One of the latest improvements in artillery is the shell invented by colonel Shrapnel : it is filled with musket-balls, and a weak charge of powder, m hich, when it has arrived within a short distance of its object, merely bursts the shell, without dispersing its contents : the musket-balls, being thus disengaged, soon separate, but, retaining their former impulse, still move forward, and act on the enemy's line like a discharge of musketry. This beautiful invention combines the extensive range of the cannon-ball with the diffusive fire of the musket.
One of the chief improvements in the management of artillery, was the mode of firing en ricochet in the attack of fortified places. In this mode, the batteries which enfilade the works of the place, level their can non so as merely to carry the ball over the parapet, and a small charge of powder is given, so that the ball may become spent immediately after, and rebound along the rampart. In this loavner the besieged are driven from their guns, and the guns dismounted. The howitzer is peculiarly effective in this mnde of firing. This inven tion, which we owe to Belidur, was first used at the siege of Atli in 1697.
In the rapid evolutions during an engagement, many occasions occur when the presence of artillery, at a par ticular point, might decide the fate of the day ; but the critical moment may be lost before foot artillery could be brought up. A distinct corps, called Horse or Fly ing artillery, has consequently been formed to meet such exigencies. The horse artillery consists of light cannon and howitzers, drawn entirely by horses. Their ammunition is either carried in light caissons of the common construction, or in a particular kind called Ivursts, which are slung, and have the double advantage of an easy motion, and of preserving the ammunition. The gunners are either carried on the wursts, or mount ed on horseback ; and the whole organization of the corps is such as enables it to unite itself with the cavalry, to follow and support their movements, to separate into detachments, or to unite in masses, according to circum stances; and, by movements the most rapid and unex pected, to convey itself either to the defence of any point of their own line, or to attack any important posi tions of the enemy.
The carronade, a sort of short cannon, or rather long howitzer, was invented by general Robert Melville about the year 1779. The larger carronades employed in our navy are about eight inches in calibre. Tnei• shot, if
solid, would weigh upwards of 70 pounds, but as it is always cast hollow, its weight does not exceed 68 pounds, and might be advantageously still further re duced. From the weight of its hollow ball, the eight inch carronade has been improperly denominated a 68 pounder. It is found from experiments, that at low ele vations the range of the eight inch carronade, before its first grazing, is nearly equal to that of a 32 pounder ; but that the subsequent distance through which it can send its shot en ricochet is inferior. The carronade therefore, unless employed like a howitzer for throwing shells filled with powder, is not well adapted for the land service. But in firing at shipping, where the shot must generally take effect before meeting the water, it is pe culiarly useful.
The shot of the carronade is formidable to ships, not only from its great size, but from the nature of the hole which it makes. As it contains little matter tinder a great surface, it pierces the side of a ship with less ve locity than a solid shot, and consequently shatters her planks more completely. It is a curious circumstance, that, when a carronade is fired at low elevations, its hol low shot goes to a greater distance before touching the ground than its solid shot, and that the reverse takes place at high elevations. The cause of this we con ceive to be, that as both expose an equal surface to the action of the powder, but contain different quantities of matter, the heavier receives a greater impetus, the lighter a greater velocity, but in consequence of its re tiring more readily before the inflamed powder, a weaker impulse. The hollow ball, therefore, moves with greater velocity during the first moments of its flight, but as it has less momentum than the other, and as the air equal ly resists the motion of each, its velocity is soon re duced below that of the solid ball.
During the short flight, therefore, at low elevations the cored shot moves through a greater space, while during the longer path described at higher elevations, the range of the solid ball is superior.
See Grose's Hist. of the ?rnty of England ; Mulle•'s ; Guicciardini's Hist. des Pays Bas ; Glennie's History of Gunnery ; Wraxall's History of France, vol. ii. p. 249 ; Smith's Wealth of Nations, vol. iii. p. 70; also ARMS, CANNON, GUNNERY, and PROJECTILES. For an account of the artillery establishment of this coun try, SCC BRITAIN. On