Excerpt from Ordnance and Gunnery The niter furnishes the oxygen to burn the charcoal and sul phur. The charcoal furnishes the carbon, and the sulphur gives density to the grain and lowers its point of ignition. The distinguishing characteristic of charcoal is its color, being brown when prepared at a temperature up to from this to 340 Degrees red, and beyond 340 Degrees black. Brown powder contains a larger percentage of niter than black powder, and a smaller percentage of sulphur. A small percentage of some carbohydrate, such as sugar, is also added. Its color is due to the underburnt charcoal. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.