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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of A discourse on the theory of gunnery,
-by John Pringle
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: A discourse on the theory of gunnery
-       Delivered at the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society,
-       November 30, 1778
-
-Author: John Pringle
-
-Release Date: October 8, 2022 [eBook #69116]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: deaurider and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
-             https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
-             generously made available by The Internet Archive)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DISCOURSE ON THE THEORY OF
-GUNNERY ***
-
-
-
-
-
-
-                                    A
-                                DISCOURSE
-                                  ON THE
-                           _Theory of Gunnery_.
-
-
-
-
-                                    A
-                                DISCOURSE
-                                  ON THE
-                           _Theory of Gunnery_.
-
-                             DELIVERED AT THE
-                Anniversary Meeting of the ROYAL SOCIETY,
-                            November 30, 1778.
-
-                       By Sir JOHN PRINGLE Baronet.
-
-                        PUBLISHED BY THEIR ORDER.
-
-                              [Illustration]
-
-                                 LONDON:
-                      PRINTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY.
-                               MDCCLXXVIII.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-    GENTLEMEN,
-
-Among the several experiments communicated to the society, during the
-course of the preceding year, none seeming so much to engage your
-attention, as those contained in the Paper, intituled, _The force of
-fired gun-powder, and the initial velocity of cannon-balls, determined
-by experiments_: with much pleasure therefore I acquaint you, that, on
-account of the pre-eminence of that communication, your Council have
-judged the author, Mr. CHARLES HUTTON, worthy of the honour of the annual
-medal, instituted on the bequest of Sir GODFREY COPLEY Baronet, for
-raising a laudable emulation among men of genius, in making experimental
-inquiries. But, as on former occasions, so now, your Council, waving
-their privilege of determining the choice, have acted only as a select
-number deputed by you, to prepare matters for your final decision. I
-come then, on their part, briefly to lay before you the state of the
-_Theory of Gunnery_, from its rise to the time when its true foundation
-was laid, in order to evince how conducive those experiments may be
-to the improvement of an art of public concern, as well as to the
-advancement of _natural knowledge_, the great object of your institution.
-And if, upon a review of the subject, you shall entertain no less
-favourable an opinion of Mr. HUTTON’s performance, than what your Council
-have done, it is their earnest request that you would enhance the value
-of this prize, by authorizing your President to present it to our
-ingenious brother in your name.
-
-Artillery (in the large acceptation of the term) took place long before
-the invention of gun-powder. We trace the art to the remotest antiquity,
-since the Sacred Records acquaint us, that one of the kings of Judah,
-eight hundred years before the Christian æra, erected on the towers and
-bulwarks of Jerusalem engines of war, the contrivance of ingenious men,
-for shooting arrows and great stones for the defence of that city[1].
-Such machines were afterwards known to the Greeks and Romans by the
-names of _balista_, _catapulta_ and others, which had amazing powers,
-and were not less terrible in their effects than the cannon and mortars
-of the moderns. It appears that the _balista_ was contrived to shower
-volleys of darts and arrows of a very large size upon the enemy, whilst
-the _catapulta_ or _onagra_ (as it was otherwise called) was fitted
-not only for that purpose, but for discharging stones of an enormous
-weight; I might say _rocks_, since some of them are reported to have
-weighed several hundred pounds. Batteries composed of numerous pieces of
-that kind of artillery, nothing could withstand. Yet, if we are rightly
-informed, their sole principle of motion consisted in the spring of a
-strongly-twisted cordage, made of animal substances singularly tough and
-elastic. These warlike instruments continued, not only during the time
-of the Roman empire, but to the 12th and 13th centuries, as we find from
-history; nor indeed is it probable that they were totally laid aside,
-till gun-powder and the modern ordnance, attaining a good degree of
-perfection, superseded their use. The very intelligent commentator of
-POLYBIUS[2] is of opinion, that the military art rather lost than gained
-by the exchange of the _catapulta_ for the mortar: but however that
-point may be determined in speculation, it is not likely that the ancient
-_tormenta militaria_ will ever be revived; but that all nations will keep
-to the art of gunnery and study how to improve it; that is, they will
-adhere to a system of artillery, wherein the moving power depends on the
-expansive force of gun-powder, or of some other substance of a similar
-nature.
