queer names people give horses! Sideboard is odd enough, but there is something quadrupedal in that. Scutari, over the D. M. for £200, h. ft., at 8 st. 7 lb., beat Rory O'More, 8 st. 3 lb. ; a fine race, by a neck and John o' Gaunt, 8 st. 7 lb., beat Abydos, at 8 st. 1 lb.—same Course and money-in a canter; 8 to 1 being laid on the winner. Lord Exeter, however, can afford to make an indifferent match now and then.

Tuesday, the gala day, set in as English galas are proverbial for doing. Till past noon it rained incessantly, and the effect was such as might be expected. The heath was, by no means, populously attended; still it appeared promisingly: and when the sun shone outabout two in the afternoon-it lit up a scene well worth a sixty-mile run to look upon. The first thing done in the way of business, was the decision upon the Ilione controversy, which terminated in settling that the proper pronunciation was Ilione, and, consequently, that neither Horace nor Virgil were authorities for the classic language of Rome. Thus, should a discussion arise, when, haply, successive generations shall have passed away, as to the vegetable known to Johnson as the " onion," it shall be given against the orthography of the lexicographer, and established as the "ingen," on the authority of the metropolitan vernacular of the nineteenth century.

The racing opened with a match, for £50 aside, between Rosalind and Iole, to settle the question of their pretensions; but it ended in a dead heat, "et adhuc sub judice lis est." The next event was the Clearwell, a race, in the present year, of great interest, inasmuch as it brought together the three champion two-year-olds of the Newmarket, the Northern, and Southern great stables. Attila, indeed, was generally reported to be below his mark; the Hester colt had to carry 7lb. penalty as winner of the July Stakes; while Wiseacre, malgré his Goodwood winnings, went without mulct. Robin, too, brother to Ralph, came out for the first time; and all were on the qui vive for the exhibition. Five started, and, notwithstanding the severity of the ground, the pace was very good. Wiseacre made the running, with Attila waiting on his quarter, and the others well up. Guzelle, however, was soon beaten. At the cords the Hester colt made an effort for the front, but failed (perhaps the weight stopped him), when Attila ran past Wiseacre, and won by a length. Young John Day, who rode Wiseacre, fell just after passing the chair, in consequence of a stirrup-leather breaking, but was not hurt. Robin never showed in the race. winner is a very clever little horse-quite an Epsom goer, and is backed for a very large stake for the Derby.

The

Preparations for the great Handicap had begun long before the decision of the Clearwell; and as soon as Attila's victory was announced, there was a simultaneous rush for the saddling stables. A field of twentyseven is not a thing to be seen every day: in only three instances were there occurrences of similar importance at Newmarket, viz., in 1775, 1777, and 1778-the two former years having produced fields of twenty-nine, and the latter, one of twenty-eight. I cannot attempt more than an allusion to the scene at the start. The summit of the Ditch was densely crowded with spectators, while the whole Course, at least from the gap to the chair, was dotted with anxious groups that watched every change of the race. The odds and the details of the running are given in the Turf Register; a few remarks only remain to be made

here. It has been already told that the first favourite for the Cesarewitch of 1841, was made safe-that The Squire "was half burst" from the effects of croton-oil, or some other potent drug, as his father had been, for a similar purpose, with aqua pura. Such a monstrous outrage committed under the noses of the Stewards and Members of the Jockey Club, one is fain to hope, cannot go unpunished. If men are to be compelled themselves to hand over their proper monies to freebooters in the noon-day, in the high street of one of the most respectable towns of Suffolk, is it any wonder there should be earthquakes? When it is had in remembrance that Iliona won four out of her six races, as a three-year-old, none can be surprised she was so good a favourite for this event, carrying 6 st. 11 lb., as a four-year-old, in October: 6 st. 11 lb. on a good winner, by Priam, out of Gallopade's dam, and four years old, is not very severe handicapping. A scrutiny of the weights, as given in the Turf Register, will not be without interest to those fond of the economy of racing; Pocahontas, for example-that was to have won the last Goodwood Cup-nowhere for the Cesarewitch, with 7 st. 12lb. on her back, and other similar mysteries. However, it was an event of passing splendour, and closed one of the most brilliant days in the annals of Newmarket.

Wednesday's sport may be peremptorily disposed of. The opening Sweepstakes for two and three-year-olds, the winner to be sold for 80 sovereigns, it may be supposed, was an affair of small moment. The next, a Sweepstakes of 5 sovs., with 25 added, for all ages, was little more distinguished; and the Town Plate of £50, concluded the running; the Oatlands and a match having been walked over.

