e texts of
certain portions of the New Testament (Gospels and _Acts_). His last
work was an edition of the _Choephori_ (1906).

See notices in the _Academy_, March 16, 1907 (J.P. Mahaffy);
_Classical Review_, May 1907 (J.E. Sandys), which contains also a
review of _Die Rhythmen der asianischen und romischen Kunstprosa_.

BLASTING, the process of rending or breaking apart a solid body, such as
rock, by exploding within it or in contact with it some explosive
substance. The explosion is accompanied by the sudden development of gas
at a high temperature and under a tension sufficiently great to overcome
the resistance of the enclosing body, which is thus shattered and
disintegrated. Before the introduction of explosives, rock was
laboriously excavated by hammer and chisel, or by the ancient process of
"fire-setting," i.e. building a fire against the rock, which, on
cooling, splits and flakes off. To hasten disintegration, water was
often applied to the heated rock, the loosened portion being afterwards
removed by pick or hammer and wedge. In modern times blasting has become
a necessity for the excavation of rock and other hard material, as in
open surface cuts, quarrying, tunnelling, shaft-sinking and mining
operations in general.

For blasting, a hole is generally drilled to receive the charge of
explosive. The depth and diameter of the hole and the quantity of
explosive used are all variable, depending on the character of the rock
and of the explosive, the shape of the mass to be blasted, the presence
or absence of cracks or fissures, and the position of the hole with
respect to the free surface of the rock. The shock of a blast produces
impulsive waves acting radially in all directions, the force being
greatest at the centre of explosion and varying inversely as the square
of the distance from the charge. This is evidenced by the observed
facts. Immediately surrounding the explosive, the rock is often finely
splintered and crushed. Beyond this is a zone in which it is completely
broken and displaced or projected, leaving an enveloping mass of more
or less ragged fractured rock only partially loosened. Lastly, the
diminishing waves produce vibrations which are transmitted to
considerable distances. Theoretically, if a charge of explosive be fired
in a solid material of perfectly homogeneous texture and at a proper
distance from the free surface, a conical mass will be blown out to the
full depth of the dri