BLASPHEMY. 163 BLASTING. ions, however heretical, is not at present criminally blasphemous. Undoubtedly, the pro- visions in the Federal and State Constitutions, guaranteeing religious freedom and securing the liberty of speech and the press, have helped to modify the judicial conception of this crime. While blasphemy is still a crime in Enfiland and in most of the United States, prosecutions lor the offense have become very rare. Though always punishable, it is seldom punished. In some of the United States it has ceased to be a crime. Such seems to be the ease in New York. See Stephen, Uistory of the Criminal Law of England (London, 188.3) : also the Encyclopedia of the Lairs of England, Vol, II,, page 172 (Lon- don) : Bishop, yew Commentaries on the Crimi- nal Law (Chicago, 1892) : and the Xew York Penal Code. Chapter 676, Laws of 1882, § 2. BLASS, bias. Fbiedbich Wilhelm (1843—). A German classical philologist, born at Osna- briick, Hanover. He was professor in the Uni- versity of Kiel from 1881 to 1892, and joined the faculty of the University of Halle in 1892. His works include: Die aitische Beredsamkeit (3 vols., 2d ed., 1887-98) ; Die Aiiss/irache des Gricchischen (3d ed., 1888) ; Plutarch, Tiberius, und Gaius Gracchus (1875); Grammatik der neutestamentlichen Sprache (1896) ; Philology of the Gospels (1898). He also edited the orations of ^■Eschines, Andoeides, Antiphon, Demosthenes, Dinarchus, Hyperides, Isocrates, and Lycurgus; Paccht/lidis Carmina (1898) ; Ada Apostolorum (lS94-9fit; Erangelium Lucre (1897); Aristo- tle's 'AOrivatuv XloXirefo (2d cd., 1895) ; revised Kiihner's (Irammatik der griechischen Sprache (I. I, 2, 1890-92) ; and is a frequent contributor to philological journals. BLAST-FURNACE. See Ibox a>-d Steel. BLASTING (.S. blwst, OHG. Must, a blow- ing: cf. OHG. blusan, breathe, snort, Ger. blasen, to blow, Engl, blaze, to spread a report, just like the slang blow). The process of breaking up rock, ores, and other fracturable material by means of e.Kplosives. It is extensively employed in engineering works generally, and in quarry- ing and mining operations particularly. Previ- ous to 1613 the means of loosening and breaking up rock in these operations were the hammer, chisel, and wedge, and the process of fire-setting, which consisted in heating the rock surface by building wood fires against it and then quickly cooling it with water, the sudden contraction thus produced causing the material to spall off and crack open to a limited depth. The first attempt to blast rock by the use of an explosive is commonly credited to Martin Weigel, a mine boss at Freiberg, Saxony, and is said to have oc- curred in the year 1613, Whether this date is ac- curate or not, it is quite certain that any previ- ous attempts at blasting were so exceptional that they did not come to the notice of the several writers on mining of that early date. Whatever may have been the date of the first attempt at blasting, however, it is certain that by 1034 to 1644 the use of gunpowder in mining operations was quite generally known in Germany, From that country the process was taken by German miners to England in 1670, and to Sweden in 1724, Until 1685 the drill-holes were stopped with wooden plugs, but in that year clay-tamping was employed in Saxony. In 1791 sand-tamping was first used. Hand-drilling with cone and cro^Ti drills was used until 1759, when the mod- ern chisel-edge drill was introduced. In 1829 Moses .Shaw, of New York, first fired blasts by electricity, and in 1831 Bickford, an Englishman, invented the match or fuze now known by hi» name. (See Fuze.) In 1849 Mr. J. J. Couch, of Philadelphia, Pa., invented the first power ])er- cussion drills. (See Drii.l.s.) In 1863 nitro- glycerin, and in 1867 dynamite, were first used as explosives in blasting operations. See Ex- plosives. Modern blasting operations may he di ded into three classes: (1) small-shot blasting, in which comparatively small volumes of rock are moved at a single blast ; (2) blasting by mines, in which large masses of rock are broken up by a single heavy blast: and (3) surface-blasting, in which the explosive is placed on or against, or simply near to. the rock to be broken up, and which is possible only with very high explosives. Small-shot blasting is employed in the great majority of quariying, mining, and engineering operations. It consists in piercing the rock with a comparatively small number of drill-holes from 11/4 inches to 3 inches in diameter and from 18 inches to several feet in depth; charging these holes with explosives, generally blasting- powder or dynamite, with the proper fuse or electric-wire connections : tamping the space above the explosive with earth, sand, clay, or water, and finally firing these charges by means of a time-fuse or wires from an electric battery or magneto-machine. The relative location of the drill-holes, their size and depth, and the amount of explosive used vary according to the object which it is sought to accomplish by the blast. Where the purpose is merely to break up the rock in the most efficient manner for its removal, as in excavating a foundation, the holes will be placed quite close together and heavily charged, so as to shatter the rock thoroughly. In quariying. where the object is to loosen the rock in large and regularly shaped masses, the holes are arranged in ro«s and lightly charged, so that the explosion will split the rock along ap- proximately definite lines without shattering it. In tunnel-work, the object is to take out a cylindrical mass of rock the size of the tunnel cross-section. This is usually accomplished by drilling and firing a small number of converging holes so as to take out a cone-shaped or wedge- shaped centre core, and then to enlarge this opening by drilling and blasting successive rings of holes surrounding this centre opening. In excavating a canal through rock, a row of holes is usually drilled transversely across the canal so as to throw down and break up a slice or sec- tion of rock extending from one side of the channel to the other. See Tunnels; Quabry, Quarrying; and Canals. Blasting by mines is employed when great ledges of rock have to be removed at one opera- tion, or where a large qtiantity of broken stone is required. Mining is usually accomplished by sinking vertical shafts into the top of a cliff, or by driving similar shafts horizontally into its face, or by a combination of the two methods. The methods of blasting by mines will be better explained by describing a number of typical blasts of this sort than by a general discussion of processes. In the work of removing the rock- oh^truction of the Danube River known as the 'Iron Gates' a verticai cliff, Greben Point, was
