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POLYMORPHISM IN
JAVA
 POLYMORPHISM IN
JAVA
Methods and polymorphic algorithms
applied to computer games

First edition 2018

Author: Carlos Alberto Privitera

Advanced level
Book information:
 Title: Polymorphism in Java
 Edition: 1st edition 2018
 Author: Carlos Alberto Privitera
 ISBN-13: 978-1725953420
 ISBN-10: 1725953420
 Date of the first edition: spring 2018

About the Author:

Carlos Alberto Privitera is a specialist in Java SE and has been dedicated to the construction of
computer systems with Java SE since 2000. He has extensive experience in teaching the Java
language. He has specialized in creating content to teach courses on the Java SE language.
It has the titles of:
 “Técnico Analista de Sistemas de información” awarded by the “Instituto Superior de
Informática 9-012”.
 “Licenciado en Educación” awarded by the “Universidad Nacional de Quilmes”.
 “Profesor en Ciencias de la Computación” awarded by the “Universidad de Mendoza”.
 “Magister en Ingeniería del Software” awarded by the “Instituto Técnico de Buenos Aires”.

All rights reserved:

This work is the intellectual property of its author and any partial or total reproduction without
written permission of the author is expressly prohibited.

Rights of third parties:

The mention of brands, companies and tools are not intended to infringe any type of ownership of
third parties, are mentioned in this book for educational and practical purposes in the process of
teaching and learning the Java SE language.

Additional material on the Web

 https://libropolimorfismoenjava.blogspot.com/
 https://github.com/carlosprivitera

Contact with the author of the book:

 carlosprivitera@yahoo.com.ar
 Dedication:

To my children
Foreword
This book stands out for teaching programming based on polymorphism. Abundant examples in
Java code and illustrative graphics of the main ideas related to the topic: Polymorphism in Java.

The book "Polymorphism in Java" aims to give a modern and updated vision when learning Java
and in the particular subject of polymorphic algorithms. Students, teachers and developers will be
able to find a sequence of design patterns that create and use polymorphic algorithms, these
design patterns can be applied to solving problems of computer systems and everyday life.

A professional in the Java language can benefit from the book "Polymorphism in Java" by finding
an innovative way to solve problems with polymorphic algorithms. The design patterns, analyzed
in this work, are based on the inheritance between classes. Currently the difficulties of the Java
language have been overcome to a large extent and it is easy to understand and apply.

The book aims to teach fundamental concepts of object-oriented programming with Java SE, in a
clear and practical way, significantly reducing the learning curve. In the process you will learn to
program computers and use the Java SE language.

Goals:
 The present work aims that readers get strong knowledge in computer programming with the
Java SE language.
 Get the reader to acquire practical skills by using advanced Java SE concepts.
 Have the reader write computer programs based on object-oriented programming with the
Java SE language.

Recipients of the book

The book is aimed at anyone who wants to learn to program computers with Java SE, also the book
is very useful for people who want to teach the Java language. The professionals will find a
modern and updated work worthy of being studied and put into practice. Level of the book: it is
of advanced level. It requires knowledge of the basic details of the Java SE language.

Level of the book: it is of advanced level. It requires knowledge of the basic details of the Java SE
language.

The content of the book is applicable to all operating systems.

How to continue after learning the content of this book?

The learning of computer programming with the Java SE language is the gateway to learning
advanced content related to companies and corporate environments; it is advisable after learning
the content of this book to start learning Java EE, Java Web or Java for cell phones, if the reader
wishes.
 Index of titles and subtitles

Content
Chapter I .......................................................................................................................................................... 13
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 13
Proposal for a basic architecture .............................................................................................................. 13
Design pattern based on inheritance ............................................................................................................ 14
Layered architecture to use a design pattern ............................................................................................... 15
Description of the design pattern based on the inheritance ......................................................................... 16
Types of relations between classes........................................................................................................... 16
Java has a keyword to declare each relationship ...................................................................................... 16
Criteria for building groups of configurations of patterns of architectures by layers ..................................... 16
What are abstract methods? .................................................................................................................... 16
What are abstract classes? ....................................................................................................................... 16
What is an interface? ............................................................................................................................... 16
There are two ways to declare abstract methods: .................................................................................... 17
How to overwrite methods that are abstract? .......................................................................................... 17
Criteria for assembling the different configurations of a design pattern ................................................... 17
What is a reference in Java? ..................................................................................................................... 17
What is an object in Java? ........................................................................................................................ 17
Structure of the book ................................................................................................................................... 18
Graphical representation of the groups of configurations of a design pattern .......................................... 18
Group number one of configurations ........................................................................................................... 19
Structure of the design pattern ................................................................................................................ 19
Configuration 1.1 - Create the object reference using the super class and the creation of the objects using
the subclasses. .................................................................................................................................... 20
Java UML diagram for 1.1 configuration – Variant 1: A reference, an object in memory ........................... 24
Source code for 1.1 Configuration – Variant 1....................................................................................... 25
Explanation of the most relevant lines of code in the 1.1 Configuration – Variant 1 .............................. 27
Java UML diagram for configuration 1.1 - variant 2: Many references, an object in memory by reference 34
Source code for configuration 1.1 - variant 2 ........................................................................................ 35
Explanation of the most relevant lines of code in configuration 1.1 - variant 2 ...................................... 36
Configuration 1.2 - References of objects and objects are created using the subclasses ........................... 38
Utility of configuration 1.2 .................................................................................................................... 39
 Java UML diagram for configuration 1.2 ................................................................................................... 41
Código fuente para la configuración 1.2 ............................................................................................... 42
Explanation of the most relevant lines of code in configuration 1.2 ...................................................... 45
Group number two of configurations ........................................................................................................... 55
What happens if subclasses are declared with the abstract class modifier? .............................................. 55
Diagram of Java classes in UML - Configuration 2, possibility 1 (Inherit a pattern) .................................... 58
Source code of configuration 2, possibility 1 (Inherit a pattern) ............................................................ 59
End of chapter I - "How to use abstract classes in class inheritance" ................................................................ 62
Chapter II ......................................................................................................................................................... 65
How to use the classes that are of type Interface in the inheritance relation between classes? .................... 65
Group number three of configurations......................................................................................................... 65
What is an interface? ............................................................................................................................... 65
Example of an interface declaration: ........................................................................................................ 66
Configuration 3.1 - Creating the references of objects using the superclass and the creation of the objects
using the subclasses. ........................................................................................................................... 67
Characteristics of the configuration 3.1 - variant 1: a reference and many objects ................................ 67
Java class diagram in UML for configuration 3.1 - variant 1: a reference and many objects ....................... 68
Source code for configuration 3.1 - variant 1 ........................................................................................ 69
Explanation of the most relevant lines of code, pertaining to configuration 3.1 - variant 1 ................... 72
UML diagram in Java for configuration 3.1 - variant 2: many references and one object by reference ...... 79
Characteristics of the configuration 3.1 - variant 2: many references and one object by reference ....... 80
Source code for configuration 3.1 - variant 2 ........................................................................................ 80
Configuration 3.2 - Create references to objects and objects using subclasses.......................................... 82
Configuration utility 3.2 ........................................................................................................................... 82
How to implement the algorithms that are static? ................................................................................... 82
How to implement algorithms that are dynamic? ..................................................................................... 82
What is the static assignment of the reference? ....................................................................................... 82
What is the dynamic assignment of the reference? .................................................................................. 83
Class diagram in Java for configuration 3.2 - variant 1 .............................................................................. 84
Class diagram in Java for configuration 3.2 - variant 2 .............................................................................. 89
Source code for configuration 3.2 - variant 2 ........................................................................................ 90
Chapter III ........................................................................................................................................................ 93
Polymorphic algorithms that are mutable .................................................................................................... 93
 What are mutable polymorphic algorithms? ................................................................................................ 93
What are mutable methods? ....................................................................................................................... 93
Class diagram for polymorphic algorithms that are mutable. Combination 1 - variant 1............................ 95
Source code that implements mutable polymorphic algorithms. Combination 1 - variant 1 ...................... 96
Class diagram in UML for mutable polymorphic algorithms. Combination 2 - variant 1 ........................... 100
Source code that implements mutable polymorphic algorithms. Combination 2, variant 1 ..................... 101
Chapter IV ..................................................................................................................................................... 105
Programming a computer game ................................................................................................................. 105
Polymorphic code of the game ............................................................................................................... 105
View of the computer game: Fly to the end................................................................................................ 106
Class diagram in Java for the Game: Fly to the end ..................................................................................... 107
Structure of folders and packages for the source code in Java .................................................................... 110
Source code in Java for the game view module .......................................................................................... 111
Source code for the classes that implement the client module ................................................................... 114
Source code for classes that implement the specialized behavior provider................................................. 118
Farewell words .............................................................................................................................................. 130
 POLYMORPHISM IN JAVA
Chapter I

Introduction
In the construction of a software product, different structures are defined that determine the
architecture of the software that will be built. The basic structures in Java are the classes and the
relationships between the classes. Many times, a structure forms a recurring pattern in the
construction of a software product. A programmer attentive to identifying structures and patterns
can define an appropriate architecture to solve problems or build software. A proper architecture
is as important as the development process in software engineering.

