Bull. Hist. Chem. 24 (1999) 1 THE 1998 DEXTER AWARD ADDRESS "FROM AN INSTRUMENT OF WAR TO AN INSTRUMENT OF THE LABORATORY: THE AFFINITIES CERTAINLY DO NOT CHANGE" CHEMISTS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF MUNITIONS, 1785-1885 Sr . Mpf, Unvrt I dpl pld nd hnrd t b th r d th prph f n f pbltn, tn rpnt f th xtr Ard. I ht dd tht I fr th "Cnè r r l pdr nn l ht tn b hn I nfrd (2"f ph rt. It prtnt tht I hnr tht I hd bn nntd, fr I rnz tht I hv rt b th f n f h ttn b h bn thn f "prdl n" rrdn th h h pld n prtnt rl n th trjtr f n tr f htr. I lft th fld fr bt fftn r rrh n th htr f htr. Ornll, I was t thr b th lfln frnd (nd hr ntrtd n th pt f h r fr hh h bt f th n n bjt vr dffrnt fr th h n—nltl htr nd th f fnt tr f htr (. Mr rprtn—bt th th n vr, rrh n th fld l ntxt f th rltn h bn ht nrth hp f rt t th dx I hv ht t tp npt f fxd nrl p tht hv d ntrt n ntprr rnh n t bt hd nt t rtllrph nd nrl trtd h hlrl ttn . M rnttn was tra- tn, t lt t th t I b ditional and "internalist" (to n td. And th f use the terminology f th f th tp h bn l t. Althh I ld t n htr pr than on v ttntn t l the ntrtn btn nd ntttnl ntxt f htr nd thr dn rt rr hn I rt f th phl n. It brphl n h thrfr ll th r fr th tnr f Sntf hrtnn t hv r rph, I tll t rh hnrd n th t frl fd n th f nl . fnt rprtn thr. r xpl, I rbr h ttn n th ttl t ll ln vr f tl, hh I hv l Sr H. Mauskopf 2 ll. t. Ch. 24 ( l—nd pn b—nn lt nd lnth pbl In th pt dd r , th hlrl ttn h tn b rt n "pdr nn." vr, hl prvd ntbl. Stl h d n prtnt n rrhn th S , I hd rd p f t trbtn t th td f bllt n th htnth n t f ltr rt hd dlvrd drn th r h tr, ntrn rnd th thtn nd bllt pnt n Spn (8806, nd dtbl ntrnll t xprt, njn bn (8. rt h bn prdn th frt r f th nntnth ntr. h ltr prhnv td f th rnztnl hn n r th b f rtrn t th htr f htr th rnh npdr dntrtn nd thnl n th 80. M rnttn n h r t prvnt n npdr n drn th lt h tnd t th ntxt—n ht th prblt— tnth nd rl nntnth ntr, vn prtlr f rt prtn ht n Spn, btr ttntn t th rl f ht nd ntf trnn fr htr thrht th htnth ntr. h (. h nptn f thn l hrnt rrh ld t trn t rt ppld htr, prt rp n th htr f npdr ptzd b lrl h ltr htr, fr h hd bn nvtd t th rnt n dvtd t t t th bnnl t Spn n 8 t th htr t th dt f th n f ICOEC (0 nd rnzd b r. rnd l Artllr Shl n Sv. Aftr rxnn hnn. On rlt th pbltn f th frt rt ltr, I ntd tht thr r fr f fft l drn t f td n npdr (. tr pr t hd bn dvtd t th htr f n pdr. h d t rtrn, th rnd ntr If trt h bn d n th td f htnth t, t h nn rtl n "pdr nn." h rlt nd rl nntnthntr ntn ntrn n rtl, "Chtr nd Cnnn," pblhd n npdr, th n hrdl t b d bt th Technology and Culture (. h n f n th h dvlpnt f rn hh xplv n th ltr nn tr f npdr ld b t vr nd h tnth nd tntth ntr. hr hv bn t tnthntr hl nd phl nl f n drttn n th rl dvlpnt f l pdr nd t xplv rtn nd, r rntl, pdr bt nthr h bn pblhd (2. Std b frrd thrh th nntnth ntr. A t t th t f td prtpnt, hrd , n Mndlv n Cntr fr th tr f Chtr hlpd nd n ntn, nd ffr hnn (nd t ntt th td, nd rnt fr th l Md n rnt n th v f Wrld Wr I, M nd th tnl Sn ndtn hv n hld ntt phttd htrl ltrtr n th bld t pr th n th ntrt f b th prd. n nd dntrtv hdl. h nrl htrl prblt bhnd td Whn I bn td n th 80, I fnd th f ntn th tn f h n nd rft rnt hlrl ltrtr n th dvlpnt f n ntrtd—nd tthr—btn th lt r tn nd, prtlrl, n th rl f ntt n th tr f th htnth nd th lt rtr f th nn dvlpnt, t b pr, t th lt. hr , tnth ntr. h bjt f ntn , f r, f r, rtntn l A History of Greek Fire prt f h r nrl prblt nrnn th and Gunpowder (4. t, th ttl pl, th b n nd thnl f trl n th rtl r.. nntrt n th dvl nd rl drn prd M htrl td f ntn hv fd n thr t h vr lttl