Ordinary dynamite consists of a mixture of 75 per cent. of nitro-glycerine and 25 per cent. of kieselguhr.  The guhr as imported (Messrs A. Haake & Co. are the chief importers) contains from 20 to 30 per cent. of water and organic matter.  The water may be very easily estimated by drying a weighed quantity in a platinum crucible at 100 deg.  C. for some time and re-weighing, and the organic matter by igniting the residue strongly over a Bunsen burner.  Before the guhr can be used for making dynamite it must be calcined, in order not only to get rid of moisture, but also the organic matter.

A good guhr should absorb four times its weight of nitro-glycerine, and should then form a comparatively dry mixture.  It should be pale pink, red brown, or white.  The pink is generally preferred, and it should be as free as possible from grit of all kinds, quartz particles, &c., and should have a smooth feeling when rubbed between the finger and thumb, and should show a large quantity of diatoms when viewed under the microscope.  The following was the analysis of a dried sample of kieselguhr:—­Silica, 94.30; magnesia, 2.10; oxide of iron and alumina, 1.3; organic matter, 0.40; moisture, 1.90 per cent.

The guhr is generally dried in a reverberatory muffle furnace.  It is spread out on the bottom to the thickness of 3 or 4 inches, and should every now and then be turned over and raked about with an iron rabble or hoe.  The temperature should be sufficiently high to make the guhr red hot, or the organic matter will not be burnt off.  The time occupied in calcining will depend of course upon the quality of the guhr being operated upon.  Those containing a high percentage of water and organic matter will of course take longer than those that do not.  A sample of the calcined guhr should not contain more than 0.5 per cent. of moisture and organic matter together.

After the guhr is dry it requires to be sifted and crushed.  The crushing is done by passing it between iron rollers fixed at the bottom of a cone or hopper, and revolving at a moderate speed.  Beneath the rollers a fine sieve should be placed, through which the guhr must be made to pass.

The kieselguhr having been dried, crushed, and sifted, should be packed away in bags, and care should be taken that it does not again absorb moisture, as if it contains anything above about five-tenths per cent. of water it will cause the dynamite made with it to exude.  The guhr thus prepared is taken up to the danger area, and mixed with nitro-glycerine.  The nitro-glycerine used should be quite free from water, and clear, and should have been standing for a day or two in the precipitating house.  The guhr and nitro-glycerine are mixed in lead tanks (about 1-1/2 foot deep, and 2 to 3 feet long), in the proportions of 75 of the nitro-glycerine to 25 of the guhr, unless the guhr is found to be too absorbent, which will cause the dynamite to be too dry and to crumble.  In this case a small quantity of barium sulphate, say about 1 per cent., should be added to the guhr.  This will lessen its absorbing powers, or a highly absorptive sample of guhr may be mixed with one of less absorptive power, in the proportions found by experiment to be the best suited to make a fairly moist dynamite, but one that will not exude.