A layer structure can determine an appropriate architecture to define specific functions that are
placed as strata; each layer can be replaced by a new layer without affecting the others. A precise
and unique communications interface must be defined between the layers.

Proposal for a basic architecture

Layer 1 - Application layer or view layer or software product

The layer of the software product is the layer that the user sees or should use, the application layer
provide the functionalities that the user has requested or wants. The application layer is a
concrete implementation of the design pattern. The application layer traditionally uses structured
algorithms, but this time the polymorphic algorithms will be added.

Layer 2 - Use the pattern

Layer 2 must create objects of the pattern type, some are objects created at runtime and others are
created at the design time of the application. Objects are considered artifacts that perform
different functions; an artifact can invoke different behaviors to the design pattern. The different
artifacts access a method interface. With access to the methods interface, polymorphic algorithms
can be written that provide functions to the application layer.

Layer 3 - Polymorphism
Layer 3 is the layer where polymorphic methods and polymorphic algorithms are written. Layer 4
separates the implementation of the polymorphic algorithms from the implementation of the
solution of the problem; the polymorphic algorithms express different ways of using a solution of
a problem.

Layer 4 - Pattern structure

Layer 4 - Pattern structure: Layer 4 is the design pattern that implements the strategy that solves the
problem that has been raised, the design pattern contains the specialized and traditional
algorithms. Different patterns can be implemented depending on the problem to be solved. A
pattern has the property of supporting the solution of many problems. A group of problems can
be solved by a single pattern. A very simple and useful pattern is the pattern that has a generic
superclass and many specialized subclasses in an algorithm. Java is a language that allows the
creation of hierarchical class structures, classes are related through inheritance.

Página 13 de 130
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was for a few minutes exposed to a temperature of 300°, it acquired
new qualities, which were precisely those of the modification
employed by Mr. Goodyear for his impervious boots. This
transformation effected by sulphur Mr. Hancock called vulcanization;
and vulcanized Indian-rubber is now employed in nearly all the
innumerable applications of caoutchouc, provided the presence of
sulphur is not absolutely objectionable. Goodyear’s process consists
in mixing the sulphur with the caoutchouc, the suitable proportion (7
to 10 per cent.) having been determined beforehand, and the
sulphur ground up with the Indian-rubber in the masticating
machine, or disseminated through the viscid liquid if a solution is
used, or dissolved in the solvent employed. This gives better results
than Hancock’s process, because the sulphurization is more uniform,
and this method is therefore more largely employed. When the
various articles have been fabricated in the ordinary manner from
the mixture of caoutchouc and sulphur, they are enclosed in vessels,
where they are submitted for two or three hours to the action of
steam under a pressure of nearly 4 atmospheres, so that the steam
may have a temperature of about 280° F. A still easier method, due
to Mr. Parkes, consists in steeping the articles (which in this case
should be thin) in a solution of one part of chloride of sulphur in
sixty of bisulphide of carbon. The object becomes vulcanized by
simple exposure to the air, without the aid of heat. But this process
is said to be liable to cause the article afterwards to become brittle.
The addition of oxide of zinc, carbonate of lead, and other
substances, is found to yield a product better adapted for certain
purposes than one in which only sulphur is used.
The list of applications of vulcanized Indian-rubber would be a very
long one; but as a great number of these applications must be
known to everybody, it will be unnecessary to specify them. It has
lately been used for carriage-springs, for the tires of wheels, and for
the rollers of mangles. Its employment in the construction of
portable boats, pontoons, life-buoys, dresses for divers and for the
preservation of life at sea, air-tight bags and cushions, air and water
beds, cushions of billiard-tables, are a few of the thousand instances
of its utility which might be quoted.
When the proportion of sulphur mixed with the caoutchouc is
increased to 25 or 35 per cent., another product having qualities
entirely different from those of vulcanized Indian-rubber is obtained
when the mixture is heated. This is the jet-black substance termed
ebonite or vulcanite, which is made into such articles as combs,
paper-knives, buttons, canes, portions of ornamental furniture, and
plates of electrical machines. It is in many cases an excellent
substitute for horn and for whalebone, while for insulating supports,
&c., in electric apparatus, it is unrivalled. It has a full black colour
and takes a bright polish; and it may be cut, or filed, or moulded. It
is very tough, hard, and durable. In the transformation of Indian-
rubber into vulcanite, the temperature must be somewhat higher
than that required for the production of the vulcanized Indian-
rubber. The caoutchouc used is very carefully purified before it is
incorporated with the sulphur; and the yellow paste formed by the
mixture is subjected to the contact of steam at a temperature of
about 310°.
 GUTTA-PERCHA.

