ck, which is mentioned in a treatise on artillery by Luigi
Collado, printed at Venice in 1586. He says that it had been lately
invented in Germany. This lock consisted of a solid steel wheel, with an
axle, to which was fastened a chain. The axle was turned by a small
lever, and thus winding around it the chain, drew up a very strong
spring. By pulling the trigger the spring was let go, and the wheel
whirled around with great velocity. The cock was so constructed as to
bring a piece of sulphuret of iron down upon the edge of the wheel,
which was notched, and touched the priming in the pan. The friction
produced the sparks. It was from this use that the sulphuret of iron
derived the name of pyrites, or fire-stone. Afterwards a flint or any
common hard pebble was used. The complicated nature of this lock, and
its uncertainty, prevented its general adoption. The next improvement
was due to the Dutch. About the year 1600 there was in Holland a band of
marauders known as _snaphausen_, or _poultry-stealers_. However free
they were in using the property of others, they were yet unable to incur
the expense of the wheel-lock, and the match-lock, by its burning light,
exposed them on their nightly expeditions. The wit which had been
sharpened by laying "plots" and "inductions dangerous" against
unoffending hens and chickens, was turned to the invention of a gun-lock
better adapted to their purposes. The result of their cogitations was
the lock which, after its inventors, was called the snaphause. It
consisted of a flat piece of steel, furrowed like the edge of the wheel
in the wheel-lock, which was screwed on the barrel beyond the
priming-pan in such a manner as to be movable. By bringing it over the
pan, and pulling the trigger, the flint in the cock struck against the
steel, and the spark was produced. The simplicity and cheapness of this
lock soon rendered it common, and the transition from it to the ordinary
flint-lock followed almost as a matter of course. The last improvement
which we shall notice was the percussion-lock. This is due to the Rev.
Mr. Forsyth, of Belhelvie, in Scotland, though the original form of the
lock has been entirely changed by the introduction of the copper cap.

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF JENNINGS'S BREECH.]

Whilst these improvements were being made in locks, the other parts of
the gun were gradually approaching in lightness, strength, and accuracy
of finish, to the modern standard. The most valuable