of powder, this quantity has been reduced to 116 lbs.

only.
"What are you driving at ?" asked the president.
"The extreme of your theory, my dear major," said J.T.Maston, "would bring you to having no powder at all, provided your shot were sufficiently heavy." "Friend Maston will have his joke even in the most serious things," replied the major; "but he need not be uneasy; I shall soon propose a quantity of powder that will satisfy him.

Only I wish to have it understood that during the war, and for the largest guns, the weight of the powder was reduced, after experience, to a tenth of the weight of the shot." "Nothing is more exact," said Morgan; "but, before deciding the quantity of powder necessary to give the impulsion, I think it would be well to agree upon its nature." "We shall use a large-grained powder," answered the major; "its deflagration is the most rapid." "No doubt," replied Morgan; "but it is very brittle, and ends by damaging the chamber of the gun." "Certainly; but what would be bad for a gun destined for long service would not be so for our Columbiad.

We run no danger of explosion, and the powder must immediately take fire to make its mechanical effect complete." "We might make several touchholes," said J.T.Maston, "so as to set fire to it in several places at the same time." "No doubt," answered Elphinstone, "but that would make the working of it more difficult.

I therefore come back to my large-grained powder that removes these difficulties." "So be it," answered the general.
"To load his Columbiad," resumed the major, "Rodman used a powder in grains as large as chestnuts, made of willow charcoal, simply rarefied in cast-iron pans.