6o2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



A torpedo of this sort striking the sides of an iron-clad would 

 almost infallibly send her to the bottom, and although it has been 

 proved that a network or crinoline around the ship is capable of retard- 

 ing the progress of a " fish " of this nature, and exploding the same 

 harmlessly in its toils, it is obviously a very diiRcult matter thus to pro- 

 tect one's craft. Against heavy torpedoes, indeed, there seems no way 

 of defense at all (the Whitehead generally carries a charge of seventv 

 or eighty pounds, but moored torpedoes may contain a 500-pound 

 charge), and therefore Turkish vessels will have to give Russian ports 

 a wide berth. All must remember how the magnificent fleet of the 

 French was kept at bay by the torpedoes of the Germans in the North 

 Sea in 1870, and the Black Sea ports are no doubt similarly protected. 

 So demoralizing is the dread of the torpedo with sailors apparently, 

 that they will dare anything rather than venture into waters Avhich 

 conceal these cruel foes. 



At no other time has there been so much want of unanimity among 

 the great powers of Europe on the subject of ordnance. There are to 

 be found at the present moment cannon of a dozen dlflferent descrip- 

 tions in the gun-parks of European nations, differing from each other 

 not only in respect to their construction, but in the metal of which 

 they are made. So far as small-arms are concerned, we know there is 

 but one opinion; some nations prefer one breech-loader to another, 

 but all agree in the emploj-ment of breech-loaders. In the case of 

 cannon, however, it is different. Germany relies upon breech-loading 

 ordnance, while Great Britain has forsaken the system and gone back 

 to muzzle-loaders; Austria makes her guns of bronze, Germany of 

 steel, Russia favors steel and brass, America cast-iron, while England 

 has cannon of steel encompassed with iron, and France weapons of 

 iron girt with steel. 



The balance of favor is beyond question with the breech-loader at 

 the present moment. All the new artillery of the Russians and the 

 Turks is of this kind, while the field-guns both of the Germans and 

 Austrians are upon the same system. France has done nothing lately 

 for the regeneration of its ordnance, and there remain but Great 

 Britain and Italy to represent muzzle-loading artillery. Bvit Italy, 

 although she has adopted the British system for very heavy guns, is by 

 no means a confirmed believer in it, and will doubtless hesitate before 

 following our example very far, beset, as she is, with neighbors armed 

 Avith breech-loaders. 



Of all the powers, it is, curiously enough, steady-going Austria 

 which has taken the boldest and most independent course in the mat- 

 ter of artillery. It was but at the end of 1875 that the Austrian War- 

 Office decided to adopt the Uchatius cannon for field-artillery, and yet 

 at this moment every artillery regiment of the vast Austro-Hungarian 

 army is armed with the new weapon. Within eighteen months no 

 less than 2,000 of these cannon have been cast and finished, and now 



