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occupy nearly the whole time at our disposal, and would be but of little profit. I think we may be far better employed, in considering some one special weapon, with such matters as are ancillary to its use, or as are the objects of its attack.
It might be expected, having regard to the locality, that in making a selection among our weapons, I should have chosen small arms for my subject, for the manufacture of which arms this town of Birmingham has so high a reputation; but I propose to address you on the very opposite of small arms, namely, on "Big Guns," and of necessity in connection therewith, I must say something about the powder and projectiles with which these guns are charged, and about the armour they are designed to attack.
In speaking of Big Guns I propose to omit all early history, not to take up your time by reference to guns made of staves and hooped, nor even to describe the manufacture of the cast-iron cannon such as were used at the time of the Crimean War—whether those made by casting a solid cylinder and boring it out, or those produced according to the early specification for cannon cast hollow, which instructed the manufacturer to proceed as follows:—
"Take a long cylindrical hole, put it upright in the mould, and run your metal round about it."
These directions are clear, but I fear that apparently simple and inexpensive as the process is, there would be found considerable difficulty in carrying it out.
Although I do not propose to describe the manufacture of obsolete weapons, I find that I must (in order to introduce the existing construction) ask your attention for a short time to the value of the guns (and of their charges) with which Nelson fought, to attack unarmoured wooden ships, guns that remained up to within the last thirty years. A cast-iron muzzle-loader, rarely exceeding on shipboard a calibre of 6·3 inches, a length of bore of 9 feet, or 17 calibres, and a weight of 56 cwt. This gun had a smooth (i. e. unrifled) bore, of uniform diameter from end to end, and fired a spherical shot of 32 lbs, weight.
