A discourse on the theory of gunnery / Delivered at the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society, November 30, 1778

A DISCOURSE ON THE Theory of Gunnery .
DELIVERED AT THE Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Society, November 30, 1778.
By Sir JOHN PRINGLE Baronet.
PUBLISHED BY THEIR ORDER.
LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY. MDCCLXXVIII.

Gentlemen,
Among the several experiments communicated to the society, during the course of the preceding year, none seeming so much to engage your attention, as those contained in the Paper, intituled, The force of fired gun-powder, and the initial velocity of cannon-balls, determined by experiments : with much pleasure therefore I acquaint you, that, on account of the pre-eminence of that communication, your Council have judged the author, Mr. Charles Hutton, worthy of the honour of the annual medal, instituted on the bequest of Sir Godfrey Copley Baronet, for raising a laudable emulation among men of genius, in making experimental inquiries. But, as on former occasions, so now, your Council, waving their privilege of determining the choice, have acted only as a select number deputed by you, to prepare matters for your final decision. I come then, on their part, briefly to lay before you the state of the Theory of Gunnery , from its rise to the time when its true foundation was laid, in order to evince how conducive those experiments may be to the improvement of an art of public concern, as well as to the advancement of natural knowledge , the great object of your institution. And if, upon a review of the subject, you shall entertain no less favourable an opinion of Mr. Hutton’s performance, than what your Council have done, it is their earnest request that you would enhance the value of this prize, by authorizing your President to present it to our ingenious brother in your name.
Upon the first application of this principle to the purposes of war, nothing perhaps was less thought of than to assist so empirical a practice by scientific rules; for, however aiding in these matters the ancient mechanicians might have been, who, like Archimedes, had invented or perfected some of the balistic machines, no praise seemed now due to the mathematicians for either the discovery or improvement of the new artillery. In fact, we find the practice of the art had subsisted about 200 years, before any geometer considered it as one that admitted a theory, or at least such a theory as was grounded on geometry.