SCIENCE AND WAR. 599 



which life is made up, nor of the production of living beings, but of 

 the origin of those attributes by which living things are especially 

 characterized, and in which they differ from all other forms of exist- 

 ence. 



SCIENCE AND WAR. 



Br II. BADEN PEITCHAED. 



RECENT wars have had particular interest for the man of science. 

 If we go back some fifteen or twenty years and consider the 

 different wars which have unfortunately occurred since that time, we 

 shall find connected with each one of them certain features which un- 

 doubtedly mark progress in the 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 propose to discuss this argument, nor to 

 enter at all into any comparison between the wai's of our forefathers 

 and those of to-day, but at a crisis like the present we need hardly 

 apologize for bringing before our readers some points illustrating the 

 marked influence of science upon modern warfare. 



Starting from the close of the Crimean War, the first in which the 

 electric telegraph was employed, we find ample examples of the as- 

 sistance furnished to tlie soldier by scientific research. One instance 

 taken from the war of 1858 is especially interesting. The Austrians 

 held Venice at the time, it may be remembered, and, to protect the 

 harbor, torpedoes were laid down. The torpedoes were fired by elec- 

 tricity, and contained gun-cotton, this being the first instance on 

 record of the employment of electric torpedoes and of the newly- 

 invented nitro-compounds. 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 the 

 liarbor, and upon the white table of this instrument were reflected the 

 waters of Venice. As the torpedoes were sunk one by one a sentinel 

 in the camera noted 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-defense was established, the key of which 

 was only to be found in the camera-obscura. The sentinel here had 

 wires in connection with every torpedo, and was in a position to fire 



