THE SCIENCE OF WAR.

Evening Star, Issue 4126, 18 May 1876, Page 4

THE SCIENCE OF WAR.

The greatest difficulty which a markstnan has t© overcome is to judge of distance, so as to instantaneously foeps the object aimed at within the range of fire. It seems that this difficulty has been, or is about to be overcome. In a recent letter, published in the London * Times,’ from its Berlin correspondent, an instrument is described which has for its object the determining of distances between opposing forces, with all but infallible accuracy. We quote as follows:—“ According to reliable information, M. Le Benlanger, a Belgian Major of Artillery, has succeeded in constructing an instrument indicating the distance between two armies by the mere report of the discharge. The moment the enemy fires a shot the action of the report upon the Telemetre—this is the name of the machine—marks the distance to a fraction. The instrument is entirely self-acting, easily kept in order, and requires no particular experience or intricate calculations to use it aright. The experiments to which it has been subjected, in the Artillery Grounds of this and some other countries, are stated to have been a complete success as regards cannon; whether the machine marks with the same accuracy the report of one or many rifles, and whether the small

specimens for Infantry and Cavalry nqe are as reliable as the larger ‘ ones, attached to the guns, is not

quite so certain. While the .Artillery , trial may be regarded as at an end, . in the Rifle Ground are still going on, it is said, •with a tair prospect of producing a satiatotory result.' 'f&bnld "th£ latter expectations he realised, war will be a very different

thing from what it has been, seeing that in the last campaign only one shot hit in ten; but even if the inven-' tion is confined to the Artillery, its effect must bo tremendous, considering the present deadly efficiency of firearms. One of its principal advantages ■ it is supposed will be to enable the gnn- j hers in a coast battery to determine the : position of a hostile ship, a calculation hitherto fraught with especial difficulty, j The adoption of the Telametre by the | German Artillery on land and sea may be regarded as certain.” Here, again, the Germans are to the fore ; seizing the first opportunity of testing, and, after testing, of applying a new invention.