Thursday presented a list of far better promise. There was one match for £500, two for £100, a Handicap with fifteen acceptances, and a Sweepstakes, the winner to be sold for £150. The great match, however, was a poor affair, John o' Gaunt beating the Knight of the Whistle, who was backed at 11 to 8 on him, in a canter, by as many lengths as he liked. The Sweepstakes for two-year-olds, was a fine race, won by Pettit's honest filly, Michaelmas-day, by half-a-length. The pair of hundreds were matches calling for no particular mention, but the Handicap will bear a few details. Isabella, a six-year-old, carrying 7 st. 6 lb., won, and Tamburini, with 7 st. 10lb. on him, was beaten off. The winner was not inquired about by the betting gentlemen; probably the handicappers, in future cases, will pay her more attention.

The whole interest of Friday's business centred in the Prendergast, which, out of eighteen nominations, brought only four to the Post. Wiseacre, of course, had it all his own way in the ring; 3 to 1 being current on him. In the race, however, things were, by no means, upon velvet. He won, but not without lots of persuasion, and then not after a fashion to advance his place as a Derby aspirant. The handicaps and matches require no more notice than that afforded to them in the Turf Register. As I have said, the meeting was a brilliant one, full of present pleasure, and promise of good things in store.

THE HOUGHTON MEETING.

The last week of the season at Newmarket may be regarded as the criterion for betting on the great Spring races, during the remainder of the year, at all events. Contrary to my previous practice, I there

fore determined to give a notice of it in the present number, slight and unfinished as it would of necessity be, rather than defer all allusion till December. In this I was the more resolved, because the three principal events to which it gave rise, would come within compass of my notice, viz., The Criterion, the Cambridgeshire, and the Fifty Sovereigns Sweepstakes, run on the Thursday. Notwithstanding the bleak weather that almost invariably prevails during the Houghton Meeting, the fact that it affords the last glance at the great studs, always attracts a good attendance of strangers, while proprietors of horses assemble with a hope to turn them to some account, while a chance remains.

The town was full of company on the 25th ult., and the day was tolerably fine; the sport, quite equal to the best of late years. It opened with a match between Isabella, 9 st. 7 lb., and Colchicum, 9 st., last three miles of B. C., for £50, won in a canter by the mare. A Handicap Sweepstakes, for three-year-olds, Buffalo won by a head, beating The Genius and Scarf; Mungo Park beat Ca Ira, a match, T. Y. C., for £50, carrying 8 st. 7 lb. for the young one's 7 st. 7 lb.; Garry Owen defeated Sister to Glencoe, T. Y. C., fifty sovs. (giving her two stone for his year), in a canter; and then came The Criterion, with nine out of the forty to start. The odds were 5 to 2 against Barrier; the same against Wiseacre; 3 to 1 against the winner; and 5 to 1 against Eusebia.

At the second attempt the field got away, the favourites waiting, Robin, Timoleon, Meal, and Bridal, constituting the front rank. A distance from the chair-the Hester colt rushed to the front, followed by Barrier and Wiseacre-made his ground better up the cords, and, finally, won with ease by two lengths. The Cambridgeshire, with its field of twenty-three, produced three false starts. At the fourth offer, Compensation went off at score, with the Melody colt next him, and the rest pretty well up to the turn of the lands, where many were beaten off. At that point the Melody colt took the lead till close to the cords, where Vulcan, who had been waiting all through, ran past him, and won very cleverly by a length. The tailing was a burlesque on a handicap, some of the lot being beaten about half-a-mile in a course of a mile and a half. Tuesday's racing was of little public interest: there were two plates, and as many matches, but the details call for no particular observation. Wednesday also produced plenty of sport, but the events were of a very minor character, the only incident of importance being the announcement that Lord George Bentinck's stud was to be removed from John Day's stables; thus, during the present Autumn, the great Northern and Southern "lots" have been deprived of their most powerful allies. It was also stated that the match between Ralph and The Squire would not be run: the weather was as bad as could be.

Thursday was anything but a pleasant day, and the attendance on the heath threadbare. For the only event of interest on the list, the 50 Sovs. Sweepstakes, the Hester colt and Wiseacre divided the forfeits, the latter walking over. Three matches and a plate were run, and the Course was quickly cleared. The racing will last till Saturday: should any matter of concern arise during the two last days, it shall be noticed in my review of the racing season in the next number.

October 29th.

CRAVEN.

345

ON THE GRANULATION OF GUNPOWDER.

66

BY MR. W. GREENER, AUTHOR OF THE GUN," ETC. ETC. ETC.

SEVERAL Communications having been addressed to me relative to the remarks in my paper on the above subject, which appeared in the September number of the SPORTING REVIEW, I am desirous to carry out my observations to a greater length, and to illustrate further the principles connected with the granulation of powder.

