SCIENCE AND WAR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 219, 15 September 1877, Page 4

SCIENCE AND WAR.

f [From Nature.l Recent wars have had particular interest for th6 man of science. If we go back some fifteen or twenty years, and consider the different wars which have unfortunately 1 occurred since that time, we shall find connected with every one of them certain features which undoubtedly mark progress in thß art of killing and wounding. Some argue — and on very good grounds no doubt — that the more sharp and terrible warfare is made the more speedily must it come to an end, and hence look with favor upon the means taken every day to render weapons more destructive, and the soldier more cunning in his dangerous trade. We do not pro* pose to discuss this argument, nor do we. enter at all into (any comparison between the wars of our forefathers and those of to-day, but at a crisis like the present we need hardly apologise for bringing before our readers some points illustrating the marked influence of science upon modern warfare. Starting from tbe close of the Crimean war, tbe first in which the electric telegraph was employed, we find ample examples of the assistance furnished to the soldier by scientific research. One instance, taken from the war of 1858, is especially interesting. The Aus. trians held Venice at the time, it may be remembered, and to protect the harbor torpedoes were laid down. The torpedoes were fired by electricity, and contained gun-cotton— this being the' first instance on record of the employment of the electric torpedoes, and of the newly invented nitrocompounds. Nor was this all. The torpedo system devised at Venice by the Austrian engineers had yet another point of scientific interest. A camera-obscura was built, overlooking tbe harbor, aod npon the white tables of this instrument were reflected the waters of Venice. As the torpedoes were sunk one by one, a sentinel in th . camera noticed the place of their disappearance with a pencil, giving each torpedo a consecutive number. A row-boat in the harbor described a circle around the sunken torpedo indicating the zone of its destructive power, and the sentinel again, with his pencil, made a corresponding ring upon the camera table. In the end, therefore, while the harbor itself was apparently free from all obstruction, a very effective means of torpedo defence was established, the key of which was only to be found in the camera-obscura. The eentiuel here had wires in connection with every torpedo, and was in a position to fire any one as soon as he observed — by means of the camera — the presence of a hostile vessel within the limits of any oif the circles marked upon his white table. In the American war of iB6O the electrio torpedo, invented but two years before, played a most conspicuous role, and formed, with the use of big guns and monitor ironclads, one of the most important features of the struggle, at least from a scientific point of view. The war of 1866, when the Austrians Buffered such a terrible defeat at the hands of the Prussians, will long be remembered as a combat between the old muzzle-loading rifle and the breechloader, in which the latter was victorious. The Franco-German struggle of 1870 again, though marked by the employment of no special arm, if we except the mitrailleuse, was assisted by imporlant applications of science, to wit, the reproduction, by menus of photo-lithography, of the French ordnance maps and plans, which were distributed in thousands throughout th . German army, and (lip establishment in France of la posle aerienne to communicate with ihe beseijjed garrison of Paris. The regularity with which the mails left Paris^ar hallofi monte, must still be fresh iu the memories of our readers, the publication of correspondence from the French capital being maintained in our journals during the whole period of the investment. From September 23 to January 28, when Paris was practically cut off from the rest of the republic, no less than 64 balloons left the city with passengers, mails, and pigeons, and of these only three were lost, while five were captured. The return poet " by homing pigeons " was hardly so regular, but nevertheless ha f the number of despatches given in by correspondents at Tours and elsewhere, or iu other words 100,000 messages, were by the unflagging energy of "the postal authorities carried into the beleagured capital. The despatches, moet

