r had treated the question from a purely astronomic

, and the powder. It was composed of four members of great technical knowledge, Barbicane (with a casting vote in case of equality), General Morgan, Major Elphinstone, and J. T. Maston, to wh

ogical course to devote our first meeting to the discussion of the engine to be employed. Nevertheless, after mature consideration, it has appeared to me that

, gentlemen, to my mind, is the most magnificent manifestation of human power. If Providence has created the stars and the planets, man has called the cannon-ball into existence. Let Providence claim the swiftness of electricity and of light, of the stars, the comets, and the planets, of wind and sound - we claim to have invented the swiftness of the cannon

at down and applied himself to a h

us quit the domain of poetry a

the members, each with h

ectile a velocity of 12,000 yards per second. Let us at present examine the veloci

rens, which carried a distance of 5,000 yards, impressed upon their projectile an initial velocity of 500 yards a second. The Rodman Columbiad threw a shot

"is, I believe, the maxim

" replied

Maston, "if my mor

it twenty-fold. Now, reserving for another discussion the means of producing this velocity, I will call your attention to the dimensions whi

demanded

, "must be big enough to attract the attention o

, "and for another reaso

you?" asked

then take no further notice of it; we must follow it througho

general and the majo

ane composedly, "or our exper

"you will have to give this p

ain instruments we have succeeded in obtaining enlargements of 6,000 times and reducing the moon to withi

use that power detracts from their light; and the moon, which is but a reflecting mirror,

" asked the general. "Would you give yo

t s

to increase the lumino

oon's light has to travel I shall have rendered her light more intense. To effect that object

such a way of simplifying things. And what enl

apparent distance of five miles; and, in order to be visib

"our projectile need not be mo

rupted Major Elphinstone, "this

to say, than ours. For instance, during the siege of Constantinople by Mahomet II., in 1453, stone shot of 1,900 pounds weight were employed. At Malta, in the time of the knights, there was a gun of the fortress of St. Elmo which threw a projectile weighing 2,500 pounds. And, now, what is the extent of what we have seen ourselves? Armstrong gun

or; "but what metal do you

iron," said G

shot is proportionate to its volume, an iron ball of

e solid, not if

en it would

weigh more than 200,000 pounds, a weight evidently far too great. Still, as we must reserv

he thickness of the si

d Morgan, "a diameter of 108 inches would r

te; it will suffice to give it sides strong enough to resist the pressure of the gas. The problem, therefore, is this - What thickness ou

e; and, rapidly tracing a few algebraical formulae upon paper,

ire a thickness of l

ough?" asked the

!" replied t

then?" said Elphinsto

er metal inst

?" said

o heavy. I have bette

n?" asked

" replied

d his three coll

fusibility of copper, the lightness of glass. It is easily wrought, is very widely distributed, forming the base of most of the rocks, is t

the major, "is not the cost pri

covery, but it has fallen n

the major, who was not willing readily to

ear major; but not

ojectile weigh th

ches in diameter, and twelve inches in thickness, would weigh, in cast-iron,

you know that, at nine dollars a p

it quite well. But fear not, my friends; the money will not be wanting for ou

ommittee. So ended the first meeting. The que