s were used by the
United States troops, nor have I any especial desire to prosecute the
investigation further than to prove the position taken in this paper.

It would be disingenuous in me if I failed to notice the fact that a
charge somewhat similar to that which begins this article was made by a
correspondent in the _Scientific American_ for September 6th, 1862,
volume VII, page 151, as follows:

Recently it was my privilege to examine, in the hands of a man just
from Fortress Monroe, an explosive bullet, such as was used by the
Rebels in the six days' battle. It is conical in shape, about one
inch long, made of lead, and consists of two parts--viz: a solid
head piece and a cylindrical chamber, which are united together by a
screw. From the point of the bullet projects a little rod, which
passes down through a small hole in the head piece into the chamber
below, where it was connected with a percussion cap. The chamber
contains about a tablespoonful of powder. You can readily perceive
that if the bullet should encounter a bone or other hard substance
when entering a man's body, it will explode and thereby produce a
fatal wound.

F. J. C.
PHILADELPHIA, August 23, 1862.

In the Patent Office Report (United States) for 1863-4 will be found a
shell exactly corresponding to this one:

No. 39,593--Joseph Nottingham Smith, New York, N. Y.--_Improvement
in Elongated Projectile for Firearms_--Patent dated August 18, 1863.

It consists of an elongated cylinder having a charge chamber in its
rear portion, which contains powder for propulsion. The point is a
pointed axical bolt, whose rear is furnished with a percussion cap,
to be exploded by the forward motion of a striker on the concussion
of the projectile.

Not having seen this ball, I cannot _certainly_ identify it with the
ball mentioned by F. J. C., but it is evidently the same.

The inference is very natural that if these several projectiles,
patented by the United States Patent Office, as the invention of
Northern men, during the war, and used by the United States armies, were
ever used by the Confederates, it was only as captured ammunition. It
was hardly possible, at any reasonable cost, to run them through the
blockade to the South.

In conclusion, it may be well to draw attention to Mr. Lossing's
intimation in th