-
-Upon the first application of this principle to the purposes of war,
-nothing perhaps was less thought of than to assist so empirical a
-practice by scientific rules; for, however aiding in these matters the
-ancient mechanicians might have been, who, like ARCHIMEDES, had invented
-or perfected some of the _balistic_ machines, no praise seemed now due
-to the mathematicians for either the discovery or improvement of the new
-artillery. In fact, we find the practice of the art had subsisted about
-200 years, before any geometer considered it as one that admitted a
-theory, or at least such a theory as was grounded on geometry.
-
-It seems but just to trace and commemorate the inventors of the ingenious
-arts which furnish matter for discourses on these occasions; and not
-only the main inventors, but even those who first turned their thoughts
-upon the subject: for, though such men may not have produced any thing
-perfect, yet they may have suggested ideas to others of a less inventive,
-but of a more executive genius, and who, unprovided with those hints,
-would never have made any notable discovery. I must therefore observe,
-that the _Italians_ were the first who emerged out of those thick clouds
-of ignorance and barbarism which had so long overspread this quarter of
-the world. They profited by the unhappy fate of Constantinople; for by
-liberally receiving the learned emigrants on that distressful occasion,
-they were largely repaid by their arts and sciences, and still more
-abundantly by their language, whereby they were enabled to read and to
-translate those ancient manuscripts, which the Greeks had saved out of
-the wreck of their country. The art of printing, which was established
-soon after, was the means of quickly disseminating those treasures of
-knowledge, and concurred with the fall of the eastern empire to form an
-epoch for the advancement of learning, unparalleled in the annals of
-letters.
-
-The end of the 15th century, and the whole of the 16th, were chiefly
-employed by the Italians in the study and in the translation of the
-old Greek authors. The geometry of the ancient Greeks, as well as the
-arithmetic in numbers and species of the Arabians, were cultivated;
-but both remained, as it were, sciences by themselves, unassisting to,
-or at best but weak and reluctant auxiliaries to the philosophy of the
-schools: and indeed how could the abstracted doctrines of numbers and
-quantities be strained to co-operate with a system, in which neither
-the laws of motion, nor any but the superficial, and often delusive
-properties of matter, were to be met with? The genius of the Greeks, all
-acute and brilliant as it was, had never been properly directed to the
-interpretation of nature, and was indeed unfit (as Lord Bacon pronounced)
-for a study that made so slow and painful a progress, by re-iterated and
-varied experiments and observations. It was no wonder then, if the _mixed
-mathematics_, as they are called, descended to the moderns in a state
-no-wise corresponding to the elegance and certainty of those parts of the
-science which were elementary and pure; and that those mixed parts should
-have been found defective and erroneous, in proportion (if I may so
-express myself) to the physical considerations that were to be taken into
-the inquiry. The imperfection of the ancients, with regard to natural
-philosophy, was not perceived at that time; nay, at the period we are
-treating of, the learned were firmly persuaded of the contrary, and that
-all that was wanting to be known concerning the laws of nature, and the
-properties of matter, was to be taken either directly, or by deduction,
-from the physics of ARISTOTLE. It was not till the 17th century was
-somewhat advanced, that men of science began to listen to Lord BACON and
-GALILEO, the great founders of the experimental and the true philosophy.
