covered up in
the vessel, and allowed to stand for about an hour. It is subsequently
washed in a continuous flow of water, until the presence of the acids
is not indicated by the ordinary test of litmus paper. To remove any
uncombined portions of the acids which may remain after the cleansing
process, the patentee dips the cotton in a weak solution of carbonate
of potash, composed of one ounce of carbonate of potash to one gallon
of water, and partially dries it by pressing, as before. The cotton is
then highly explosive, and may be used in that state; but, to increase
its explosive power, it is dipped in a weak solution of nitrate of
potash, and, lastly, dried in a room heated by hot air, or steam, to
about one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit.
The advantages and disadvantages of this substance have thus been
stated by professor Brande:--“The disadvantages are, that the effects
are less regular than those of gunpowder; that it is more dangerous,
because inflaming at a lower temperature; that it does not take
fire when compressed in tubes; that it burns slowly in all kinds of
cartridges; that guns and pistols must be altered to admit of its
use; that it is not adapted for the use of the army; that the barrel
of the gun is moistened by the water produced during combustion. The
advantages, on the other hand, may be stated as follows:--Its extreme
cleanliness, leaving no residue after combustion; its freedom from
all bad smell; the facility and the safety of its preparation; the
possessing treble the force of gunpowder; its explosion producing
no smoke, and less noise than that of gunpowder; its filamentary
nature admitting of its being used over head in mining operations;
its not being liable (as a granulated substance is) to the accidents
of leakage; its occasioning very little recoil.”--Every benevolent
mind must wish to hear no more of “the confused noise of battle and
of garments rolled in blood;” and that the time may soon arrive when
men shall “beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears
into pruning-hooks;” when “they shall learn war no more,” but yield
themselves heartily and devotedly to the benignant sway of the Prince
of peace. There seems, however, no reason to conclude that gun-cotton
will be employed for any hostile purpose, the Board of Ordnance having
definitely decided against its adoption in the military and naval
services. The principal objection to it is, the very low temperature at
which it explodes. The mere heating of a gun, from a number of charges
successively fired, has been proved sufficient to cause an instant
explosion of gun-cotton.
In mining, it is likely to be of great use. In the slate-quarries at
Penrhyns it has been found far superior to gunpowder. A huge mass of
sixty tons’ weight, for instance, was gently pushed from its firmly
compacted bed by the explosion of only eight ounces of cotton, while
the slate was not splintered. In other great works it will also be of
service. In a cutting on the Syston and Peterborough railway, not far
from Stamford, experiments showed the average powers of the gun-cotton
to be in the proportion of one to six of gunpowder; so that, in a hard
freestone foundation, about five feet thick, and with an entire depth
of twenty-eight feet, where six holes were necessary for gunpowder,
only one was required for gun-cotton. In all blasting operations,
whether in open cuttings, tunnels, or deep mines, a great saving of
time, labour, and cost, is thus likely to be effected.