Carcass

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Carcass, a shell filled with inflammable composition, the flame of which issues through 3 or 4 holes, and is so violent that it can scarcely be extinguished. They are thrown from mortars, howitzers, and guns, in the same way as common shells, and burn from 8 to 10 minutes. The composition is either melted over a fire, and poured hot into the shell, or it is worked into a compact mass by the aid of liquid grease, and then crammed into the shell. The fuse holes are stopped with corks or wooden stoppers, through which a tube, filled with fuse-composition, passes into the shell. Formerly these carcasses were cast with a partition or diaphragm, like the present shrapnell shells, the bottom part being destined to receive a bursting charge of gunpowder; but this complication is now done away with. Another kind of carcasses was formerly in use, constructed like a light ball, on two circular iron hoops, crossing each other at right angles, over which canvas was spread, thus forming an imperfectly spheroidal body, which was filled with a similar composition, containing mostly gunpowder and pitch. These carcasses, however, have been abandoned, because their great lightness made it almost impossible to throw them to any distance, or with any precision. The compositions for filling our modern carcasses vary considerably, but they each and all consist chiefly of saltpetre and sulphur, mixed with a resinous or fatty substance. Thus the Prussian service uses 75 parts saltpetre, 25 parts sulphur, 7 parts mealed powder, and 33 parts colophony. The British use saltpetre 100 parts, sulphur 40 parts, rosin 30 parts, antimony 10 parts, tallow 10 parts, turpentine 10 parts. Carcasses are chiefly used in bombardments, and sometimes against shipping, though in this latter use they have been almost entirely superseded by red-hot shot, which is easier prepared, of greater precision and of far more incendiary effect.