-
-Mean while, in the beginning of the 16th century, unqualified as the
-Italians then were for entering upon physico-mathematical inquiries[3],
-they nevertheless made the attempt, and in particular took the theory
-of projectiles into consideration. Some imagined that a body impelled
-with violence, such as a ball discharged from a cannon, moved in a right
-line till the force was spent, and that then it fell in another right
-line perpendicularly to the earth. Upon this principle, absurd as it
-was, we find one of the earliest authors grounding his whole theory
-of gunnery[4]; whilst others, dissenting from his hypothesis, admitted
-only the straight line, in which the ball moved for some time after
-coming out of the piece, and that other straight line in which it fell
-to the ground; but asserted that these two were connected by a curve
-line, and that this curve was the segment of a circle. NICOLAS TARTAGLIA
-of Brescia, a mathematician of the first rank in those days, and still
-celebrated for his improvements in algebra, hath been supposed to be the
-author of this doctrine, no less erroneous than the former, and for which
-two of his books have been quoted[5]. Those I have never seen; but from
-another of his works, professedly written on this subject, and translated
-into English under the title of _Colloquies concerning the art of
-shooting in great and small pieces of artillery_[6], him I find, contrary
-to the opinion of his contemporaries, maintaining that no part of the
-track of a cannon-ball is in a right line, though the curvature in the
-first part of its flight be so small, that it needeth not to be attended
-to. But TARTAGLIA is far from supposing, that the line in question hath
-any relation to a _parabola_, or to any regular curve. It would seem
-then, that if this mathematician had at first been so far mistaken, as
-to fancy that some part of the course of a projectile was in a straight
-line, he had afterwards changed his opinion, and was perhaps singular in
-what he finally embraced.
-
-From numerous instances one would imagine, that in those days, so far
-were men of science from making experiments themselves, that they even
-shut their eyes against what chance would have presented to their sight.
-For, whoever had minded the roving shot of an arrow, the flight of a
-stone from a sling, or had attended to a stream of water issuing from the
-spout of a cistern, might have been convinced, that the path of every
-projectile was in a continued curve, whatever little he otherwise knew
-concerning the properties of that one.
-
-But had the observation of the philosophers gone so far, they had
-still been at a distance from the truth. They might have perceived a
-likeness between the track of those bodies in motion and a parabola,
-and concluded, from analogy, that all projectiles delineated that curve
-in the air; but they could never have realized their conjectures by
-mathematical demonstration, without previously knowing the law of
-_acceleration_ in falling bodies: a discovery reserved for the next
-century, and for GALILEO[7], one of the greatest ornaments of it.
-
-It was he who first investigated the effects of _gravity_ on falling
-bodies, and upon that foundation demonstrated, that all projectiles
-would move in a parabola in a non-resisting medium. And as he made
-little account of the resistance of the air, whose properties were then
-imperfectly known, he proved that a ball shot horizontally would, in its
-flight, describe half a parabola; and when the piece had an elevation
-above the horizon, the ball would describe a whole parabola, supposing it
-to fall on the plane of the battery. By the same method of reasoning he
-shewed, that whatever the ranges of the projected body, or the elevations
-of the piece were, the ball would still trace that curve line, of a
-greater or lesser amplitude, by the time it descended to the level of the
-place from whence it came.
-
-Thus far went GALILEO, confining his projections to the horizontal plane
-of the battery; but TORRICELLI his disciple soon after carried the
-theory farther, by tracing the shot to its fall, whether that place was
-above or below the plane; and still found, by geometrical deductions,
-that it flew in a parabola of a larger or a smaller amplitude, according
-to the angle of elevation of the piece, and the strength of the powder.
-
-Various and numerous had been the disputes in Italy about the laws of
-motion in general, and especially about those of projectiles, from the
-time the mathematicians had begun the inquiry, till the publication of
-the dialogues of GALILEO on that subject (a space of upwards of a hundred
-years) but from that period, so evident did his demonstrations appear,
-that all contest ceased, and every man of science was convinced, that
-all projectiles moved in the track which he had discovered. For, as to
-the resistance of the air, which he had not passed unnoticed (as GALILEO
-himself had been the first, at least of the moderns, who started the
-notion of the weight of the air and the pressure of the atmosphere) yet
-so thin and so yielding did they esteem that fluid to be, that they were
-assured it could occasion no sensible, at least no material, deviation
-from that curve. As they had the principle from GALILEO, so they believed
-themselves warranted by that respectable author, not to fear from that
-cause any objection, which he himself had suggested, but had removed.
-_Among these projectiles_ (says he) _which we make use of, if they are of
-a heavy matter and a round form; nay if they are of a lighter matter, and
-have a cylindrical form, such as arrows shot from bows, their track or
-path will not sensibly decline from the curve of a parabola_[8].
-
-Here then was the theory of gunnery laid, in appearance, on the most
-solid foundation. And thus far the Italians having proceeded, they seemed
-to have taken leave, and to commit the subject to other nations, whose
-greater power, or greater ambition, was more likely to make them avail
-themselves of the perfection of a military art, than their instructors.
