SPRENGEL EXPLOSIVES or PANCLASTITES. In 1S73 Dr. Hermann Sprengel described a class of explosives consisting of two inexplosive ingredi ents, which. when mixed together. yielded a com pound callable of violent detonation. The safety with which such explosives could he transported to the place of action led to their study by the experts on explosives of various governments, and a number of valuable preparations of this class have since been patented in ditTerent countries. A number of these have already been described, a. rackarock, under Explosive Mixtures of the Chlorates, and ammonites, rOburite, ro mite, and seen•ite under Explosive Compounds De rived by Nitro-Substitution. In addition to these there should be mentioned aellhollite, consisting of nitric avid with a specific gravity of 1.5, 53 parts. and meta-di-nit robilizine 47 parts: and panelast ito, consisting of nitro tot roxide combined With some combust dile subst a nee, such as a hydro earbon, vegetable, animal, and mineral oils, fats, and their derivatives, but preferably with earbon disulphide. In this class may lw included the picric avid emnpounds. Of t ri nitro phenol or picric avid brought into a dense state by fusion, and used as a tiller for shells. This explosive, differing only in the details of its mamilneture, which are kept secret by the re spective governments. is called ///i/ditc in Eng, land and melinile in Frame. 'Hie errosite of the
\ ustrian Government is made by substituting tri nil roc rosol for 1 ri-nit rophe not ( picric arid 1 • fri.NtINArrs spun .\vnnrs. The fact that cer tain nitrates. when healed with alcohol and an exeess of nitric acid. yield peculiar erystalline, rosily detonating precipitates, has been known for more than a century, and this property has been taken advantage of in the preparation of ex plosives. The best-known member of this clas9 is the mercury fulminate, which is made by dis solving mercury in nitric acid, to which solution when cool alcohol is added. The gray explosive mercury fulminate is thrown down by the addi tion of water. The precipitate is then carefully washed and air-dried. It is exceedingly sensitive to heat and shock of any kind. and may be det onated by heat at a temperature variously given from 149° C. to 200° C. The slicer fulminate, which is formed by heating an aqueous solution of silver nitrate with strong nitric acid and al cohol, is of similar natnre. Alercury fulminate finds an extensive application in detonators for guncotton and for nitroglycerin compounds; also for cap and detonating compositions. The amides, such as nitrogen chloride and nitrogen iodide, have been referred to under Theory of Explosives, and have no economic interest.