ARSENAL is the name given to a great military or naval repository, where the muni tions of war are to some extent manufactured, but more particularly stored until required for use. Every royal dockyard, every magazine, every armory, is to some extent an A.; and therefore the meaning of the word is not quite definite. fu France, the chief arsenals are at Cherbourg, Brest, and Toulon. In England. although Deptford is a considerable storehouse for naval clothing and provisions, and Weedon and the Tower great reposi tories for military stores, the only establishment vast enough to deserve the name of A. is at Woolwich. This is truly a remarkable and important place. In the spring of 1859, when war was raging in Italy between the French and Sardinians on one side, and the Austrians on the other, and when an uneasy feeling pervaded our own country, there were for a short time more than 10,000 men employed in Woolwich A. There were at that time nearly 12,000 pieces of iron ordnance in store, of which 7000 were of modern make and of heavy calibre. This store was supplementary to that which is always kept at the dockyards of Woolwich, Chatham, Sheerness, Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Pem broke. There were resources at the A. for bringing forward, fitting, and issuing these reserve guns at the rate of 200 per week, or double this number on an emergency; and many hundreds were within a brief period shipped thence, to strengthen our forts in the Mediterranean, in the colonies, and around the coasts. All the shot and shell used down
to the period of the Crimean war, were ordered of private makers; but the charge was so enormous during the early months of that war, that the government resolved to try the manufacture at Woolwich; this was done, with a very manifest saving of expense. It has been calculated that the A., when at full work, could produce large shot and shell with six times the rapidity with which those missiles were used by the British outside Sebastopol during the eleven months' siege. These observations do not apply to rifles or muskets; none of these weapons are made at Woolwich. There have been times, how ever, during the year 1859, when nearly a hundred million, rifle-bullets were in store at the A. The A. is divided into two great sections, of which the one is the depot for the storage of arms and all military equipments, whether for land or naval service; the other being occupied by the manufacturing departments. The latter comprise the g-uu facto ries, where all cannon are made; the carriage department, for gun-carriages and all means of transport; and the laboratory, whence come all cartridges, shot, shell, bullets, and warlike weapons.