-We had reason therefore to expect, that a neighbouring state, intent upon
-the advancement of the arts and sciences in general, would not fail to
-give particular attention to those that should appear most subservient
-to its grandeur. Accordingly we find, that our sister-society of that
-kingdom had not been many years established, when an ingenious member of
-that illustrious Body, not questioning the soundness of the Galilean
-principle in regard to projectiles, in the year 1677, proposed to the
-academy, as a problem for the improvement of artillery, how to direct
-a piece (suppose a mortar) so as to make the shot fall where one had a
-mind; or in the common expression, _to hit a mark_, the strength of the
-powder being given[9]. This thought met with general approbation, and so
-far were the academy from raising any difficulty about the obstruction
-which the air might occasion to a body moving with so much velocity
-in it, that we do not find the making experiments on that head was
-considered by them as an essential step to the solution; but that their
-principal geometers straightway set about solving the problem as it had
-been announced to them, some following one method, some another, and all
-upon the supposition of a projectile moving in the line of a parabola.
-But M. BLONDEL, who had been the proposer, and who more particularly had
-studied the question, composed a large volume on the subject, which he
-published a few years after[10], under the title of _L’Art de jetter les
-Bombes_; a performance much celebrated at the time, and that continued in
-no small request long after, as containing, besides his own, the labours
-of several other members of that society of the most distinguished
-merit. So many, and such hands concurring in framing this work, it was
-no wonder that the learned throughout Europe were confirmed by it in
-the Galilean theory; and the more as M. BLONDEL had obviated the only
-objection they supposed could be made to it, the _resistance of the air_,
-which he had taken care expressly to mention, and so to combat as to
-persuade the reader, that the retardation arising from that cause was so
-inconsiderable as to be of no account in the practice.
-
-This illusion about the small or non-resistance of the air to bodies
-rapidly moving in it, was so prevalent at the end of the last century,
-and in the beginning of the present, that in the history of the Royal
-Academy for the year 1707, we find their worthy and most accomplished
-secretary, after taking notice of the joint labours of so many able
-mathematicians concerned in BLONDEL’s publication, venturing to say, _it
-did not appear that any thing was then wanting for the practice of the
-art_ [of Gunnery] _except perhaps perfecting the instruments for pointing
-a cannon or mortar ... but that geometry had done its part, so to speak,
-with regard to practice_. &c.[11]
-
-But far be it from our intention to relate the imperfections of others,
-in order to raise ourselves by the comparison. Candour requires of us not
-only to acknowledge, that in this country, as to the point in question,
-we did not surpass our neighbours; but ingenuously to own that, on the
-contrary, we were perhaps more liable to exception. For, some years
-before BLONDEL’s work appeared[12], a treatise was published by one of
-our own artillerists, ANDERSON (a person of eminence in his profession)
-intituled _The genuine use and effects of the gun_, in which the author
-strenuously supports the Galilean theory; nor do we learn he was ever
-contradicted among us, although he undertook to answer all those who
-should make objections to it. Nay, when he had an opportunity afterwards
-of making experiments on the ranges of bombs, and by those trials was
-assured that their flight was not in a parabola; yet so far was he from
-ascribing the deviation from that figure to the resistance of the air,
-that he had recourse to an hypothesis, repugnant to all the laws of
-motion, to salve appearances, and to reconcile those experiments with his
-former doctrine[13].
-
-And did not Dr. HALLEY, so long the ornament of this society, communicate
-in the year 1686 a Paper, which he calls _A discourse concerning
-gravity_, in which, treating of the motion of projectiles, he says, that
-being aware of the deflexion from the parabolic curve that might be
-occasioned by the resistance of the air, he had made some experiments,
-even with cannon-balls, to estimate the force of that resistance; yet
-conclude, _That in large shot of metal, whose weight many thousand times
-surpassed that of air, and whose force is very great, in proportion to
-the surface wherewith they press thereupon, this opposition was not
-discernible_. And again, _Though in small and light shot, the opposition
-of the air ought and must be accounted for; yet in shooting great and
-weighty bombs, there need be very tittle allowance made; and so these
-rules_ [those, to wit, grounded on the principle of GALILEO] _may be put
-in practice to all intents and purposes, as if this impediment_ [the
-resistance of the air] _were absolutely removed_[14]. Such conclusions,
-which we now find to be erroneous, were the less to be expected from so
-eminent a person, as they argued too much haste to finish a theory, that
-was to be made subservient to present use.
