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Show DESTRUCT1 V ENESS OP EN G1NES OE WAR. As the invention of gunpowder has tended, to spften, t!iq ferocity df ;war, anil to the saving of human Ijfe, so it may be, hoped tliat scieiitilk improvements! may yet be made which 'will diminish tlll furr tlier the carnage incident to. militnry operations. op-erations. The Chevalier Eohird, in !lds account of tlio catnpultte balistm, ami other engines of the nucleus states that somcof their powers were little inferior to those, of our modern instrument of destruction, des-truction, urn! in the works orCelsuswe find that the effects of leaden balls and Mode project etl from the engines then iu use were tj no means unkrimvu; but' of their velocttka wo huqw little; or .nothing. By tho calculations- of I)' Ah- m It :- 5rpiii pat iinhiStio-aiyf a cannon h.i)I is nearly 2,(100 feet in h second, and that of u, niusketbont 1,100 feet; but these Velocities rnpidJy'dimiuH'i from the moment the ball quits the mouth of the gun, and are greatly influenced by the quantity and quality Of the powder, the force used in ramming tho wads, the elevation of ttio gun and tho length. of the bore. The state of the ntmosphcre, also, has some lufluojicc, the velocity of tiio ball, iu very dry weather, being' oue-acveutk greater than when tbo air U loaded with vapor. Jn sieges, heavy cannon are used, while in engagements in the open field, the weight of'the shot Is of course less, owing to' the necessity in tho hitter caso of having hav-ing guns sufficiently light tb be easily portable. por-table. The other species of shot-nro the common musket ball, fired singly from mnskcta" or discharged in cases from field-pieces' field-pieces' Mhiic rifle bullets; shrapnel ami other improved shells; grape, which consists con-sists of small iron balls disposed iu linen baj;s fastened to n Koodcif bottom, iu the middle of which isafpiudb round which the balls are kccured by cord or wire; or case shot, which consist of the same iron bulls put into tin cylinder, the banes of whkh ure closed by two circular pieces of wood. Another kind of projectiles ore shell", or hollow Iron spheres filled with powdery 'which mny act cither before or after their explosion. A French scientific journal we have just received stutes that in addition to experiment experi-ment with a steel cannon said . to be invented in-vented hy the cmjieror, which have just! been made near the city, trials have' taken, place with a new projectile wei-rh-ing abodt 100 lbs., which is. of such terrific terri-fic power that it H believed that in bursting burst-ing in the midst of a mnss of men, a bun-; drcd might bo killed or wounded. The closer the contending armies are to : each other, the more deadly will be fhei eflect of all projectiles. Thus, according to D'Antoni, a 32 pound, shot may pierce a file at (seventy men; a 16-pouml, u file of forty-eight; an 8-pourtd, a .file of forty; a 13-ouuce shot a file of twenty; a 6-ouncc, a file of sixtceuj a 1-pnnce, a file of four, if very close to them and propelled by u certain degree of force A shell will pas i through from two to five men, and will kill or wouud, by its splinters, from.six to nine. The distance and the resistance will of coarse prodnce a great vurlutlon in the action of nil these missile?, and It is remarkable what awry small amount : Of resistance will deflect a reostet b)il from its course, A man, for instance, has been struct on the throat, and the ball, imfend of rwss'u g throagh tho neck, j only penetrated the skin, performing, a i complete circle under the intcgnmeut, and lodging close to where H entered. Another Ano-ther singohir fact is the bnrmlcscno.s of slngtj and musket balls when lodgvd in some purtf of the body, nature forming a layer around them to protect tho surrounding surround-ing parts. Many instances are on record of men carrying ballets tbas encysted for years without mnch pain or suffering, |