The experience gained by General Jacob induced him subsequently to adopt an iron or zinc-pointed bullet, as is depicted in the [wood engraving].

COMPLETE BULLET.METAL POINT.

Thus departing from the true science of the question, instead of giving the centre of gravity to the head of the bullet, he tries to overcome the difficulties by which his system is beset, by increasing the spiral motion. As other writers take a similar view of the question, I insert the following quotation from a small work by Lieutenant Simons, Bengal Artillery, entitled “A Treatise on Fire-arms,” where we have the following appropriate remarks, strongly bearing on the peculiarities of this system:—

“Every point upon the surface of a projectile in motion, whether it be a rocket, javelin, ship, bullet, arrow, or any other description of projectile, is the end of a lever, the fulcrum of which is situated in the projectile’s centre of gravity. The effect of the air to upset, i. e., to force the light or pointed end of such projectile to the rear, or to unsteady, or cause to waver, the same, depends upon the lengths of the levers at the ends of which it acts, and upon the angles at which it presses against such levers, as determined by the positions of the points and by the shape of the projectile; it likewise depends upon the specific intensity of the pressure, which is doubtless greatest in the neighbourhood of those parts of the projectile which least easily allow the air to escape past them.

“An illustration in part of the truth of the foregoing proposition will present itself to the conceptions of those who have taken notice of the manner of the flight of rockets, or who have witnessed shells projected from mortars at night time. The light of the burning fuse, particularly during the first part of the flight of the shell, is seldom obscured from the sight of the beholders in the battery from which it is fired. The end of the fuse protruding beyond the general surface of the shell is the end of a lever whose fulcrum is the shell’s centre of gravity. The pressure of the air against this lever as the shell moves forward, drives it to the rear, in which place it would remain steady, did the shell in its course describe a straight line; a curve, however, being the line actually described, it follows that the direction from which the resistance created by the shell’s own motion comes, is ever varying; whereby the occurrence of an equilibrium is prevented, and the shell is caused to oscillate laterally as it were. If the size of the fuze end of it, however, be at all considerable, the shell will rarely topple over, and, in consequence, the light of the fuze, during the ascending curve, will generally be visible.

“The more rapidly a ball is made to reach its goal, the nearer will the line described by it approach to a straight one, and the less will it roll. It is possible that the old musket-ball did not roll much during the first fifty or hundred yards of its flight, and that the accuracy of shooting with it will have been less on this account. A ball which does not roll, may be said to be ‘in position;’ there is inherent in it a fixed tendency to deviate from the line in which it is projected. Now a shell which rolls much by reason of its comparatively slow motion, is ever tending to stray in different directions, and, therefore, a movement in the wrong direction, at one moment, being compensated for the next by a corresponding movement in the opposite direction, it may be by this means a recipient of an amount of accidental compensation to which, perhaps, the musket-ball is a stranger.

“Such being the manifest effect of projections upon the surface of a shell, it is not difficult to imagine what must be the unseen effect of projections on the surface of a rifle ball. One projection, placed without regard to effect upon such surface, would make the ball jog and oscillate much after the manner that has been described. Two or more of proper form and construction will, on the contrary, if properly placed upon a projectile, hold it steady, and so impart to it a fixed tendency to digress, thereby preparing it to be usefully operated upon by spiral motion.

“So much as has been said will, I think, suffice to disprove that not unfrequently entertained notion to the effect that the light end of a bullet is kept forward by the operation of the spiral motion imparted to it. I could cite more than one person and pamphlet (General Jacob), apparently under the influence of this belief, but which certainly does not accord with theory, and the practical incorrectness of which was thus manifested to me.”

The Whitworth rifle, which was introduced to the world with a clarion flourish from the Times, has not made any very rapid progress toward perfection. It still drags out an existence, it is true, but its boasted superiority is all a myth; as time and experience will show.