This is an official British Army treatise on explosives used by the armed services at the time published in 1907 by the War Office. Illustrated throughout with technical drawings, diagrams and tables, it instructs the reader on the causes and properties of explosive substances, together with an exposition of their manufacture. The book begins with an account of the oldest explosive substance known to man - gunpowder - invented by the Chinese in antiquity and widely used in Europe from the late Middle Ages. We are given a history of gunpowder, a description of its properties and manufacture and its use in warfare. Part Two of the book concerns guncotton, Nitro-glycerine and Cordite.