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enormous quantities in combination with nitroglycerin to make blasting gelatin, of which it contributes seven per cent.; cordite, of which it is forty per cent.; and ballistite, which consists of sixty per cent, of soluble nitro-cotton and forty per cent, nitroglycerin. The extraordinary affinity of soluble nitro-cotton for nitroglycerin is a curious chemical fact. No matter how much water is present in the mixing-tank, every particle of gun-cotton will find and absorb the nitroglycerin, and this "wet-mixing process" as invented and carried on at Ardeer is admirable of its kind. The material for cordite, in the form of cordite paste, is made in