In any case, the siege of Gibraltar proved beyond denial that we possessed no recognised and effective projectile against troops in open order beyond the range of case. To fill the void thus disclosed in our ammunition, Lieutenant Henry Shrapnel, R.A., conceived the idea in 1784[551] of a gun-projectile, which he called “spherical case.” As he was quartered in Newfoundland during the siege, it is improbable that he was aware at this time of Capt. Mercier’s plan. At all events he did not follow it, the principle of his invention being radically different from that of common shell. The bursting charge of the latter was a _maximum_, the bursting charge of the former was a _minimum_; the fuze of the latter was bored long, the fuze of the former was bored short; the fragments of common shell were projected by the bursting charge of the shell, the fragments of the shrapnel by the charge of the gun from which it was fired. This absolutely new and original invention at first met the fate of many other new inventions—it was long disregarded.[552] Not until 1803, when England was in grave danger, did the authorities bestir themselves about it: a trial of Shrapnel’s shell was then ordered, and the Ordnance Committee reported in their favour.[553] How great an invention these shell were may be measured by their inextinguishable vitality: they outlived official apathy; they overcame endless objections; they survived countless modifications; they adapted themselves to rifled guns; and at the present moment they are the best projectiles available against troops in open order beyond the range of case. The originality of the Shrapnel shell did not, of course, remain unchallenged. Certain officers in France, Germany, and Belgium discovered that the invention was an old one, and that Master Gunner Samuel Zimmermann had employed Shrapnel no later than 1573. His MS., it may be observed, had been removed from Heidelberg to Rome during the Thirty Years’ War; was sent back to Heidelberg in 1816; and was not discovered by Hauptmann Toll until 1852, just ten years after Shrapnel’s death.[554] Zimmermann’s projectile was not constructed on Shrapnel’s principles. It consisted of a leaden cylinder, with a time fuze fixed in the end placed next to the charge of the gun. The back half of the cylinder was filled with strong (_röschem_) powder; the front half with bullets; and the missile was intended to act a few hundred paces (_etlich hundert schrytt_) beyond the ordinary range of case, say, at 500-600 yards. A very small bursting charge would have sufficed to burst open a leaden case: why, then, did the Master Gunner use the _maximum_ charge which was possible without unduly diminishing the number of bullets—a charge, too, of specially strong powder? Because he intended the bursting charge not only to open the case, but to accelerate the velocity of the bullets—he could have had no other conceivable reason.