The result wished for can be obtained by a systematical arrangement of the granulation of powder. That a much greater velocity than is obtained in this gun--at present the greatest in any piece of ordnance in use, and possessing a longer range than has been obtained by any power in Europe--may and will be attained, I fearlessly assert. I have obtained a velocity with an ounce ball nearly doubling this; and though, as it will be argued, this may be too limited an experiment, yet let us not forget that great results most frequently spring from little causes. Large rivers owe their origin to small springs, and if the same principle by which we can penetrate a plate of iron half an inch thick with an ounce of lead, be fearlessly and judiciously carried through, we may (and no doubt we shall) live to see projectiles thrown 5-1/4 miles. That this will be difficult to accomplish I deny: no difficulty attends it, provided the principles before explained are duly carried out. The great principle in a propellant force is so to arrange it that you do not obtain too great a velocity at the first move of the projectile; as no mass can be forced from a state of rest to a rapid state of motion, without communicating to the gun a corresponding motion, which will create a recoil: and the greater the motion, the greater the recoil. If the explosive matter merely expands for a brief period, and is burnt out before the shot has reached midway the length of the gun, the velocity there acquired will be reduced, by the condensed column of air in the other half of the barrel, to the velocity it possessed when only one fourth the length of the whole from the breech; consequently it would be advantageous to cut the gun in two at the middle, as a greater force would be then generated advantageously, than by the whole. But if you so arrange the granulation of your powder that it shall proceed into motion more gradually, a rapidly increasing force of elastic fluid will continue to be generated, until it reaches its greatest maximum of velocity (which it should do just as the ball leaves the muzzle) then you obtain with your means the greatest result possible. We believe that the generality of gunpowder used by our Government is vastly inferior in strength to some made by private makers; yet it is not advisable to jump from one extreme to another. What is wanted is the proper blending of the qualities; an addition of a quantity of Harvey’s quick powder to a charge, when it has driven the ball up three-fourths of the tube of a gun, and probably had acquired a velocity of 2,000 feet per second, might so aid it, that it would leave the muzzle with a velocity of 3,000.