Torpedo War, and Submarine Explosions by Robert Fulton

Author:Robert Fulton [Fulton, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: WILLIAM ABBATT
Published: 2017-09-05T04:00:00+00:00

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THOUGHTS

On the probable effect of this invention

At the time a new discovery is made in physics or mathematical science, the whole of its consequences cannot be foreseen. In the year 1330, Bartholomew Schwartz is said to have invented gun-powder; twenty-five years after, a very imperfect kind of cannon was constructed of welded bars of iron, others of sheet-iron, rolled in the form of a cylinder and hooped with iron rings; in some cases, they were made of leather, strengthened with plates of iron or copper; balls of stone were used; and it was not until the beginning of the fifteenth century, that is, one hundred and seventy years after the invention of powder, that iron balls were introduced into practice. Muskets were not used until the year 1521, or one hundred and ninety-one years after the invention of gun-powder. The Spaniards were the first who armed their foot-soldiers in this manner—they had matchlocks; but firelocks, that is, locks with flints, were not used until the beginning of the eighteenth century, one hundred and eighty years after the invention of muskets, and three hundred and eighty years after the invention of powder. When firelocks were first invented, Marshal Sax had so little confidence in a flint, that he ordered a match to be added to the lock with a flint, lest the flint should miss fire[I]: such is the force of habit and want of faith in new inventions.

[I] I have seen one of these firelocks in the collection of ancient arms, Rue de Bacq. Paris.

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