In the event of damage to any case, which may cause loss of water by evaporation, the contents shall be removed at once, repacked in a guncotton box which has been washed with soda solution, the proper amount of water added to the contents, and the box closed. The gross weight shall be marked on the case. In repacking avoid as much as possible handling the cakes with the bare hands. This is for the protection of the guncotton from oil or acid of any kind. Clean cotton or rubber gloves are suitable covering for the hands when engaged on this work. If for any reason the cases are subjected to dampness sufficient to cause unusual deterioration of the cases, they should be removed from the magazine and dried, out of the direct rays of the sun. Guncotton containing 12 or 15 per cent of moisture may be stored with explosive D, trotol, and dynamite, but never with dry guncotton. Empty cases, before being placed in storage, must be washed thoroughly to remove all traces of guncotton. For a charge of wet guncotton, the priming charge is dry guncotton. This may be either of crumbled guncotton or cakes made to fit the fuse can. The compressed primer cakes are supplied wet and bored with holes to receive the fuses and the loading wire. Should the supply of guncotton primers become exhausted fresh ones may be prepared as follows: Two blocks of soft pine are used, one 3 inches square, the other circular and 2.9 inches in diameter. A cake of wet guncotton is clamped between these blocks. Using a fine joiners’ saw and the circular block as a gauge, a cylinder is sawed from the cake. The cylinder is then smoothed down with a rasp. Four of these are prepared for each charge and in each one of them a hole about ⁹/₁₆ inch in diameter is bored. While boring the hole the cake must be tightly clamped between two pine blocks to prevent it from splitting; to insure that all the holes will be in alignment it is advisable that the upper wooden block be provided with a ⁹/₁₆-inch hole and be thick enough to enable this hole to serve as a guide for the bit. The boring is done with the ordinary bit, which must be sharp, so as to cut clean. _It is not safe to saw or bore a dry guncotton cake._ It is essential that the guncotton primer be thoroughly dry. The primers may be dried by exposure to the air or by means of drying ovens supplied especially for the purpose. To air-dry a primer, it is placed on edge upon a shelf of wire gauze or netting which is hung up indoors where there is a free circulation of dry warm air. Drying should continue until weighings on two successive days show no appreciable loss. This may require a week or more.