G utta-percha is a substance very like Indian-rubber in its chemical

properties, having the same composition, although in outward
appearance very different. It was first sent to Europe in 1822, but
did not become an article of commerce until 1844. It is the solidified
juice of a tree (Isonandra percha) which abounds in Borneo and
Malacca. The trunk of the tree grows to a diameter of 6 ft., but as
timber it is valueless. When an incision is made through the bark
and into the wood, a milky juice flows out, which speedily solidifies.
Gutta-percha is a very tough substance, but is without the elasticity
of Indian-rubber. It differs from the latter, too, in becoming softened
by a gentle heat, and it will then readily take and retain any
impressions with great sharpness and fidelity. Thus beautiful
mouldings and other ornamental objects are easily made. It also has
the valuable quality of welding when softened by heat. It is a non-
conductor of electricity, and it is largely used for covering telegraph-
wires, and especially for forming an insulating coating in submarine
cables. It seems to have become known precisely at the time it was
required for this purpose, and the success of ocean telegraphy is
largely owing to its valuable properties. It is employed as a
substitute for leather in soling shoes and boots, and in forming
straps and bands for driving machinery; also in the preparation of
tubes used for conveying liquids, and for speaking-tubes. Dilute
mineral acids have no action upon it, and hence it is especially
valuable for making bottles to contain hydrofluoric acid, which
attacks glass. A drawback to the use of gutta-percha is its tendency
to become oxidized when exposed to light and air, by which it
entirely loses its power of becoming plastic by heat, and is converted
into a brittle substance. But in the dark, or under water, it may,
however, be preserved for an indefinite period without change.
Mr. Charles Hancock, in 1847, patented a machine for cutting the
gutta-percha into slices. In this machine there is a circular iron plate,
with three radial slots, in which knives are fixed somewhat in the
manner of the cutting tool of a spokeshave. The lumps of gutta-
percha drop against these knives as the plate is driven round, and
the material is cut into slices, which have a thickness determined by
the projection which has been given to the blades. Sometimes an
upright chopper is used, with straight or curved blades. These slices
are immersed in hot water, until they are softened, and they are
then subjected to the action of rollers armed with toothed blades,
called “breakers,” and also to the action of the mincing cylinder,
which is furnished with radiating blades, and revolves partly
immersed in the water. The material is carried out of the hot water
to these machines by endless webs mounted on rollers. The
breakers and mincing cylinders make about 800 revolutions per
minute. The gutta-percha, thus reduced to fragments, is carried
forward again by endless webs into cold water, where it is
thoroughly washed and separated from the impurities, which fall to
the bottom, while the lighter gutta-percha floats on the surface of
the water.
Gutta-percha, like caoutchouc, can be combined with sulphur. The
best product is obtained when a small proportion of sulphur is used
along with some metallic sulphide. Mr. C. Hancock uses 48 parts of
gutta-percha, 1 of sulphur, and 6 of antimony sulphide. These
ingredients are thoroughly mixed and put into a boiler, where they
are heated under pressure for an hour or two. Another method of
treating gutta-percha was also devised by Mr. C. Hancock, who
found that when this strange substance was exposed to nitric oxide
gas (which is given off when nitric acid acts on copper) it became
quite smooth, and acquired an almost metallic lustre, losing also all
its stickiness. Another modification is formed by treating gutta-
percha with chloride of zinc; and yet another by the action of a
solvent, such as turpentine, a sulphide, sulphur, and carbonate of
ammonia, employed simultaneously. Mr. Hancock mixes all these
materials together in a “masticator,” and then applies heat to them
while confined in a vessel under pressure. The product of these
operations is a very singular modification of gutta-percha, in which
the material assumes a spongy, elastic condition, and in this form it
is used to form the stuffing of sofas, easy chairs, &c. Among the
purposes to which gutta-percha has been applied besides the
general one of waterproof tissues and fabrics, may be named the
formation of straps, belts, bandages, cups, and other vessels, rollers
for cotton-spinning machinery, hammers of pianofortes, cards for
wool-carding, hammercloths, life-preservers, and trusses.
Gutta-percha is made into strips, bands, cords, or threads of any
required section, by passing sheets of suitable thickness between
rollers provided with grooves and cutting edges. For strips and
bands the sheets are passed through the machine cold, and divided
by the cutting-edges. But for round cords or threads sheets are
supplied to the rollers from a receptacle in which they acquire a
temperature of about 200° F. The material is forced to take the form
of the grooves, the operation in this case being analogous to that of
rolling iron bars. The gutta-percha cords are received as they issue
from the rollers in a tank of cold water, from which they pass on, to
be wound on reels or drums. It is obvious that cords of any section
may be formed by making use of grooves of suitable shape. Tubes of
gutta-percha are made by forcing the softened substance out of an
annular orifice: it is received into vessels filled with cold water.
Telegraph-wires are covered by a similar process—the copper wire
being made to pass through the centre of a circular opening with the
gutta-percha surrounding it. Picture-frames, &c., are made by
forcibly pressing warm gutta-percha into the warmed moulds. Gutta-
percha tubing is largely used everywhere for the speaking-tubes by
which persons in remote apartments of even the largest building can
converse. This is one of the labour-saving inventions of our day. It
must have struck every one who has seen these speaking-tubes in
operation in a large establishment, what a vast amount of running to
and fro they save, and how much they expedite business by the
convenient means they afford of giving orders and directions to
persons in distant apartments. This tubing is also used for the
conveyance of liquids, and it has been proposed to employ it instead
of the ordinary leaden piping used for carrying water. It may seem to
the reader that gutta-percha is too fragile a material to resist the
pressure to which water-pipes are exposed. But, judging from some
experiments made by the engineer of the Birmingham Waterworks,
the power of gutta-percha tubing to resist pressure is quite
extraordinary, and far beyond what would be supposed. The tubes
experimented on had diameters of ¾ and ⅞th of an inch
respectively. The water from the main, where the pressure was that
caused by a head of 200ft., was in communication with these pipes
for several weeks, and they were found unaltered in any way. In
order to test the strength of the tubes, and find the greatest
pressure they would bear, the engineer then had them connected
with a hydraulic proving-pump; and here, when exposed to the
highest pressure at which the ordinary water-pipes were tested,
namely, to 250 lbs. on the square inch, they also remained intact.
The pressure was afterwards increased to 337 lbs., but without any
damage to the tubes.
The increasing importance of gutta-percha may be inferred from the
continually augmented importation of the crude substance into this
country. In 1850 only 11,000 cwt. were imported, but the quantity
has increased year by year; and in 1872 we received nearly 46,000
cwt. The demand is still increasing; but there is reason to apprehend
that under the stimulus of a rising market, the producers have
collected the gutta-percha wastefully and with great destruction of
the trees, so that it is not improbable that if the demand still
increases, there may be a gutta-percha famine. The concreted juices
of certain other trees have been proposed as substitutes for gutta-
percha. None of these have as yet come into practical use. The
increase in a few years of the quantity of Indian-rubber imported
into the United Kingdom is perhaps more extraordinary. From the
tables given in Mr. Hancock’s book, it appears that our imports of
caoutchouc were 853,000 lbs. in 1850, but by 1855 they had
amounted to 5,000,000 lbs.
Fig. 338.—Portrait of Sir James
Young Simpson, M.D.
 ANÆSTHETICS.

T he discovery which is indicated by the somewhat unfamiliar

word[16] which heads this article is perhaps the greatest which
has ever been made in connection with the science of medicine. At
least, there is no other discovery of modern times which has so
largely and directly contributed to the assuagement of human
suffering. Nay, in this respect there is perhaps in the whole annals of
the healing art no other which can rival it, if we except that famous
one of Jenner’s which has arrested the ravages of small-pox. During
the last thirty years, all the more formidable operations of the
surgeon have been, in almost every case, performed with a happy
unconsciousness on the part of the patient. In unconsciousness,
induced by the same means, has relief also been found for severe
suffering arising from other causes. The substances which are
denoted by the word “anæsthetics” differ from the drugs which the
older surgeons sometimes administered before an operation, in
order to lull the patient’s sense of pain. They differ in their nature
and in the mode of their administration; by the certainty and
completeness of their action; by the entirely transient effects they
produce, which pass off without leaving a trace.

16. From α (αν), privative, and αισθητικος, capable of perceiving or

feeling.
To the great chemist whose name has already been mentioned as
the discoverer of the metals of the alkalies and alkaline earths we
are indebted for the first of the remarkable class of bodies we are
about to discuss. The first work that Davy published had for its title
“Researches, Chemical and Philosophical, chiefly concerning Nitrous
Oxide and its Respiration.” This was in the year 1800, when the
philosopher had hardly completed his twenty-first year. The work
caused no little sensation in the scientific world, and it was in
consequence of the reputation he acquired by these researches that
Davy was appointed to the chemical professorship at the Royal
Institution. Davy was not the original discoverer of nitrous oxide, but
he first entered upon a full investigation of its properties, and
announced the singular effect produced by its inhalation. The kind of
transient intoxication and propensity to laughter which it excites
have obtained for this compound the familiar name of laughing gas.
Davy had by experiment on his own person proved the anæsthetic
properties of this gas, for he had a tooth painlessly extracted when
under its influence, and he says in the work above named that “as
nitrous acid gas seems capable of destroying pain, it could probably
be used with advantage in surgical operations where there is no
effusion of blood.” Davy’s observations and suggestions were
destined to lie barren for nearly half a century, but they nevertheless
formed the basis of the great results which have since been
attained.
Before proceeding farther, it will perhaps be well to make the
unscientific reader acquainted with the chemistry of nitrous oxide.
We may presume that he knows that atmospheric air is a mixture of
the two invisible gases, nitrogen and oxygen (the small quantity of
carbonic acid also present need not now be considered). When a
known quantity of air is passed over red-hot copper turnings,
contained in a tube, the whole of the oxygen is seized upon by the
copper, and only the nitrogen issues from the tube, and may be
collected. Some of the copper is thus converted into oxide, and the
increase of the weight of the tube’s contents shows the weight of
oxygen contained in the air, while the weight of nitrogen may be
known from the volume collected. In this way the chemist analyses
atmospheric air, and determines that 100 parts by weight of dry air
contain about 79 of nitrogen and 21 of oxygen; or, by measure,
about four times as much of the former as of the latter. Now,
chemists are acquainted with no fewer than five different substances
which contain nothing but nitrogen and oxygen. These substances
are either gases, or can be changed into the gaseous form by heat,
and they can all be analysed in the same manner as air. The results
of such analyses show in 100 parts by weight of each substance the
following proportions of its constituents:
No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5.
Nitrogen 63·64 46·67 36·84 30·44 25·93
Oxygen 36·36 53·33 63·16 69·56 74·07
In casting the eye over this table, no relation will probably be
detected between the five cases. But if we write down, not the
quantities of nitrogen and oxygen contained in 100 parts of each
compound, but the quantity of oxygen which in each compound is
united to some fixed quantity of nitrogen, we shall at once detect a
remarkable law: thus, taking 28 as the fixed weight of nitrogen, for
reasons which need not be here explained:
No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5.
Nitrogen 28 28 28 28 28
{Oxygen 16 32 48 64 80
{ or 16 × 1 16 × 2 16 × 3 16 × 4 16 × 5
Chemists have a sort of shorthand method of expressing the
composition of substances, which may be conveniently illustrated by
the case before us. Let it be agreed that the letter N shall not only
represent nitrogen, but always fourteen parts by weight—grains,
ounces, &c., &c.,—of nitrogen; and that, similarly, O shall stand for
sixteen parts by weight of oxygen. It is plain that the composition of
the compound No. 2 may be represented by simply writing down
“NO;” and that of No. 4, in which there is just double the proportion
of oxygen, by “NOO.” But to avoid an unnecessary repetition of the
same symbol, when it has to be taken more than once, a small
figure is written after and a little below it. Thus, for OO, “O2” is
written. The proportional composition of each of the five compounds
will now be obvious from the following symbols:
 No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5.
N2 O NO N 2 O3 NO2 N 2 O5

