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PICRIC POWDER.—

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 18, 1871

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 38, No. 5.

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PICRIC POWDER.—

Prof. Abel, chemist to the British War Department, has, after prosecuting numerous experiments succeeded in perfecting the new explosive agent recently produced by him under the name of picric powder as a material for charging shells. Although it is not so violent in action as gun-cotton, nitro-glycerine, or picrate of potash, picric powder is a much more powerful explosive than gunpowder, and has other properties which appear to render it peculiarly adapted for employment in shells. Its merits are that it may be readily and expeditiously prepared, and that it is remarkable for its safety as compared with all other explosive agents, being somewhat less sensitive to ignition by percussion than gunpowder. The president of the committee of explosives at Woolwich having pronounced the new powder worthy of further experiment, it will be tried under various conditions in order to ascertain its suitability to the requirements of the service.