Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER m Class II.—Nitrate Mixture Definition.—The term " nitrate mixture " means any preparation, other than gunpowder ordinarily so called, formed by the mechanical mixture of a nitrate with any form of carbon or with any carbonaceous substance not possessed of explosive properties, whether sulphur be or be not added to such preparation, and whether such preparation be or be not mechanically mixed with any ot/ter non-explosive substance. Put shortly, a "nitrate mixture" is a mechanical mixture (as opposed to a chemical compound) of a nitrate with any non-explosive substances, of which at least one contains carbon—gunpowder, of course, being excepted. Why Gunpowder is excluded.—The necessity for this special exclusion of gunpowder by name is a result of that important provision of the Order in Council which directs that when an explosive falls within the description of more than one class it shall be deemed to belong exclusively to the latest of the classes within the description of which it falls. Thus if gunpowder were not specially excluded from Class II., it would undoubtedly belong to this class as being within the description of a nitrate mixture. Necessity for granting Gunpowder special Privi leges.—At first sight it may not appear to be a matter of much importance whether gunpowder belongs to the first or to the second class, but there is more in this matter than meets the eye. At the time the Explosives Bill was under discussion there were already in existence several Acts of Parliament dealing with explosives. Into the merits and defects of these it is not necessary to enter, but that there were deficiencies of such a nature as to justify fresh legislation may be taken for granted. The trade in gunpowder " ordinarily so called" was then solely governed by ...