Wilkinson says, “Guns cast on this principle, although several hundredweight lighter altogether, recoil less than those on the old plan, with equal charges of powder and ball, in consequence of the weight being _properly_ distributed.” He adds, “One remarkable fact attended these experiments, namely, that by increasing the windage a little, the range was increased also, contrary to the received opinion; but this may be explained by the circumstance, that with very great velocities, and long guns, the column of air to be displaced before the ball quits the gun is considerable, and is condensed so rapidly, that it offers immense resistance to the passage of the bullet, if it fit the bore closely; but, by reducing the size of the ball, and thus increasing the windage, the air has more space to rush round it, and the ball escapes with greater facility.” If the condensed air prevented the velocity being greater, it argues most clearly, that there was an insufficiency of explosive matter to keep up the velocity until the ball of less windage left the muzzle; and the result with the ball of greater windage establishes this assumption. For if the condensed air was allowed to pass the ball by the windage into the tube, it proves beyond doubt that there was a deficiency of matter there, or that the pressure without was greater than that within. How otherwise could such a result occur? It is a clearly established fact, that with the generality of ordnance, a full waste of one-fourth of explosive force, if not more, occurs by the _elastic fluid_ escaping past the ball by the windage, instead of the reverse. Neither could the condensed air rush into the gun by the windage if there are any _permanent gases_ generated; which Mr. Wilkinson himself says there are, to the extent of “250 times the bulk of the powder in grain.” These would offer a sufficient resistance to prevent the condensed air rushing in. I have found, by an experiment before described, that a ball driven against a column of air which has no escape, if the velocity be trifling, say 800 feet per second, the air will escape by the windage; but double this even, and it is so condensed as to form a cushion for the ball to strike against. Then how much less will the chance be of its escaping, if the velocity become two thousand four hundred feet per second. No, the cause is remote from that of Mr. Wilkinson’s supposition. There is a want of force--an accelerative propellant force--which should continue to the end of the tube, be that length ever so great; and on this point, for one, turns the whole future improvement of gunnery.