These symbols may be regarded as merely a compendious

expression of the composition of each substance—as a shorthand
statement of the facts of analysis. But to the majority of chemists
the symbols have a deeper significance; for they are taken as
representing the atoms of each element which enter into each
smallest possible particle of a compound; they express a certain
theory of the ultimate constitution of matter. Thus, if we suppose
that there exist indivisible particles of nitrogen and of oxygen, and
that each smallest particle, or molecule, of the compounds under
consideration is constituted of a certain definite and invariable
number of each kind of atoms; and, further, if we suppose that an
atom of oxygen is heavier than one of nitrogen in the proportion of
16 to 14, or 8 to 7, we shall have a simple theoretical explanation of
the relations in the proportions already pointed out. In fact, these
would result from the simplest combinations of the two kinds of
atoms; and we can picture each one of the smallest particles of the
several bodies as thus constituted:
No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. No. 4. No. 5.
●●
●● ●● ●
●○ ○○○
○ ○○○ ○○
○○
N2 O NO N 2 O3 NO2 N 2 O5
The black circles represent nitrogen atoms, and the open ones
oxygen atoms; the symbols are placed below in order that their
relation to the supposed atomic constitution may be obvious at a
glance. While the symbol of a compound must always accord with its
percentage composition, the latter does of itself determine the
symbol or formula. A number of other circumstances, which cannot
here be discussed, are taken into account as evidence of the
constitution of the molecule.
This digression on chemical formulæ will, it is hoped, enable the
general reader, who may not previously have been acquainted with
them, to perceive their significance, instead of passing them over as
unintelligible cabalistic letters when they occur in the following
pages. With this object, it may be added that the elements,
hydrogen, carbon, and chlorine, are respectively represented by H,
C, and Cl; and that the proportional quantities, which are also
implied in the symbols, and are those by which H, C, and Cl combine
with other bodies, are 1, 12, and 35·5 respectively. Another point
which should be understood is that the properties and behaviour of
a chemical compound are different, and usually extremely different,
from those of any of its constituents. This is well illustrated in the
subject we are considering. Atmospheric air is a mixture (not a
compound) of nitrogen and oxygen gases, and all its properties are
intermediate between those of its ingredients taken separately.
Nitrous oxide, N2O, has properties not possessed by either
constituent separately. For example, it is very soluble in water,
whereas oxygen is very slightly so, and nitrogen still less. The other
compounds we have referred to differ widely from nitrous oxide and
from each other in their properties.
Nitrous oxide is an invisible gas, having a slightly sweetish taste and
smell. It is dissolved by water, which, at ordinary temperatures,
takes up about three-fourths of its volume of the gas. By cold and
great pressure the gas may be condensed into a colourless liquid.
The gas is obtained in a pure state by gently heating the salt called
ammonium nitrate, which is formed by neutralizing pure nitric acid
with carbonate of ammonia. The action which occurs may be
explained thus: the hydrogen of the ammonium unites with a portion
of the oxygen of the nitric acid, forming water, whilst the remainder
of the oxygen combines with the nitrogen. As chemical actions are
regarded as either separations or unions of atoms, they can be
expressed by what is called a chemical equation, the left-hand side
of which shows the arrangement of the atoms before the action, and
the right-hand side the arrangement after it, the sign of equality
being read as “produce” or “produces.” But the validity of the
equations, like that of the symbolic formulæ, is quite independent of
the existence of atoms; for the equation always rests on certain
facts, namely, the relations between the quantities of the substances
which enter into, and those which are produced by, a chemical
action. Thus, in the present case the action may be symbolically
expressed as follows:
H4N NO3 = 2H2O + N2 O
Ammonium nitrate. Water. Nitrous oxide.
The equation expresses the fact that every 80 parts by weight of
ammonium nitrate, which are used in this reaction, split up into 36
of water and 44 of nitrous oxide.
No attempt seems to have been made to turn Davy’s suggestion to
practical account; but in courses of chemical lectures at the hospitals
and elsewhere the peculiar physiological properties of nitrous oxide
have, since Davy’s announcement, always been demonstrated by
some person inhaling the gas. In the medical schools the students
often operated on a comrade who was under the influence of nitrous
oxide to the extent of bestowing sundry pinches and cuffs, which
fully proved the anæsthetic qualities of the nitrous oxide. In 1818
Faraday pointed out the similarity between the effects of ether and
of nitrous oxide, and from that time Professor Turner regularly
included among the experiments of his course of chemistry the
inhalation of the vapour of ether by one of the students. This was
done by simply pouring a little ether into a bladder of air, and by
means of a tube drawing the mixed air and vapour into the mouth.
Until 1844 the effects of nitrous oxide and of ether vapour remained
without application, although thus continually demonstrated in
lectures. At the close of that year, Mr. Horace Wells, a dentist, of
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A., witnessed the usual experiments with
nitrous oxide at a public lecture. At his request the lecturer attended
at Mr. Wells’s residence the following day, to administer to him the
nitrous oxide, in order that he might try its efficacy in annulling pain,
for he was himself to have a tooth extracted by a brother dentist.
His exclamation on finding the operation painlessly over was, “A new
era in tooth-pulling!” Mr. Wells continued his experiments on the use
of nitrous oxide in dental operations, but he did not apparently
obtain uniform results, for he pronounced its effects uncertain, and
he gave it up. On the occasion when Mr. Wells’s tooth was extracted,
Dr. W. T. G. Morton was present, and he soon afterwards found that
under the influence of ether vapour, teeth might be painlessly
extracted and surgical operations performed. Dr. Morton attempted
to conceal the substance he used under the name of “letheon,” for
which he obtained a patent. But the well-known and characteristic
odour of ether declared the nature of the “letheon;” and Dr. Bigelow
having in consequence tried ether, found it to produce all the effects
of “letheon.” So the matter was no longer a secret. Dr. Morton was,
therefore, the person who first applied ether vapour, and the
extraction of a tooth was the occasion of its first application. This
was in 1846. It was used for the first time in England on the 19th of
December, 1846, also for the extraction of a tooth; and two days
afterwards Mr. Liston, the eminent surgeon, performed the operation
of amputating the thigh while his patient was under the influence of
ether. The employment of ether in surgical operations quickly
spread, and its administration in hospitals became general
throughout Europe and America.
The chemical constitution of ether, and its relation to alcohol, may
be indicated by the following formulæ:
HOH HO(C2H5) (C2H5)O(C2H5)
Water. Alcohol. Ether.
If we suppose one of the hydrogen atoms in the molecule of water
to be removed and replaced by the group (C2H5), the result is
alcohol. If, now, (C2H5) be substituted in the alcohol for the
remaining atom of hydrogen, we get a particle of ether. Ether was
discovered in 1540, and described as sweet oil of vitriol, but its real
nature was first pointed out by Liebig. It is prepared by distilling a
mixture of sulphuric acid and alcohol. It is a colourless transparent
liquid, extremely volatile, and possessing a peculiar and powerful
odour. It evaporates so rapidly that a drop allowed to fall from a
bottle on a warm day may be converted into vapour before it
reaches the ground. When its vapour is inhaled in sufficient
proportion mixed with air, it soon produces a complete insensibility
to pain. In the case of a full-grown man who inhales air containing
45 per cent. of the vapour, about 2 drams per minute of the liquid
are consumed. The air is allowed to stream over the surface of the
liquid in a proper apparatus, where it takes up the vapour, and the
two pass through a flexible tube to a piece fitting over the mouth
and nostrils of the patient. The effects produced are progressive,
and may be thus described:
For about two minutes after the beginning of the inhalation, the
patient retains his mental faculties, and has some power of
controlling his movements, but in a confused and disordered
manner. At the end of the third minute he is unconscious; there are
no voluntary movements, but muscular contractions may agitate the
frame. At the end of the fourth minute, the only perceptible
movements are the motions of the chest in respiration. If the
inhalation be discontinued at the end of the fourth minute, when 1
oz. of ether will have evaporated, similar stages are passed through
in reverse order during recovery. The condition reached at the end of
the fourth minute continues about two minutes; the intermediate
state lasts three or four minutes; the condition of confused intellect
and will about five minutes. This is succeeded by a feeling of
intoxication and exhilaration, which continues for ten or fifteen
minutes. It was probably this excitement of the system produced by
ether which has caused it to be superseded—in Britain, at least—in
about twelve months after its adoption, by chloroform.
Chloroform appears to have been independently discovered in 1831,
by Soubeiran, and by an American chemist, Guthrie. It is usually
procured by distilling a mixture of bleaching powder, spirits of wine,
and water. Chloroform is a colourless volatile liquid, of an odour
much more agreeable than that of ether. Its composition is
represented by CHCl3. The merit of having first applied the singular
properties of this substance to the alleviation of human suffering
belongs to the late Sir J. Y. Simpson, of Edinburgh. Its use as an
anæsthetic was apparently suggested to this eminent professor by
Mr. Waldie, of Liverpool. It was first applied at Edinburgh on the 15th
November, 1847; and when its efficacy had been proved, it was soon
extensively used, and in Europe, at least, almost entirely superseded
ether, as being more rapid and certain in its action, not producing
injurious excitement, and being pleasanter to inhale. A notion
prevailed that chloroform was not only more powerful in its
operation than ether, but also more safe. In January, 1848, its
administration, however, proved fatal to a patient; and since then a
certain number of casualties of this kind have occurred with
chloroform, ether, and other anæsthetics.
The patient is often made to inhale the vapour of chloroform by
merely holding before his mouth and nostrils a sponge or
handkerchief, on which a small quantity of the liquid has been
poured. Dr. Snow contrived an apparatus for administering the
vapour with more regularity. A metal box adapted to the shape of
the face is made to cover the mouth and nostrils. This piece has two