of them as brief as telegrams, were distinctly printed in broad sheets; and photographed by the aid of a micriocamera; impressions upon the trans-* parent films were then t ikeu and rolled ia a quill attached to the tail of the winged messenger which -was to bear them to Paris. Arrive, at their destination, the tiny photographic films were enlarged by the camera, and the despatches being once more eligible, were distributed to the various addresses. The present Russo -Turkish war cannot well be less interesting than those that have so recently preceded it, aud we may especially point out two directions in which fresh examples of scientific warfare will probably manifest themselves— in connection, viz., with the cavalry pioneer and the Whitehead torpeio. Both of these will probably be seen in warfare for the first time, and before many days are past we may hear of their doings in action. The cavalry pioneer must not be coufouoded with the Prussian Uhlan who played so conspicuous a part in the last war. The übiquitous Uhlan, terrible as he was, did not work the injury. which some of the Cossacks will have put iu their power to indict if accoutred as pioneers. These are selected from the smartest and most daring trooper, lightly armed, aud well mounted In a belt round their waists they carry a few pounds of gun-cotton or dynamite, and with this highly destructive explosive they may work incalculable harm. A small cbarge of gun-cotton placed simply upon a rail aud fired with a fuze suffices to blow Beveral feet of the iron to a distance of many yards, thus renderingthe railway unserviceable oh the instant. A trooper may dismount, place a charge at the base of a telegraph pole, fire it and be iu his saddle again within sixty seconds. Wires may thus be cut aud communication stopped io the heart of an enemy's country by fearless riders, who bave but to draw rein for an inatant to effect the mischief, while lines of railway in the neighborhood are entirely at their mercy. Even light bridges and wellbuilt stockades may be thrown down by the violent detonation of compressed gun-cotton, aud forest roads considerably obstructed by trees thrown across, which are never so rapidly felled as when a a smili charge of this explosive is fired at their roots. The influence of the Whitehead torpedo of which we have heard so much of late, will likewise be felt for the first time during the present war. An implement so ingeuiou3 in its character that, a9 Lord Charles Baresford the other day happily rem.rked, it can do almost anything but talk, is in the possession of both beligerents, and will doubtless be heard of ere lon<» ou the Danube and in the Black Sea. These torpedoes are manufactured at Fiurae on the Mediterranean, and, like Krupp guns, are to be purchased by any oue who chooses to pay for them. The British Government manufactures its own Whitehead torpedoes in this country, having paid several thousands of pounds for the privilege. The machinery inside this torpedo is still a secret, which is strictly maintained by our Government, but the principle ot the invention is well-known. It is a long cigar-shaped machioe measuring a dozen feet and upwards. In the head is a charge of some violeut ex^ plosive, such as gun-cotton or dynamite, which explodes as soon as the lorped- strikes un obstacle. The motive power is compressed air, which is forced into the machine by powerful' air-pumps immediately before the torpedo is discharged into the sea no less t 1 un 60O!bs. ou the t?qn .re inoh bein«* the presnie exerted. The Whitehead is shot from a tube, and moves through the water as straight as a dart, the compressed air working upon a screw in the tail of the machine. The delicate machinery permits the torpeio to swim at any depth below the surfuce that may be desirable, and ii flies straight in the direction it is aimed, at a speed of something like twenty-miles an hour. If it fails to strike the foe, then iutelligeut apparatus at ouce rises lo.tbe surface, becoming innocuous as it does so, and may in this condition be captured without difficulty. A torpedo of this sort striking the sides of an ironclad would almost infallibly .end her to the bottom, aud although it bas beeu proved that a network criuoline around tbe ship is capable of retarding the progres of a "fish" of this nature, nnd txplodiag ths same harmlessly iu its toils, it is obviously a very difficult master thus to protect

one's craft. Against heavy : torpedoes, indeed, there seems no way of defence at all (the Whitehead generally carries a charge ol 701b. or 801b., 'but raoorel torpedoes may contain a 5001b. charge), and therefore Turkish Vessels will give Russian ports a wide birth. All must remember how; tha ;_aagQ_fi_ant Sebfc of th_ Freri-h was kept at bay by the torpedoes of the Garoiaus in the North Sea in 1870, and the Black Sea ports are .imilarljp: protected. So «_dni6r,£_U_.log is the dread of the torpedo with sailorsapparently.that they will dare anything rather than ventnre , into waters which conoeal these cruel foes.