THE NEW ENGINES OF WAR

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 288, 3 December 1892, Page 5

THE NEW ENGINES OF WAR

Althocgh it is quite possible to tell to a yard the carrying power of bhe new field rifles which the various European Governments are adopting and aro pinning their faith to in the event of a war there seems to be a great diversity of opinion as to the nature of the wounds inflicted by such weapons. It has generally been supposed thab tho English gun, the LeeMibford and the French Lebel rifle would inflict dreadful havoc on a body of troops at a long distance away. The etieots produced by tho Mannlicher rifle in the lasb Chilian war or by the Lebel .rifle quite recently in Dahomey would seem to bear out this conclusion. ;But at the recont meeting of the Sanitary Congress, Dr. Stevenson produced evidence to show that the wounds inflicted by the new weapons at long ranges are so slight that the men are only disabled by them for a few day., although at short distances the wounds are very severe indeed. Experiments made at Netley with the Lee-Mi tfordrifle on the body of a dead horse showed that the bullets act at '.■:■ short ranges, like shells, whereas at long distances they pass clean through the breast - bone and thigh bone without shattering them. Dr. Stevenson concludes, from this that in the wars of the future there will bo a greater number of recoveries, and a greater number killed outright on tbe battlefield, and that though- the work of the surgeon will be greater the outlook will bo more hopeful, But, unfortunately for the humane hopes raised by Professor Stevenson, another professor of equal authority in such matters writes to the "Army and Navy Gazette" to say that he has made experiments, and has come to perfectly opposite conclusions. This gentleman, Captain F. Smith, a professor of the Army Veterinary School at Aldershot, has come to the conclusion that even at I,oooyds the wounds inflicted by tho Lee-Mitford nre shocking. The bullet acts liko a shell and shatters the bone most severely. Seeing it will hardly bo possible to pronounce on the merits of these guns before thoy have been employed in some greab national struggle, no one is sanguine enough to wish' to see the claims of the difforent weapons settled at such a price.

In." every part of the civilised world hundreds of inventive minds aro labouring to produce warlike machinery of ono kind or another. The ordnance department of Italy - has recently had offered to it a- projectile, which on being shot from a cannon, and striking an object will produce a luminous disc of 100,000 candle power, and thereby expose to view an enemy's position by night at a distance of from three to four milos.

Every day we hear of some now explosive being added to tho already long list. Apgrito is the name of a new smokeless powder which has been praised in the " Revue Scientifique." Ballistite is another now explosive which the Italian War Office is now experimenting with, while Herculist is tho significant name given to a new French explosive, composed of sawdust, camphornitrate ot potash, and several other substances, which are kept secret, which is very safe to handle, and of immense power. It would seem that the eye of the warlike chemist was searching into every nook nnd cranny of nature for something that will produce explosives. Only the other day wo heard that explosive nitrates had been obtained from jute fibre, and.from other substances jußt as unlikely to tho unscientific mind, we hear of substances being extracted that are destined to plky a large part in tho warfare of the future. ■ ■*<•■■■■■■ • ■• ~-■;...; i- -