valves, one of which admits the air and vapour from an elastic tube
connected with the apparatus containing the chloroform, and
prevents its return; the other valve is a flap opening outwards, which
allows the expired air to escape. There is also an adjustment for
admitting directly into the mouthpiece more or less atmospheric air.
The sensations first experienced when chloroform is inhaled are said
to be agreeable. Many persons have described the feeling as
resembling rapid travelling in a railway carriage; there is a singing in
the ears, and when the power of vision ceases, and the person is no
longer conscious of light, the sensation is that of entering a tunnel.
After this there is a lessened sensibility to pain; and in the next
stage the unconsciousness to outward impressions is deeper, but the
mental faculties, though impaired, are not wholly suspended, for the
patient may speak, and usually dreams something which he
afterwards remembers. When the person is still more under the
influence of the chloroform, no voluntary motions take place,
although there may be some inarticulate muttering. Dr. Snow
describes several conditions which may be observed in patients
undergoing operations under the influence of chloroform. First, the
patient may preserve the most perfect quietude without a sign of
consciousness or sensation; this is the most usual condition. Second,
he may moan, or cry, or flinch under the operation, without,
however, having the least memory of any pain when he recovers.
Third, the patient may talk, laugh, or sing during the operation; but
what he says is altogether devoid of reference to what is done.
Fourth, he may be conscious of what is taking place, and may look
on while some minor operation is proceeding, without feeling it, or
without feeling it painfully. This is often the condition of the patient
as the effect is passing off, while some smaller operation is still
proceeding. Fifth, the patient may complain he is being hurt; but
afterwards, when the effect of the chloroform has passed off, he will
assert that he felt no pain whatever. When the chloroform has been
inhaled for but a short time, the patient becomes conscious in about
five minutes after its discontinuance; but with a longer inhalation the
period of unconsciousness may last for perhaps ten minutes. The
return of consciousness takes place with tranquillity: not
unfrequently the patient’s first speech, even after a serious
operation, often being an assertion that the chloroform has not
taken effect.
In the strongest degree of ether and chloroform effects, all the
muscles of the body are relaxed; the limbs hang down, or rest in any
position in which they are placed; the eyelids droop over the eyes,
or remain as they are placed by the finger; the breathing is deep,
regular, and automatic; there is often snoring, and this is, indeed,
characteristic of the deepest degree of unconsciousness; the
relaxation of the muscles renders the face devoid of expression, and
with a placid appearance, as if the person were in a sound natural
sleep. He is perfectly passive under every kind of operation. The
breathing and the action of the heart proceed all the while with
unimpaired regularity. It is, however, known by experiments on
animals that if the inhalation be prolonged beyond the period
necessary to produce these effects, the respiratory functions are
interfered with by the insensibility extending to the nerves on which
they depend. The breathing of an animal thus treated becomes
irregular, feeble, or laborious, and death ensues. However nearly
dead from inhalation of ether vapour the animal may be, provided
respiration has not actually ceased, it always recovers when allowed
to breathe fresh air. Of course, the etherization is never carried to
this stage with human beings.
Air containing 2 grs. of chloroform in 100 cubic inches suffices to
induce insensibility; but 5 grs. in 100 cubic inches is found a more
suitable proportion. Dr. Snow, who strongly disapproved of the
uncertain and irregular mode of administering chloroform on a
handkerchief or sponge, contrived the inhaling apparatus already
described. The air before reaching the mouth and nostrils of the
patient passes through a vessel containing bibulous paper moistened
with chloroform. This vessel he surrounds with water at the ordinary
temperature of the air, in order to supply the heat absorbed by the
conversion of the liquid into vapour, so that the formation of the
latter may go on regularly. The same thoughtful arrangement formed
part of the ether-inhaler he had previously contrived.
The extraordinary effects of ether and chloroform have introduced
new and important facts into psychological science, and have
illustrated and extended some of the most interesting results of
physiological research. Let us trace the action of these substances,
and explain it as far as may be. Nitrous oxide, ether vapour, and
chloroform vapour are all soluble in watery fluids. The lungs present
a vast surface bathed by watery fluids, and therefore these gases
are largely absorbed; and by a well-known process, they pass
directly into the blood, through the delicate walls of the capillary
vessels. The odour of ether can be detected in any blood drawn
from persons under its influence. Ether, or chloroform, thus brought
into the general current of the circulation, is quickly carried to all
parts of the body, and thus reaches the nerve-centres. On these it
produces characteristic effects by suspending or paralysing nervous
action: why or how this effect takes place is unknown. The nervous
centres are not all acted upon in an equal degree—some require a
larger quantity of the drug to affect them at all. The parts of the
nervous system first affected are the cerebral lobes, which are
known to be the seat of the intellectual powers. The cerebellum—the
function of which there is reason to believe is the regulation and
coordination of movements—is the next to yield to the influence.
Then follow the spinal nerves, which are the seat of sensibility and
motive power. This is as far as the action can safely be carried: the
nervous centre called the medulla oblongata, which is placed at the
junction of the brain and the spinal cord, still performs its functions
—one of the most important of which is to produce the muscular
contractions that keep the respiratory organs in action. We have
seen, by the effects of further etherization in animals, that when this
part of the system is affected, the animal dies from a stoppage of
the respiration.
But, unfortunately, there have been instances in which death has
been caused by the administration of ether and chloroform even
under the most skilful management. But these occurrences were not
the result of the inhalation having been carried so far as to stop
respiration: in some cases the patient has died before the first stage
of insensibility. These fatal cases have all been marked by a sudden
paralysis of the heart—that organ has abruptly ceased to act. Why in
these, certainly a very small percentage of patients, the action of the
drug should at once take effect on the heart has not yet been
explained. The rhythmic action of the heart depends upon nervous
centres enclosed within its own substance, so that this organ is to a
certain extent independent; but it is connected with the other
nervous centres by the branches of a remarkable nerve which
proceeds from the medulla oblongata, and also by another set of
nerves which come from the chain of ganglia called the sympathetic
nerve. The nerve connecting the heart with the medulla is a branch
of that called the pneumo-gastric, and it is a well-established fact
that the action of the heart may be arrested by irritation of this
nerve. The comparatively few fatalities which have attended the use
of anæsthetics may, therefore, be due either to an immediate action
on the nerve-centres of the heart, or possibly to a mediate action
through the medulla and the pneumo-gastric nerve.
Soon after the introduction of ether the use of nitrous oxide was
discontinued by the dentists, on account of the apparent uncertainty
of its action. Within the last few years, however, its employment in
the extraction of teeth has been revived by Dr. Evans, of Paris, who
found that to insure certainty in its action, the great point is the
inhalation of the gas in a pure state and without admixture of air.
Nitrous oxide seems now to be extensively used by dentists, and
thus Davy’s experiment of 1800 is repeated and verified daily in
thousands of cases, and to the great relief of hundreds who
probably never heard his name.
Other bodies, such as amylene (C5H10), carbon tetrachloride (CCl4),
&c., have been tried as substitutes for ether and chloroform; but
having been found less efficacious or more dangerous, their use has
been abandoned. It might be instructive to reflect how much
unnecessary pain would have been spared to mankind had ether and
chloroform been known and applied at an earlier age. We know not
what other beneficent gifts chemistry may yet have in store for the
alleviation of suffering, but it is unlikely that even ether and
chloroform are her derniers mots. It should be remembered that the
chemists who discovered and examined these bodies were attracted
to the work by nothing but the love of their science. They had no
idea how invaluable these substances would afterwards prove. The
chemist of the present day, whose labour is often its own reward,
may be cheered and stimulated in his toil by the thought that while
no discovery is ever lost, but goes to fill its appropriate place in the
great edifice of science, even the most apparently insignificant truth
may directly lead to invaluable results for humanity at large.
What strange things the ancient thaumaturgists might have done
had they been possessed of the secret of chloroform or of nitrous
oxide! What miracles they would have wrought—what dogmas they
would have sanctioned by its aid! But the remarkable effects
produced by the inhalation of certain gases or vapours were not
altogether unknown to the ancients—although these effects were
then attributed to anything but their real cause. It is related that a
number of goats feeding on Mount Parnassus came near a place
where there was a deep fissure in the earth, and thereupon began
to caper and frisk about in the most extraordinary manner. The
goatherd observing this, was tempted to look down into the hole, to
see what could have caused so extraordinary an effect. He was
himself immediately seized with a fit of delirium, and uttered wild
and extravagant words, which were supposed to be prophecies. The
knowledge of the presumed divine inspiration spread abroad, and at
length a temple in honour of Apollo was erected on the spot. Such
was the origin of the famous Oracle of Delphi, where the Pythoness,
the priestess of Apollo, seated on a tripod placed over the
mysterious opening, delivered the response of the god to such as
came to consult the oracle. It is stated by the ancient writers, that
when she had inhaled the vapour, her eyes sparkled, convulsive
shudders ran through her frame, and then she uttered with loud
cries the words of the oracle, while the priests who attended took
down her incoherent expressions, and set them in order. These
possessions by the spirit of divination were sometimes violent.
Plutarch mentions a priestess whose frenzy was so furious, that the
priests and the inquirers alike fled terrified from the temple; and the
fit was so protracted that the unfortunate priestess herself died a
few days afterwards.
Fig. 339.—A Railway Cutting.
 EXPLOSIVES.

