is instantaneous, and the explosion it produces is very violent, far exceeding all that had previously been known. These bodies were the earliest forms of what are now known as High Explosives.
Such a discovery was sure to be seized upon for the use of War. But its employment was delayed from the very magnitude of its success. The explosions were too violent. These explosives could not be used in guns because they would burst the gun, nor in shells because even if they would stand the shock of firing, they would shatter the shell into too small fragments to be effective. So the use of these early high explosives in War except for blasting or like destructive purposes made little advance for many years until it was discovered that by dissolving them in some volatile solvent and subsequently driving it off, there was left a substance resembling gelatin which could be cut into pieces of any desired shape or size. It possessed all the power of the original explosive but its rate of burning was wholly different. You will understand the reason of this 20
