The Theory of Gunnery has been very slightly touched upon: it cannot be pursued by any persons unless well grounded in Mathematics, and the short time passed by officers at Hythe wholly precludes so abstruse a study. Our School is decidedly a practical institution; to acquire an art or skill is our object, and we only broach the subject of Theory to soldiers, so far as to enable them to understand the reasons for all those rules which have to be attended to in practice. E. C. WILFORD, COLONEL. HYTHE, _January, 1861_. CONTENTS PAGE. History of Gunpowder 1 Manufacture of Gunpowder 7 Foreign Gunpowder 20 Explosive force of Gunpowder 29 Experiments with Gunpowder 36 Magazines 23 Lightning Conductors 24 Greek Fire 4 Ancient Engines of War 39 On Artillery 62 Portable Fire Arms 73 The Rifle 86 The Bayonet 83 Accoutrements 84 Breech-loaders 92 On Rifling 95 On Rifle Projectiles 101 Theoretical Principles 110 Gravity 113 Atmosphere 115 Form of Bodies 119 Causes of Deviation 121 Windage 121 Rotation 122 On Eccentric Projectiles 124 Extended Table of Contents ERRATA. Page 6, para. 5, line 6, for “_have before stated_” read “_shall state_.” Page 20, last line but one, for “_altogether_” read “_all together_” Page 25, para. 3, line 5, for “_descriptive_” read “_disruptive_.” Page 30, para. 3, line 9, for “_expansive_” read “_expansion_.” Page 31, para. 3, line 1, for “_art_” read “_act_.” Page 32, para. 7, line 9, for “_considerable_” read “_considerably_.” Page 32, para. 7, line 10, for “_Robert_” read “_Piobert_.”