-
-It might indeed have been expected, that men of science applying
-themselves to this study, would have been sooner awakened to the
-consideration of the great opposition of the air, by the _Principia_ of
-NEWTON, published a little after this Paper of HALLEY’s[15]. For in that
-excellent work the illustrious author had demonstrated, that the curve
-described by a projectile, in a strongly resisting medium, differed much
-from a parabola, and that the resistance of the air was great enough to
-make the difference between the curve of projection of heavy bodies and a
-parabola far from being insensible, and therefore too considerable to be
-neglected.
-
-Have we not then less to plead for not attending to the _Principia_ of
-NEWTON in this article[16], than the mathematicians of other nations,
-who, as M. de FONTENELLE observes[17], partly from the difficulty
-of understanding that concise and profound work, and partly from a
-misapprehension of its tendency (which they fancied was to revive the
-exploded doctrine of _occult qualities_) were late in becoming acquainted
-with it? But it is not so easy to account for their inattention to
-HUYGENS, a known and even then a much esteemed author, and who indeed
-was second to NEWTON alone in science and in genius. For he in the year
-1690 had published a treatise on _Gravity_, written in a popular manner,
-wherein he gave an account of some experiments he had made at Paris, and
-in the academy, by which, as well as by mathematical investigations,
-he was convinced of the truth of NEWTON’s conclusions, in regard to
-the great opposition of the air to bodies moving swiftly in it; and,
-by consequence, believed that the track of all projectiles was very
-different from the line of a parabola[18].
-
-But excepting NEWTON and HUYGENS, the learned seemed universally to
-acquiesce in the justness and sufficiency of the principles of gunnery
-invented by GALILEO, enlarged by TORRICELLI, confirmed and reduced to
-system by ANDERSON, BLONDEL, HALLEY and others; and so far were the
-theorists, in that branch of science, from suspecting any defect or
-fallacy in these principles, that they seemed rather to reproach the
-practical artillerists, for not profiting more by the instructions which
-they had so liberally imparted to them. Nor do we find that an apology
-was made for the empirical exercise of the art, by any author of note
-in that line, earlier than the sixteenth year of this century, when M.
-de RESSONS, a French officer of artillery, distinguished by the number
-of sieges at which he had served, by his high military rank, and by his
-abilities in his profession; when he, I say, thus qualified to bear
-testimony, presented a _memoire_ to the Royal Academy (of which he was
-a member) importing, that _although it was agreed that theory joined to
-practice did constitute the perfection of every art, yet experience had
-taught him, that theory was of very little service in the use of mortars.
-That the work of M. BLONDEL had justly enough described the several
-parabolic lines, according to the different degrees of the elevation of
-the piece; but that practice had convinced him there was no theory in the
-effects of gun-powder: for that having endeavoured, with the greatest
-precision, to point a mortar agreeably to those calculations, he had
-never been able to establish any solid foundation upon them[19]._
-
-Thus, after the theory of gunnery had exercised the genius of the
-learned for nearly two hundred years, and for almost fourscore of that
-time had rested on fundamentals which had never been contested, it was
-pronounced at once to be almost intirely useless, and that by one of
-the most competent judges. Now, whether it were owing to the deference
-due to the authority of that experienced artillerist, or to some other
-cause, I shall not determine, but observe, that it appears not from the
-history of the academy, that the sentiments of M. de RESSONS were at this
-time controverted, or any reason offered afterwards for the failure of
-the theory of projectiles when applied to use. Nor can I pass unnoticed
-the pause that ensued before any further attempts were made to improve
-the theory of the art, either upon the old principles or upon new ones,
-except by such authors as seemed ignorant of this transaction, and who of
-course were not sufficiently apprized of the inefficacy of the properties
-of the parabola for directing practice. Or by those who were employed in
-speculatively investigating the nature of the curve traced by a ball in
-the air; a curve which began at last to be considered as one deviating
-much from the line of a parabola. Or, finally, by such as, having taken
-notice that NEWTON’s ideas had not been duly attended to, endeavoured
-to avail themselves of them, and of some experiments that had been made
-by others, for proving the great opposition of the air to bodies of
-swift motion; but without ascertaining the degree of that resistance, or
-enriching the art by any practical rules[20].
