Curiosities of Science, Past and Present / A Book for Old and Young

by John Timbs

DANGER TO GUNPOWDER MAGAZINES.

By the illustration of a gas globule, which is ignited from a spark by induction, Mr. Faraday has proved in a most interesting manner that the corrugated-iron roofs of some gunpowder-magazines,—on the subject of which he had often been consulted by the builders, with a view to the greater safety of these manufactories,—are absolutely dangerous by the laws of induction; as, by the return of induction, while a storm was discharging itself a mile or two off, a secondary spark might ignite the building.