GUN  , a

general term for a weapon, tubular in form, from which a projectile is discharged by means of an explosive . When applied to artillery the word is confined to those pieces of ordnance which have a direct as opposed to a high-angle fire, in which case the terms " howitzer " and " mortar " are used (see ORDNANCE and MACHINE-GUN) . " Gun " as applied to firearms which are carried in the hand and fired from the shoulder, the old " hand gun," is now chiefly used of the sporting shot-gun, with which this article mainly deals; in military usage this type of weapon, whether rifle, carbine, &c., is known collectively as " small arms " (see RIFLE and PISTOL) . The origin of the word, which in Mid . Eng. is gonne or gunne, is obscure, but it has been suggested by Professor W . W . Skeat that it conceals a female name, Gunnilde or Gunhilda . The names; e.g . Mons Meg at Edinburgh Castle and faule Grete (heavy Peg), known to readers of Carlyle's Frederick the Great, will be familiar parallel-isms . " Gunne " would be a shortened " pet name " of Gunnhilde . The New English Dictionary finds support for the suggestion in the fact that in Old Norwegian gunne and hilde both mean " war," and quotes an inventory of war material at Windsor Castle in 1330-1331, where is mentioned " una magna balista de cornu quae vocatur Domina Gunilda." Another suggestion for the origin of the word is that the word representsa shortened form, gonne, of a supposed French mangonne, a mangonel, but the French word is mangonneau . Firearms are said to have been first used in European warfare in the 14th century .

The hand gun (see fig . 1) came into

practical use in 1446 and was of very rude construction . It consisted of a simple iron or brass tube with a touch-hole at the top fixed in a straight stock of wood, the end of which passed under the a right armpit when the " gonne " was about to be fired . A similar weapon (see fig . 2) was FIG . 1.—Hand Gun . also used by the horse-soldier, with a ring at the end of the stock, by which it was suspended by a cord round the neck; a forked rest, fitted by a ring to the saddlebow, served to steady the gun . This rest, when not in use, hung down in front of the right leg . A match was made of cotton or hemp spun slack, and boiled in a strong solution of saltpetre or in the lees of wine . The touch-hole was first placed on the top of the barrel, but afterwards at the side, with a small pan underneath to hold the priming, and guarded by a cover moving on a pivot . An improvement in firearms took place in the first year of the reign of Henry VII., or at the close of Edward IV., by fixing a cock (Fr. serpentine) on the hand gun to hold the match, which was brought down to the priming by a trigger, whence the term matchlock . This weapon is still in use among the Chinese, Tatars, Sikhs, Persians and Turks .

An improvement in the stock was also made during this

period by forming it with a wide butt end to be placed against the right breast . Subsequently the stock was bent, a German invention, and the arm was called a hackbutt or hagbut, and the smaller variety a demihague . The arquebus and hackbutt were about a yard in length, including barrel and stock, and the demihague was about half the size and weight, the forerunner of the pistol . The arquebus was the standard infantry firearm in Europe from the battle of Pavia to the introduction of the heavier and more powerful musket . It did not as a rule require a rest, as did the musket . The wheel-lock, an improvement on the match-lock, was in- vented in Nuremberg in 1517; was first used at the siege of Parma in 1521; was brought to England in 1530, and continued in partial use there until the time of Charles II . This wheel-lock consisted of a fluted or grooved steel wheel which protruded into the priming pan, and was connected with a strong spring . The cock, also regulated by a spring, was fitted with a piece of iron pyrites . In order to discharge the gun the with Hand Gun . From General Hardy de Perini's Turenne e ! Conde 1626-1675 . lock was wound up by a key, the cock was let down on the priming pan, the pyrites resting on the wheel; on the trigger being pressed the wheel was released and rapidly revolved, emitting sparks, which ignited the powder in the pan .

The complicated and expensive nature of this lock, with its liability to injury, no doubt prevented its general

adoption . About 1540 the Spaniards constructed a larger and heavier firearm (matchlock), carrying a ball of to to the pound, called a musket . This weapon was introduced into England before the middle of the 16th century, and soon came into general use throughout Europe . The snaphance was invented about this period in Germany, and from its comparative cheapness was From General Hardy de Perini's Turenne el Conde, 1626-1679 .