The single breech-loader is now being succeeded by the magazine gun, by which a supply of cartridges in a chamber is automatically fed into the barrel. The Springfield, has been remodelled as a magazine loader. Among later types of repeating rifles, known from the names of their inventors, are the “Krag-Jorgensen,” and the “Mauser,” and the crack of these is heard around the world. Modern rifles are rendered more deadly by the fact that they can be loaded and fired in a recumbent position, and with smokeless powder, by which the soldier and his location remain concealed from his foe. The recoil of the gun in both large and small arms is now utilised to expel the fired cartridge shell, and to withdraw a fresh one from its magazine and place it in position in the chamber. _Compressed air and explosive gases_ have been used for the same purpose. A small _electric battery_ has been placed in the stock to explode the cartridge when the trigger is pulled. Sporting guns have kept pace with other small arms in improvements, and among modern forms are those which discharge in alternative succession the two barrels by a single trigger. Revolvers have been improved and the Smith and Wesson is known throughout the world. The idea of _Machine Guns_, or _Mitrailleuses_, was not a new one, as we have seen from Puckle’s celebrated patent of 1718. Also history mentions a gun composed of four breech-loading tubes of small calibre, placed on a two-wheeled cart used in Flanders as early as 1347, and of four-tubed guns used by the Scotch during the civil war in 1644. The machine gun invented by Dr. Gatling of the United States during the Civil War and subsequently perfected, has become a part of the armament of every civilised nation. The object of the gun is to combine in one piece the destructive effect of a great many, and to throw a continuous hail of projectiles. The gun is mounted on a tripod; the cartridges are contained in a hopper mounted on the breech of the gun and are fed from locks into the barrels (which are usually five or ten in number) as the locks and barrels are revolved by a hand crank. As the handle is turned the cartridges are first given a forward motion, which thrusts them into the barrels, closes the breech and fires the cartridges in succession, and then a backward motion which extracts the empty shells. The gun weighs one hundred pounds and firing may be kept up with a ten-barreled gun at one thousand shots a minute. The _Hotchkiss_ revolving cannon is another celebrated American production named from its inventor, and constructed to throw heavier projectiles than the Gatling. It also has revolving barrels and great solidity in the breech mechanism. It has been found to be of great service in resisting the attacks of torpedo boats. It is adapted to fire long-range shells with great rapidity and powerful effect, and is exceedingly efficient in defence of ditches and entrenchments.