n caps
to the scientific genius of another Churchman, the first patent for
their construction being taken out by the Rev. Mr. Forsyth in 1807. They
were very little thought of for long after Waterloo, and not introduced
into "the service" until 1839, several foreign armies being supplied
with them before the War Office allowed them to be used by "Tommy
Atkins" with his "Brown Bess." A machine for making percussion caps was
patented by John Abraham in 1864. The manufacture of such articles at
all times involves several dangerous processes, and Birmingham has had
to mourn the loss of many of her children through accidents arising
therefrom. (See "_Explosions_.") The ammunition works of Messrs. Kynoch
and Co., at Witton, cover over twenty acres, and gives employment to
several hundred persons, the contrariness of human nature being
exemplified in the fact that the death-dealing articles are mainly
manufactured by females, the future mothers or wives perchance of men to
be laid low by the use of such things. The plant is capable of turning
out 500,000 cartridges per day, as was done during the Turkish war, and
it takes 50 tons of rolled brass, 100 tons of lead, and 20 tons of
gunpowder weekly to keep the factory fully going, all kinds of
ammunition for rifles and machine guns being made on the premises. Other
extensive works are those of the Birmingham Small Arms and Metal Co., at
Adderley Park Mills, and the National Arms and Ammunition Co., at Small
Heath, and Perry Barr.

_Artificial Eyes and Limbs_ are necessary articles to some members of
the genus _homo_, but the demand, fortunately, is not of such an
extensive character as to require many manufacturers; indeed, the only
firm in Birmingham that devotes itself entirely to supplying artificial
limbs is that of Messrs. Best and Son, Summer Lane, whose specialities
in the way of arms and legs are famed in all English and Continental
medical circles as wonderful examples of the peculiar mechanism
requisite to successfully imitate the motions and powers of natural
limbs. There are half-a-dozen makers of "eyes," human and otherwise, the
chief being Messrs. Pache and Son, Bristol Street, and Mr. Edward
Hooper, Suffolk Street, who hold the almost unique position of being the
sole known makers of artificial human eyes anywhere. Few people would
imagine it, but it is said that there are at least 1,500 persons in
Birmingham who carry glass eyes in their head; while the demand fro