The expansive principle now adopted combines such qualities that, however long and loudly it may be condemned, it will again assert its superiority, and hold undisputed the first place for generations to come. It is based on that law of nature which will always tell in mechanical productions; namely, minimum of friction, and hence maximum of propulsion or velocity; the greatest possible range with the least amount of expellant agency. The same law holds, even though the bullet should be elongated and made into an arrow. That which has been introduced to the world as an improvement on my invention, and modestly termed the “Pritchett bullet,” I rejected in 1841 as being inferior to the expansive bullet: any one who is curious, and wishes to be convinced of this fact, will find the following quotation in the _Naval and Military Gazette_ for February, 1842:--“A great improvement may be effected by using plugs of a cylindrical shape, having the upper end round, and the part next the powder flat or concave; for rifles, to be of use, must be constructed for high velocity, and this can be done by a proportionate spiral and the use of a plug similar to that given above. In this case we may load with the greatest facility, and the bullet expanding, forces itself into the grooves of the rifle, and thus receives the modicum of spiral motion required.” A perusal of “Captain Jervis on the Musket Rifle” would lead one to infer that this was a great invention on the part of Mr. Pritchett, and that it would supersede to a certainty the more perfect expansive bullet; but Mr. Pritchett’s so-called invention has sunk into oblivion, from whence it will never emerge. From practice I found that the most material defect in this bullet was its uncertainty of action: it was driven in upon itself, and thus its diameter was increased. A slight difference in the hardness of the lead, a bullet moulded when the metal was hot, and the reverse, would be such insuperable difficulties as to render their adoption quite impracticable; moreover, when rapid firing became necessary, the enormous friction created by the heat and hardness of the previous deposit from exploded powder, rendered the use of these bullets highly dangerous; as was proved in the Crimean war. I trust they are now for ever abandoned, for their adoption did not show great intelligence on the part of their advocates. The expansive principle not being adopted in the armies of France and other Continental nations, may be justly attributed to the experimenters of the French school having been led astray; claiming, as they did, the entire merit of the invention. It is but fair that whilst endeavouring to establish my own claim to the invention, I should point out the discrepancies existing in the theory of my opponents.