Show gun cottos COTTON inquiries having havin been made of us lately is as to the usi use of guncotton gun cott cotton on and whether it could take lake the place of gunpowder we have llave obtained the following information oil on the subject from the smithsonian institute viz G gun un colton cotton cannot be made with anything like the same bame uniformity in strength as guapo gunpowder z der and bria its explosive property diminishes on being kept for any length of time lime it can be used with safety in the tile discharge of fire arms but not with as much safety as powder its cost weight for weight is a lit little ae more than gunpowder bat but owing to greater strength force for force it is cheaper the governments ern ments of francer prussia austria russia and england have made a great number of elpe experiments ri ments on the use of guncotton gun cotton in fire firearms arms and in all cases the tiie reports of the engineers engaged in making the experiments were against its adoption in the place of gunpowder in blantin blasting 1 rocks Tocks it is used extensively the objections to its use are the inequality of its action compared with gunpowder the effect on oil the gun is greater its pro jentile force varies with the compression of it it in therun the gun it attracts more moisture alters aiters slowly from loss of acid explodes under some circumstances stances s at 14 44 deg fahrenheit the lar lare iare e size of the cartridges cat ridges ac washington star stir |