lorate of potash, and No. 2 of a mixture
of gun-cotton and gun-powder. They are detonated by means of a platinum
wire heated to redness by means of an electric current. Bain's fuse
mixture is a mixture of subphosphide of copper, sulphide of antimony, and
chlorate of potash.

In the manufacture of percussion caps and detonators the copper blanks are
cut from copper strips and stamped to the required shape. The blanks are
then placed in a gun-metal plate, with the concave side uppermost--a tool
composed of a plate of gun-metal, in which are inserted a number of copper
points, each of the same length, and so spaced apart as to exactly fit
each point into a cap when inverted over a plate containing the blanks.
The points are dipped into a vessel containing the cap composition, which
has been previously moistened with methylated spirit. It is then removed
and placed over the blanks, and a slight blow serves to deposit a small
portion of the cap mixture into each cap. A similar tool is then dipped
into shellac varnish, removed and placed over the caps, when a drop of
varnish from each of the copper points falls into the caps, which are then
allowed to dry. This is a very safe and efficacious method of working.

At the works of the Cotton-Powder Company Limited, at Faversham, the
fulminate is mixed wet with a very finely ground mixture of gun-cotton and
chlorate of potash, in about the proportions of 6 parts fulminate, 1 part
gun-cotton, and 1 part chlorate. The water in which the fulminate is
usually stored is first drained off, and replaced by displacement by
methyl-alcohol. While the fulminate is moist with alcohol, the gun-cotton
and chlorate mixture is added, and well mixed with it. This mixture is
then distributed in the detonators standing in a frame, and each detonator
is put separately into a machine for the purpose of pressing the paste
into the detonator shell.

At the eleventh annual meeting of the representatives of the Bavarian
chemical industries at Regensburg, attention was drawn to the unhealthy
nature of the process of charging percussion caps. Numerous miniature
explosions occur, and the air becomes laden with mercurial vapours, which
exercise a deleterious influence upon the health of the operatives. There
is equally just cause for apprehension in respect to the poisonous gases
which are evolved during the solution of mercury in nitric acid, and
especially during the subsequent treatment with alcohol. Many