-
-Such was the unhinged state of this part of the mixed mathematics,
-when within our memory Mr. BENJAMIN ROBINS took cognizance of it: nor
-could the subject have fallen into abler hands, endowed as he was by
-nature with a superior genius and unwearied application. Mr. ROBINS was
-deeply versed in geometry and the doctrine of numbers; but he knew the
-limits as well as the powers of both, and how insufficient they were for
-establishing any theory where matter was concerned, without preparing
-the way, by finding out the physical properties of that _matter_, by
-many and varied experiments and attentive observation. Those who had
-hitherto treated of the foundation of gunnery, by being too forward in
-the application of their mathematics, had in a manner hurt the credit
-of that admirable science. They ought to have seen the necessity of
-minutely examining every circumstance which could affect the course of
-a projectile, besides that of gravity. Mr. ROBINS perceived the error
-of his predecessors in that inquiry, and corrected it. Persuaded as he
-was from sir ISAAC NEWTON’s _Principia_ of the great resistance of the
-air to bodies moving in it, and also of the uncertainty of the force
-of gun-powder, and of the variations in the flight of shot, occasioned
-by the unavoidable varieties in the make of it, and in the make of the
-pieces of artillery which discharged it; apprized, I say, of so many
-causes of aberration, he justly concluded, that the foundation here was
-at least as much an affair of physics as of geometry, and that if the art
-of throwing bombs had not been advanced by theory, it was not because
-the art admitted of none, but because the theory which had hitherto been
-devised had been both defective and erroneous. He suspected that most of
-the writers on gunnery had been deceived, in supposing the resistance
-of the air to be inconsiderable, and thence asserting the track of all
-shot to be nearly in the curve of a parabola, by which means it came to
-pass that all their determinations, about the flight of projectiles of
-violent motion, had declined considerably from the truth. But in order
-to clear this point from every doubt, he found it necessary to ascertain
-the force of gun-powder, and by that step to estimate the velocity of
-the shot impelled by its explosion. That being done, he proceeded to
-measure the quickness of a musket-bullet, shot out of a given barrel,
-with a given quantity of powder; and to confirm the truth of his
-conclusions, he contrived a machine, by which the velocity of a bullet
-might be diminished in any given _ratio_, by being made to strike on a
-large body of a weight justly proportioned to it; whereby the swiftest
-motions, which otherwise would escape our examination, were to be exactly
-determined by these slower motions that had a given relation to them. The
-machine was a large wooden pendulum, which swung freely, but in so slow
-a manner, that its vibrations could easily be counted, whatever was the
-celerity of the bullet discharged against it. The thought was simple,
-ingenious, and incontestably his own.
-
-He next inquired into the resistance made by the air to projectiles of
-rapid motion, and which he discovered to be much greater than had been
-supposed by any writer on the subject; and indeed so great, that it
-was manifest the curve described by any shot was very different from a
-parabola, and consequently that all the applications of the properties
-of that conic section to gunnery were so erroneous as to be totally
-useless. For by means of this pendulum, placed at different distances
-from the mouth of the piece, he clearly demonstrated how much a bullet,
-flying with a given velocity, would gradually lose of that motion by the
-opposition of the air: therein furnishing to the learned a signal and
-instructive instance of the fallacy of the most specious theories, that
-do not proceed hand in hand with experiments.
-
-I should too much exceed the just bounds of a discourse of this kind,
-were I to enter more minutely into the system founded by Mr. ROBINS,
-confirmed and improved, as I find, by the labours of several of the
-learned in foreign parts of great celebrity[21]. I shall only add,
-that his performance well deserves the title he gives it of _The new
-principles of gunnery_, since the author may more properly be said to
-have invented a new science than to have added to an old one. And I
-believe I may venture to say, that no physico-mathematical disquisition
-hath done more honour to this country, or to the age, than the writings
-of Mr. ROBINS on this subject, which have been published, partly by this
-Society, partly by himself, and partly since his death (in the collection
-of his whole mathematical tracts) by his learned friend.
