all Intents and Purposes, as if this Impediment were absolutely remov'd.
A Proposition of general Use in the Art of Gunnery, shewing the Rule of laying a Mortar to pass, in order to strike an Object above or below the Horizon.
It was formerly the Opinion of those concerned in Artillery, that there was a certain requisite of Powder for each Gun, and that in Mortars, where the distance was to be varied, it must be done by giving a greater or lesser Elevation to the Piece. But now our later Experience has taught us that the same thing may be more certainly and readily performed by increasing and diminishing the quantity of Powder, whether regard be had to the Execution to be done, or to the Charge of doing it. For when Bombs are discharged with great Elevations of the Mortar, they fall too Perpendicular, and bury themselves too deep in the Ground, to do all that damage they might, if they came more Oblique, and broke upon or near the Surface of the Earth; which is a thing acknowledg'd by the Besieged in all Towns, who unpave their Streets, to let the Bombs bury themselves, and thereby stifle