It is well known that, with a common sized gun, charged in a certain way,—namely, with six drachms of powder, or more, and nearly a quarter of an ounce of No. 4 shot,―a perforation can be made through an old penny-piece of the coinage of George III., if struck when thrown in the air, or suspended as a pendulum. Now this simple fact proves a great deal. In the first place, that the whole of the powder used in the above-named charge, can be burnt in its passage through the tube of an ordinary sized gun, and is capable of giving a greater force and velocity than a smaller quantity will do; for I have rarely seen it accomplished with a less charge of powder. Secondly, that weight is an expender of force, both from its own inertness, and also from the additional friction it creates on the tube, and is, with even proportionate quantity of force, incapable of the same effects; for if the number of pellets used is more than one complete layer (thus causing one shot to lie upon another), the result becomes uncertain from the fact of a wedging of the grains of shot having created a friction on the tube, sufficiently obstructive to lessen the initial velocity, and prevent the perforation from being obtained. Thirdly, that more powder can be burnt than it is convenient or satisfactory to use; and we must recollect that a considerably greater quantity than six drachms may be exploded in a two-feet eight-inch tube, if there be greater weight to lift, for the period of continuing in the tube will surely be influenced by the weight to be expelled, and thus the time during which a generation of explosive matter can be beneficially obtained, will be lengthened. I have exploded nine drachms of powder in the size of tube already mentioned, but here the charge becomes so large that it is strictly unsafe, and the recoil is so great, that it is impossible to be withstood by a man of ordinary strength. Admitting these premises to be good, the advantage of a force which shall be equivalent to the above, and yet with only half the quantity of explosive matter expended, must be as apparent as the rays of light, for the danger is avoided, the annoyance of recoil remedied, and the same power of projecting a missile or missiles obtained.

The system of granulation contains all this, and, if properly understood, may be so modified as to give us, with different sized guns, a result proportionate to the means used, the reverse of which is the case at present, for a small gun will excel in proportion the best large one I ever saw tried. Here a knowledge of the nature of the explosive fluid makes clear the anomaly. The expenditure of the whole force

during the passage through only a portion of the tube,-the immense resistance of the column of air in the remaining portion—are the fullest explanation of the apparent mystery. These resisting forces are neutralized if you produce an accelerative force, so meted out as to continue in power during the period required.

Such is the very limited knowledge we possess of the capabilities and properties of gunpowder, that we simply understand we have a most powerful agent, and little more. We draw deductions from experiments limited and futile; for instance, one of my correspondents says "You must be wrong, sir; I find, on trial with the powder trier, that the finer grained powder is considerably stronger than the coarser (being both one quality of ingredient"). The result is, no doubt, as he says, "with this meagre contest," for there is, from the very smallness of the grain, more contained in the minute chamber of an eprouvette, where exists no column of air to be displaced; but put them both into a tube where the excess exists, and the contrary will take place. Another says, "if you increase the size of grain in powder, your guns will be always missing fire." Certainly they would, if made with no more attention to the perforation of the breech than is displayed at present. The chambers must be enlarged, a gradual opening inwards from the point of ignition to the commencement of the cylinder of the tube, an avoiding of right angles in the capping, an approach to centrical fire must be obtained by placing the nipple as near the centre of the breech as possible, and a lodgment of the body of the charge, as near the point of ignition as it can be got. Any clever mechanic can accomplish the necessary alterations at a very trifling cost. Prejudice is nearly omnipotent, and a great majority of circumstances are entirely controlled by it. Prejudice induced "Joe Manton," at first, to oppose the introduction of the percussion system; prejudice induced him to make his patent breeches with a narrow cylindrical hole, three-fourths of an inch in length, to lengthen the period of time the train had to travel to the body of the charge, while he cut away, or indented, the lock into half the diameter of the barrel to shorten it; and prejudice and ignorance cause others to do the same. A breech, and a nipple properly capped, to suit the use of a larger grained powder, can be as easily constructed as the old unscientific plan on which we now act.

The nipple at present in use, is made to suit the cap, instead of the cap to suit the nipple. The accompanying wood-cut will give an idea of a cap and the section of a nipple suited to fire powder as large in the grain as No. 8 shot, and that with certainty

too.

Mr. Joyce has just manufactured for me 20,000 caps, entirely of iron (and thus antigalvanic), and he will, of course, be glad to do the same for any other individual. It will be perceived that the perforation is greater up to near the top of the nipple, where it may be made even smaller than at present; the nipple is capped externally with a conical cap, as originally proposed by me in 1835; a small nick is filed across the top to allow the air to pass out while the hammer is bearing on it; and thus the current assists the grains of powder up to the extremity, obviating the necessity of pricking the wadding used upon the powder, which is objectionable for other reasons than allowing