-
-But though our worthy brother will ever be celebrated for being the
-inventor of the true principles of gunnery, yet it would be too
-flattering to his memory, to say he had carried the theory of this art
-to perfection. He himself was far from entertaining so high an opinion
-of his labours; nay he expressly declared, that he left some material
-points to be inquired into at more leisure (which other occupations
-and his immature death deprived him of) and he much regretted that he
-wanted conveniency and opportunities for making experiments on balls of
-a greater weight, than what he had used for ascertaining the initial
-velocity of them.
-
-Much therefore are we indebted to Mr. HUTTON, who, treading in the
-footsteps of the deceased, hath resumed and prosecuted this last
-_desideratum_, and hath shewn himself not unequal to so difficult an
-enterprize.
-
-Mr. ROBINS, for determining the initial velocity of shot, arising from
-different quantities of powder, made use of balls of about an ounce
-weight; whereas Mr. HUTTON, for the same purpose, hath employed those of
-different weights, from one pound to nearly three; or, in other words,
-Mr. ROBINS made trial with musket-shot only, Mr. HUTTON with cannon-balls
-from 20 to about 50 times heavier. This was a considerable step gained
-in a disquisition of that part of the science, in which the resistance
-of the air and other circumstances were not concerned; and where neither
-analogy alone, nor mathematical deductions alone, nor the two combined,
-were sufficient for establishing principles applicable to the motion of
-cannon-balls, without making a new series of experiments: and with what
-labour and judgment these have been performed, you understood by the
-account which Mr. HUTTON gave of them in his Paper.
-
-But should it now be inquired, what advantages may be derived from Mr.
-HUTTON’s experiments, for the advancement of the art of gunnery, and of
-philosophy in general? I would reply, that as to the former it may be
-sufficient to observe, that though the improvements be only such as can
-be deduced from the force of fired gun-powder; yet they are in a higher,
-more certain, and in a more general manner, than what resulted from the
-labours of Mr. ROBINS; who indeed led the way, but who made, as it were
-in miniature, those experiments which Mr. HUTTON hath executed at large,
-and which ROBINS himself wished to have made, as well as others who have
-considered the subject since his time. Now these experiments, though made
-by Mr. HUTTON with cannon-balls of a small size, may nevertheless form
-just conclusions when applied to cannon-shot of the largest size. And
-such conclusions inform us of the real force of powder when fired, either
-in a cannon or a mortar, impelling a ball or bomb of a given weight;
-that is, they discover with what velocity a given quantity of powder
-drives those projectiles in a second, or in any other assigned portion
-of time. They also shew the law of variation in the velocity arising
-from different quantities of powder, with the same weight of metal,
-and likewise that law which takes place upon using balls of different
-weights. Further, they point out the advantage obtained by diminishing
-the windage in cannon, and teach us how we may increase the weight of
-the shot in the same piece, by making it of a cylindrical form, instead
-of a spherical: by this device, a smaller ship may be enabled to do the
-execution of a larger one. And experiments of the same kind will also
-determine the just length of cannon for shooting farthest with the same
-charge of powder.
-
-Lastly, it is from these experiments, or from others that may be made
-after the like manner, we are instructed how to answer every question
-relative to military projectiles, except such as depend on the resistance
-of the air to bodies moving swiftly in it. This indeed is a consideration
-which leaves room for greater improvement in the art, and for conferring
-fresh honours on those, who, like Mr. HUTTON, shall have opportunities
-and abilities for continuing and perfecting this very curious and useful
-inquiry.
-
-As to the advantages accruing to philosophy from the labours both of
-Mr. ROBINS and Mr. HUTTON, speak they not for themselves? The sciences
-of motion and pneumatics are promoted by them; and of what avail their
-perfection would be for the farther interpretation of nature, you need
-not be informed. In fine, we have here before us, in these experiments,
-the surest test of our advancement in true knowledge, which is, the
-improvement of a liberal art, and the enlargement of the powers of man
-over the works of creation.
