This section is from the book "The Home Cyclopedia Of General Information", by Charles Morris. Also available from Amazon: Home Cyclopedia of Necessary Knowledge.
The blowing asunder of rocks or other hard material by means of explosives. In this work gunpowder is now largely displaced by the more powerful dyna-m ite or other newly-discovered explosives. Blasting holes are now largely made by steam-drills instead of by hand, and the electric spark is much used in exploding the charge. Some of the new explosives are exceedingly powerful in their rending effect.
 
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