T he illustration above will serve to remind the reader of the great

importance of explosive agents in the operations of civil industry.
By reason of the more impressive and exciting spectacles which
attend the use of such agents in warfare, we are rather apt to lose
sight of their far more extensive utility as the giant forces whose aid
man invokes when he wishes to rend the rock in order to make a
road for his steam horse, or in order to penetrate into the bowels of
the earth in search of the precious ore. A little reflection will show
that if such work had to be done with only the pickaxe, the chisel,
and the crowbar, the progress would be painfully slow; and railway
cuttings through masses of compact limestone, like that represented
in Fig. 339, for example, would be well-nigh impossible. The
formation of cuttings and tunnels, and the removal of rocks in
mining operations, are not the only service which explosive agents
render to the industrial arts; there is, besides other uses which
might be enumerated, the preparation of foundations for buildings,
bridges, harbours, and lighthouses. The use of gunpowder in all
such operations as those which have been referred to is too well
known to require description. But of late years gunpowder has been
to a great extent superseded for such purposes by two remarkable
products of modern chemistry, called gun-cotton and nitro-glycerine.
Military art has also benefited by at least one of these products; and
the use of charges of gun-cotton for torpedoes has already been
described and illustrated in these pages.
It is not a little curious that the two most terribly powerful explosives
known to science should be prepared from two most harmless and
familiar substances. The nice, soft, clean, gentle cotton-wool, in
which ladies wrap their most delicate trinkets, becomes, by a simple
chemical transformation, a tremendously powerful explosive; and the
clear, sweet, bland liquid, glycerine, which they value as a cosmetic
for its emollient properties, becomes, by a like transformation, a still
more terrifically powerful explosive than the former. It is, perhaps,
even more curious that having undergone the transformation which
confers upon it these formidable qualities, neither cotton-wool nor
glycerine is changed in appearance. The former remains white and
fleecy; the latter is still a colourless syrupy-looking liquid.
The fibres which form cotton, linen, paper, and wood, are composed
almost entirely of a substance which is known to the chemist as
cellulose or cellulin. That this substance, as it exists in the fibres of
linen and in sawdust, could be converted into an explosive body by
the action of nitric acid, appears to have been first observed by the
French chemist, Pelouze, in 1838. The action with cellulose in the
form of cotton-wool was more fully examined by Professor
Schönbein, of Basle, who, in 1846, first described the method of
preparing gun-cotton, and suggested some uses for it. He directs
that one part of finely-carded cotton-wool should be immersed in
fifteen parts of a mixture of equal measures of strong sulphuric and
nitric acids; that after the cotton has remained in the mixture for a
few minutes, it should be removed, plunged in cold water, and
washed until every trace of acid has been removed, and then
carefully dried at a temperature not exceeding the boiling-point of
water.
After Professor Schönbein had demonstrated the power of the new
agent in blasting, and its projectile force in fire-arms, its
manufacture on a large scale was undertaken at several places.
Messrs. Hall commenced to make it at their gunpowder works at
Faversham, and a manufactory was also established near Paris. In
July, 1847, a fearful explosion of gun-cotton occurred at the
Faversham works, which was believed to have been caused by the
spontaneous detonation of that substance. This induced Messrs. Hall
to discontinue the manufacture as too dangerous; and they even
destroyed a large quantity of the product which they had in hand by
burying it in the ground. The making of gun-cotton was soon
afterwards discontinued also by the French, who did not find the
substance to possess all the qualities fitting it for military use. The
Prussian Government also began to make gun-cotton; but the
experiments were put a stop to by the explosion of their factory. An
eminent artillery officer in the Austrian service, General von Lenk,
undertook a thorough examination of the manufacture and
properties of gun-cotton for military purposes. He introduced several
improvements into the processes of the manufacture; and the
Austrian Government established works at Hïrtenberg, with a view to
the adoption of gun-cotton as a substitute for gunpowder in fire-
arms. It has some undoubted advantages over powder, for it neither
heats the gun nor fouls it, and it produces no smoke.
Notwithstanding this the Austrians have not abandoned the use of
gunpowder in favour of gun-cotton.
Gun-cotton, as a military agent, has a strenuous advocate in
Professor Abel, who presides over the Chemical Department of the
British War Office. To this gentleman we are indebted for great
improvements in the manufacture of gun-cotton, and for a more
complete investigation of its properties. Professor Abel’s processes
were put in practice at a manufactory which the Government
established at Waltham Abbey; and Messrs. Prentice also set up
works at Stowmarket.
Some details of the mode in which the manufacture of gun-cotton
was carried on at Stowmarket may be of interest. The cotton was
first thoroughly cleansed and carefully dried; and these operations
are of great importance, for unless they are well performed, the
product is liable to explode spontaneously. The cotton was then
weighed out in charges of 1 lb., and each charge was completely
immersed in a separate vessel, containing a cold mixture of sulphuric
and nitric acids. After a short immersion the cotton was removed
from the liquid, and with about ten times its own weight of acids
adhering to it, each charge was placed in a separate jar, where it
was allowed to remain for forty-eight hours. The vessels were kept
cool during the whole period by being placed in a trough through
which cold water was flowing. On removal from the jars, the cotton
was freed from adhering acid by being placed in a centrifugal drying
machine. It was then drenched with a large quantity of cold water,
and dried, washed again in a stream of cold water for forty-eight
hours, and the operations of alternately washing for forty-eight
hours and drying were repeated eight times. The drying was
effected by placing the material in cylinders of wire-gauze, which
were whirled round by a steam engine at the rate of 800 revolutions
per minute, so that the water was expelled by centrifugal force. The
cotton was next reduced to a pulp by a process similar to that which
is employed in paper-making, and the moist pulp was rammed into
metallic cylinders by hydraulic pressure, in order that it might be
brought into forms suitable for use in blasting, &c. The pulp was put
into these moulds while wet, but the water was nearly all expelled
by the compression. The cylinders of gun-cotton thus obtained were
then covered with paper-parchment, and finally dried at a steam
temperature, with many precautions. The compression of the cotton
pulp, by bringing a large quantity of the material into a smaller bulk,
causes a greater concentration of the explosive energy, and this is a
matter of great importance in blasting.
We may now consider what chemistry has to teach concerning the
nature of the action by which cotton-wool is converted into gun-
cotton. Cotton itself is nearly pure cellulose. The chemical
