NAIL, is alſo a meaſure of length, containing the
16th part of a yard.
NAILING of Cannon. When circumſtances make it
neceſſary to abandon cannon, or when the enemy's ar-
tillery are ſeized, and it is not however poſſible to take
them away, it is proper to nail them up, in order to
render them uſeleſs; which is done by driving a large
nail or iron ſpike into the vent of a piece of artillery,
to render it unſerviceable. There are various contri-
vances to force the nail out, as alſo ſundry machines
invented for that purpoſe, but they have never been
found of general uſe; ſo that the beſt method is to
drill a new vent.
One Gaſper Vimercal was the firſt who invented
the nailing of cannon. He was a native of Bremen,
and made uſe of his invention firſt in nailing up the ar-
tillery of Sigismund Malatella.