t bt pt00 dvlpnt. ltr prpllnt, ppd t thr ltr Anthr prtnt td fr th rl drn prd, f ( f, rt, xplv hll, t. r vln r dtntl rltd t f, ll Ballistics . h trdtnl ltr prpllnt np in the Seventeenth Century (. t fr th r rnt dr—"bl pdr"—th nnt xtr f ltp prd, thr vrtl bn f hlrhp, th tr, lfr, nd hrl. Althh thr, r xpl hnrbl xptn prvn th rl b thr ll v trl (l pt hlrt r ndrd nbr. h nld Mlthf td f vr ltr prpllnt fr t t t, th frt rll ttpt t dl th th lt htnthntr rnh r rvl t npdr "nttn," hhl prbl f ltptr ppl (6 nd Gllp d ntrtd fr f lll, d b trtn ttn th n f vr rl n th Régie des Poudres, th nntrtd ntr nd lfr d, dvrd b rnh npdr dntrtn, n h trl Chrtn rdrh Shönbn n 846 (. trl trt (. ll t hv rt nd vrd ndtrl ftr n th nntnth nd tntth ntr (4, bt ht t ntbl ttrtd Shönbn nd h ntp Bull. Hist. Chem. 24 (1999) 3 raries' attention was the explosive property of guncot- Proust's epigraph: "From and instrument of war to an ton. It was, weight for weight, more powerful than gun- instrument of the laboratory, the affinities certainly do powder and burned completely without producing smoke not change." Proust, more than any other chemist, at- and, apparently, without fouling guns. Yet it took forty tempted to develop gunpowder chemistry into a useful years to develop an effective nitrocellulose-based smoke- military application; the context of the quotation was less powder as a military propellant. What I want to fo- his assertion that the saturation proportion between char- cus on is a part of that story: the work of the English coal and saltpeter, determined in the laboratory, was pre- munitions chemist, Frederick Abel, who tried to "tame" cisely the same as that in a gun (16). guncotton for use as a military propellant in the 1860s. Abel achieved part of this objective by 1865 and ap- Another issue concerned the relationship of changes peared to be very optimistic about developing a smoke- in the propellant to guns and projectiles (and vice versa). less military propellant from guncotton that would re- It was the introduction of an English-derived powerful place gunpowder; he abruptly abandoned this research gunpowder into France in the early 1820s, which was in the late 1860s and instead embarked on a massive soon blasting test cannon out of commission, that led study of the function of gunpowder in guns of all cali- French investigators to concentrate on studying the bers. physical parameters of gunpowder in order to control its ballistic force. By the late 1850s, attention was turned What follows is a "systemic" approach that I have to major changes in all aspects of guns: the materials found to be of heuristic value in conceptualizing the re- out of which they were made, the mechanism of load- lationship of science to the development of military pro- ing and, above all, their power. It now became more pellants (15). Of the three such systems (two "physi- important than ever to determine and control the rate at cal" and one "social") I shall focus on gunpowder to which the ballistic force of the propellant was released illustrate the physical systems. and built up in gun bores. Although French investiga- tors had been moving towards this recognition earlier in I. h St the century, it was an American, T. J. Rodman, who seems to have been the first to determine the relation- The first system is that of the propellants themselves. It ship between powder grain (or cartridge) size, burn rate, includes the physical and chemical properties relevant and gun bore pressure.