composition of cellulose may be represented most simply by the
formula C6H10O5. Nitric acid is a powerful oxidizing agent, and is
constantly used in chemistry to fix oxygen in various substances; but
another kind of action exerted by nitric acid in certain cases consists
in the substitution of a portion of its atoms for hydrogen, by which
the residue of the particle of nitric acid is converted into water. The
formula for nitric acid may be written HO NO2, and it will be seen
that by changing NO2 for H, water, HOH, would be produced. This is
precisely the kind of action which occurs when cellulose is converted
into nitro-cellulose. Two or three, or more, atoms of hydrogen may
be taken out of cellulose, and replaced by two or three, or more,
groups NO2, and the result will be a different kind of nitro-cellulose,
according to the number of atoms in the molecule replaced by NO2.
Several varieties of gun-cotton are known, these being doubtless the
result of the differences here alluded to. The action producing di-
nitro-cellulose is represented by this equation:
C6H10O5 + 2HNO3 = C6H8(NO2)2O5 + 2H2O.
Cellulose. Nitric acid. Di-nitro-cellulose. Water.
The equation shows that water is produced by the reaction, and the
sulphuric acid which is used in the preparation performs no further
part than to take up this water, which would otherwise go to dilute
the rest of the nitric acid. The union of sulphuric acid and water is
attended with great heat, hence the necessity of cooling the vessels
in making the gun-cotton. Quite other products would be formed if
the mixture became heated.
The action of nitric acid on glycerine is of the same kind as that on
cellulose. When glycerine is allowed to drop into a cooled mixture of
nitric acid and sulphuric acid, the eye can detect little or no
difference between the appearance of the liquid which collects in the
bottom of the vessel and the glycerine dropped in. The product of
the action is, however, the terrible nitro-glycerine, a heavy, oily-
looking liquid, which explodes with fearful violence. Even a single
drop placed on a piece of paper, and struck on an anvil, detonates
violently and with a deafening report. The chemical change which is
effected in the glycerine (C3H8O3), is the substitution of three NO2
groups for three of hydrogen, producing C3H5(NO2)3O3, or tri-nitro-
glycerine. The general reader may perhaps marvel that the chemist
should be able not only to count the number of atoms which go to
make up the particles of a compound body, but to say that they are
arranged so and so: that the atoms do not form an indiscriminate
heap, but that they are connected in an assignable manner. The
reader is no doubt aware that these compound particles are
extremely small, and he may reasonably wonder how science can
pronounce upon the structure of things so small. He may be more
perplexed to learn that a calculation made by Sir W. Thompson
shows that the particles of water, for instance, cannot possibly be
1 1
more than the 250000000 th of an inch in diameter, and may be only 20 th
of that size. The truth is that the very existence of atoms and
molecules is an assumption. Like the undulatory ether, it is an
hypothesis which is adopted to simplify and connect our ideas, and
not a demonstrated reality. But the atomic hypothesis has so wide a
scope that some philosophers hold the existence of atoms and
molecules as almost a known fact. Be that as it may, the chemist in
assigning to a body a certain molecular formula really does nothing
but express the results of certain experiments he has made upon it.
With one re-agent it is decomposed in this manner, with another in
that. By certain treatment it yields an acid, a salt; so much carbonic
acid, such a weight of water, is acted on or remains unaltered; gives
a precipitate or refuses to do so. Such are the facts which the
chemist conceives are co-ordinated and expressed by the formula he
gives to a substance. The best formula is that which accords with
the greatest number of the properties of the body—which includes
as many of the facts as possible. It follows, therefore, that a formula
which aims at expressing more than the mere percentage
composition of the body—which, in the language of the atom
hypothesis, seeks to represent the mode in which the atoms are
grouped in the molecule, but which in reality represents only
reactions, is written according as the chemist considers this or that
group of reactions more important. These remarks might be
illustrated by filling this page with the different formulæ (a score or
more) which have been proposed as representing the constitution
(reactions?) of one of the best-known of organic compounds,
namely, acetic acid.
Whether atoms really exist, and their arrangement in the particles of
bodies can be deduced from the phenomena, or not, the fact is
undeniable that these ideas have given chemists a wonderful grasp
of the facts of their science. The consistency and completeness of
the explanation afforded by these theories are ever being extended
by modifications which enable them to embrace more and more
facts. Some of the properties of the substance we are now
considering confirm in a remarkable manner the theoretical views
which are expressed in its constitutional formula. We may first
consider the nature of gunpowder, and by comparing it with nitro-
glycerine, endeavour to explain the greater power of the latter
substance. Gunpowder is a mixture of charcoal, sulphur, and nitre,
the latter constituting three-fourths of its weight. Nitre supplies
oxygen for the combustion of the charcoal, which is thus converted
into carbonic acid, and the sulphur, which is added to increase the
rapidity of the combustion, is also oxidized. The products of the
action are, however, numerous and complicated, but the important
result is the sudden generation of a quantity of carbonic acid,
nitrogen, carbonic oxide, hydrogen, and other gases, which at the
oxidizing temperature and pressure of the air would occupy a space
300 times greater than the powder from which they are set free; but
the intense heat attending the chemical action dilates the gases, so
that at the moment of explosion they would occupy a space at least
1,500 times greater than the gunpowder. The materials of which
gunpowder is composed are finely powdered, in order that each
portion shall be in immediate contact with others, which shall act
upon it. Plainly, the more thorough the incorporation of the materials
—that is, the more finely ground and intimately mixed they are—the
more rapid will be the inflammation of the powder.
Looking now at the crude formula of nitro-glycerine, C3H5N3O9, the
reader will remark that the molecule contains more than sufficient
oxygen to form carbonic acid with all the carbon atoms, and water
with all the hydrogen atoms; for the C6 in two molecules of nitro-
glycerine would take only O12 to form 6CO2; and the H10, to be
converted into 5H2O, would only need O5; thus there would be an
excess of oxygen. Now, it may occur to the reflective reader that in
every molecule of nitro-glycerine the carbon and hydrogen are
already associated with as much oxygen as they can take up: that
they are, in fact, already burnt, and that no further union is possible.
But from chemical considerations it has been deduced that in the
nitro-glycerine molecule the oxygen atoms, except only three, which
are partially and imperfectly joined to carbon, are united to nitrogen
atoms only. The constitution of the molecule may be represented by
arranging, as below, the letters which stand for the atoms, and by
joining them with lines, which shall stand for the bonds by which the
atoms are united.