-
-Some however may think, that the objects of this society are the arts of
-peace alone, not those of war, and that considering how numerous and how
-keen the instruments of death already are, it would better become us to
-discourage than to countenance their farther improvement. These naturally
-will be the first thoughts of the best disposed minds. But when upon
-a closer examination we find, that since the invention of arms of the
-quickest execution, neither battles nor sieges have been more frequent
-nor more destructive, indeed apparently otherwise; may we not thence
-infer, that such means as have been employed to sharpen the sword, have
-tended more to diminish than to increase the number of its victims, by
-shortening contests and making them more decisive. I shall not however
-insist on maintaining so great a paradox; but only surmise, that
-whatever State would adopt the Utopian maxims, and proscribe the study of
-arms, would soon, I fear, become a prey to those who best knew how to use
-them. For yet, alas! far seem we to be removed from those promised times,
-_when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they
-learn war any more_!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_Here ended the President’s Discourse: after which he turned to Mr.
-HUTTON, and said_,
-
-You have heard, Sir, the account I have given of the rise and progress
-of the _theory of gunnery_, and of your improvement of it; a recital,
-which by no means would have done either you or the subject justice, had
-it been addressed to any other audience than to the present. But as my
-intention was only briefly to recall to the memory of these gentlemen
-what they knew of this subject, antecedently to your Paper, and to remind
-them of the result of your experiments, I flatter myself I have said
-what was sufficient on the occasion; being now authorized by them to
-deliver into your hand this medal, as the perpetual memorial of their
-approbation. And let me add, Sir, that they make you this present with
-the more cordial affection, as by your other ingenious and valuable
-communications they are assured, not only of your talents, but of your
-zeal, for promoting the interests and honour of their Institution.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-FOOTNOTES
-
-
-[1] 2 Chron. xxvi. 15.
-
-[2] M. FOLARD.
-
-[3] The chief exception that occurs to this general remark, is the rapid
-progress which in that age COPERNICUS made in astronomy; who was not
-indeed an Italian, but was supposed to have profited by his early travels
-into Italy, which he enlightened afterwards by his admirable discoveries.
-
-[4] See MONTUCLA, Hist. des Mathem. vol. I. p. 623.
-
-[5] Those were _La Nuova Scientia_, and _Quesiti ed Inventioni diverse_.
-
-[6] Published at London, A. 1588.
-
-[7] He was born in the year 1564; but few if any of his works were
-published till after the year 1600, and his dialogues on motion not
-before 1638.
-
-[8] See his 4th Dialogue on Motion.
-
-[9] See Hist. de l’Academ. Roy. des Sciences, A. 1707.
-
-[10] In the year 1683, see Hist. de l’Acad. R. des Sci. A. 1707.
-
-[11] Hist. de l’Acad. R. des Sc. A. 1707, under the article _Mechanique_.
-
-[12] Viz. in 1674.
-
-[13] See his treatise _To hit a Mark_, published in 1690.
-
-[14] Philos. Trans. No. 179, p. 20.
-
-[15] In the year 1687.
-
-[16] NEWTON, Princip. Mathem. lib. ii. sect. 7.
-
-[17] Eloge de NEWTON.
-
-[18] Discours de la Cause de la Pesanteur. Leide, 1690.
-
-[19] Mem. de l’Acad. R. des Sc. A. 1716.
-
-[20] DAN. BERNOULLI, Comment. Acad. Petropol. T. 2. & 3.
-
-[21] It is also much to the honour of Mr. ROBINS, that his writings on
-this subject have been translated into foreign languages by men that were
-the best judges of their merit. I need only name MM. EULER, and LE ROY.
-
-
-
-
-ERRATA.
-
-
-    Page 4. l. 5. _for_ this _read_ the
-        16.    9. _for_ combate _read_ combat
-        20.   17. _for_ tract _read_ track
-        26.   last line of the note, _for_ M. M. _read_ MM.
-
-Transcriber’s Note: The errata have been corrected.
-
-*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DISCOURSE ON THE THEORY OF
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