Gunpowder and Ammunition, Their Origin and Progress

PART I

THE ORIGIN OF GUNPOWDER

INTRODUCTION

I

Much discussion has been caused in the past by the vagueness of the word _gunpowder_. The following are the meanings which this and a few other words bear in these pages:—

_Explosion._—The sudden and violent generation, with a loud noise and in a time inappreciable by the unaided senses, of a very great volum...