We see here that the hydrogen atoms are completely, and the
carbon atoms partially, detached from the oxygen atoms; and
therefore these atoms are in the condition of the separated carbon
and oxygen atoms in gunpowder. Only the pieces of matter which lie
side by side in gunpowder are in size to the molecules of nitro-
glycerine as mountains to grains of sand. The mixture of the
materials is then so much more intimate in nitro-glycerine, since
atoms which can rush together are actually within the limits of the
molecules; and these molecules have such a degree of minuteness,
that 25 millions, at least, could be placed in a row within the length
of an inch. We know that the finer the grains and the more intimate
the mixture, the quicker will gunpowder inflame; but here we have a
mixture far surpassing in minute subdivision anything we can
imagine as existing in gunpowder. Hence the combination in the case
of nitro-glycerine must be instantaneous, whereas that in
gunpowder, quick though it be, must still require a certain interval. If
it take a thousandth of a second for the gases to be completely
liberated from a mass of gunpowder, and only one-millionth of a
second for a vast quantity of carbonic acid, nitrogen, and steam to
be set free from nitro-glycerine, the destructive effect will be much
greater in the latter case. Again, the volume of the gases liberated
from nitro-glycerine in its detonation have at least 5,000 times the
bulk of the substance. We have entered into these chemical
considerations, at some risk of wearying the reader, with the desire
of affording him a clue to the singular properties of nitro-glycerine
and gun-cotton, which we are about to describe.
The nature of the chemical changes which may be set up in an
explosive substance, and the rapidity with which these changes
proceed throughout a mass of the material, are greatly modified by
the conditions under which the action takes place. If a red-hot wire
be applied to a small loose tuft of gun-cotton, it goes off with a
bright flash without leaving any smoke or any other residue. Thus,
when the substance is quite unconfined, no explosion occurs. If the
cotton-wool be made into a thread, and laid along the ground, it will
burn at the rate of about 6 in. per second; if it be twisted into a
yarn, the combustion will run along at the rate of 6 ft. per second;
but if the yarn be enclosed in an Indian-rubber tube, the ignition
proceeds at the rate of 30 ft. in a second. If to a limited surface of
gun-cotton, such as one end of a length of gun-cotton yarn, a
source of heat is applied—the temperature of which is high enough
to set up a chemical change, but not high enough to inflame the
resulting gases (carbonic oxide, hydrogen, &c.)—the cotton burns
comparatively slowly, rather smouldering than inflaming. If, however,
a flame be applied, the gun-cotton flashes off with great rapidity,
because the heat applied sets fire to the gaseous products of the
chemical action. But if the gun-cotton be confined so that the gases
cannot escape, the combustion becomes rapid however set up. The
reason is that if the gases escape into the air, they carry off so much
of the heat produced by the smouldering gun-cotton, that the
temperature does not rise to the extent required to produce the
flaming ignition, in which the products are completely oxidized. If a
mass of gun-cotton be enclosed in a capacious vessel from which
the air has been removed, and the gun-cotton be ignited by means
of a wire made hot by electricity, the cotton will at first only burn in
the slow way without flame; but as the gases accumulate and exert
a pressure which retards the abstraction of heat accompanying their
formation, the temperature will rise and attain the degree necessary
for the complete and rapid chemical changes involved in the flaming
combustion. Thus, the more resistance is offered to the escape of
the gases, the more rapid and perfect is the combustion and
explosive force produced by the ignition. Now, the explosion of gun-
cotton has been found to be too rapid when it is packed into the
powder-chamber of a gun, for its tendency is to burst the gun before
the ball has been fairly started. Hence a material like gunpowder, in
which the combustion is more gradual, is better suited for artillery.
The ignition of gunpowder, though rapid, is not instantaneous, and
therefore we can speak of it as more or less gradual. Indeed, in even
the most violent explosives, some time is doubtless required for the
propagation of the action from particle to particle. This extreme
rapidity of combustion, and consequent rending power, which is so
objectionable in a gun-chamber, makes gun-cotton a most powerful
bursting charge for shells, and, when it is enclosed in strong
receptacles, for torpedoes also.
But by the researches of Nobel, Professor Abel, and others, it has
been discovered—and this is, perhaps, the most remarkable
discovery in connection with explosives—that gun-cotton, nitro-
glycerine, and other explosive bodies, are capable of producing
explosions in a manner quite different from that which attends their
ignition by heat. The violence of this kind of explosion is far greater
than that due to ordinary ignition, for the action takes place with far
greater rapidity throughout the mass, and is, indeed, practically
instantaneous. It appears to be produced by the mere mechanical
agitation or vibrations which are communicated to the particles of
the substance. Turning back to the representation of the molecule of
nitro-glycerine on page 744, it will not be difficult to imagine that
this may be an unstable kind of structure; that the atoms of oxygen
are prevented from rushing into union with those of hydrogen and
carbon only by the interposition of the nitrogen; and that an
agitation of the structure might shake all the atoms loose, and leave
them free to re-combine according to their strongest affinities. Nitro-
glycerine is by no means so ready to inflame as is gun-cotton: it is
said that the flame of a match may be safely extinguished by
plunging it into the liquid; and when a sufficient heat is applied to a
quantity of the liquid in the open air, it will burn quietly and without
explosion. Even when nitro-glycerine is confined, the application of
heat cannot always be made to produce its explosion; or, at least,
the circumstances under which it can do so are not accurately
known, and the operation is difficult and uncertain. On the other
hand, nitro-glycerine explodes violently even when freely exposed to
the air if there be exploded in contact with it a confined charge of
gunpowder, or a detonating compound such as fulminating powder.
Gun-cotton possesses the same property of exploding by concussion,
which appears indeed to be a general one belonging to all explosive
bodies. According to recent researches, even gunpowder is capable
of a detonative explosion. A mass of gunpowder confined with a
certain proportion of gun-cotton, which is itself set off by fulminate
of mercury, is said to exert an explosive force four times greater
than that developed by the ignition of the gunpowder in the ordinary
manner. It has also been found that wet gun-cotton can be exploded
by concussion, and the force of the explosion is unimpaired even
when the material is saturated with water. This makes it possible to
use gun-cotton with greater safety, as it may be transported and
handled in the wet condition without risk, and it preserves its
properties for an indefinite period without being deteriorated by the
water. Some experiments illustrating the extraordinary force of the
detonative explosions of gun-cotton and nitro-glycerine will give the
reader an idea of their power.
A palisade, constructed by sinking 4 ft. into the ground trunks of
trees 18 in. in diameter, was completely destroyed in some
experiments at Stowmarket by the explosion of only 15 lbs. of gun-
cotton. Huge logs were sent bounding across the field to great
distances, and some of the trees were literally reduced to match-
wood. The gun-cotton, be it observed, was simply laid on the ground
exposed to the air. The destructive powers of nitro-glycerine are
even greater. A tin canister, containing only a few ounces of nitro-
glycerine, is placed, without being in any way confined, on the top of
a smooth boulder stone of several tons weight; it is exploded by a
fuse containing fulminating powder, which is fired from a distance by
electricity. There is a report, and the stone is found in a thousand
fragments. The last experiment shows one of the advantages of
nitro-glycerine over gunpowder as a blasting material, beyond its far
greater power, which is about ten times that of gunpowder. A charge
of gunpowder inserted in a vertical hole tends to force out a conical
mass, the apex of which is at the space occupied by the charge.
With nitro-glycerine, and also with gun-cotton, which last has almost
six times the force of gunpowder, a powerful rending action is
exerted below as well as above the charge. Again, in blasting with
gunpowder the charge must be confined, and the hole is filled in
above the charge with tightly rammed materials, forming what is
termed the tamping. But nitro-glycerine requires no tamping: a
small, thin metallic core containing the charge is simply placed in the
drill-hole, or the liquid itself is poured in, and a little water placed
above it. The effect of the explosion of nitro-glycerine in “striking
down,” when apparently no resistance is offered, will seem very
strange to the reader who is oblivious of certain fundamental
principles of mechanics. The force of the explosion is due entirely to
the sudden production of an enormous volume of gas, which at the
ordinary pressure would occupy several thousand times the bulk of
the material from which it is produced. This gas, by the law of the
equality of action and reaction, presses down upon the stone with
the same force that it exerts to raise the superincumbent
atmosphere. The pressure of the gas at the moment of its liberation
is enormous; but the atmosphere cannot instantaneously yield to
this, for time is required to set the mass of air in motion, and the
wave of compression advances slowly compared with the rapidity of
the explosion. Hence the air acts, practically, like a mass of solid
matter, against which the gases press, and which yields less readily
than the rock, so that the blow which is struck takes visible effect on
the latter. Now, with gunpowder, the evolution of gas is less rapid,
the atmosphere has time to yield, and the reaction has not the same
violence. The rapidity of the evolution of gas from the exploding
nitro-glycerine is so great, that the gases, though apparently
unconfined, are not so in reality; for the atmosphere acts as a real
and very efficient tamping.
When nitro-glycerine first came into use for blasting purposes, it was
used in the liquid form under the name of “blasting oil;” but the
dangers attending the handling of the substance in this state are so
great, that it is now usual to mix the liquid with some powdered
substance which is itself without action, and merely serves as a
vehicle for containing the nitro-glycerine. To mixtures of this kind the
names “dynamite,” “dualine,” “lithofracteur” &c., have been given.
It is now hardly necessary to point out that the discovery of these
new explosives has largely extended our power over the rocks,
enabling works to be executed which would have been considered
impracticable with less powerful agents. It is true that the most
fearful disasters have been accidentally produced by the new
explosives; but such occasional devastation is the price exacted for
the possession of powerful agents. And just as in other cases—
steam, for example—where great forces are dealt with, so these new
powers must be managed with unceasing care, and placed in the
hands of only skilful and intelligent men.
The products of the combustion of gunpowder are not all gaseous,
but include solid compounds, such as carbonate and sulphate of
potassium. It is these that give rise to the smoke seen when a gun is
discharged, and which, in rapid firing, soon obscures the sight of the
objects aimed at. They are also the causes of the fouling of the
bore. Gun-cotton is quite unexceptionable in these respects, and
that prompted the attempts made soon after its introduction to use
it instead of gunpowder in fire-arms. But the explosion of gun-cotton
was found too sudden and violent for guns and rifles, so that many
serious accidents in consequence occurred. The next thing done was
to lessen the rapidity of the explosion by using gun-cotton mixed
with ordinary cotton, or twisted in threads round some inert
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