OF ARTS AND SCIENCES : NOVEMBER 14, 1865. 45 



us by their author from time to time ; and we can only hope that the 

 country and the world, when at length sensible of their obligations, 

 may render the tardy meed of justice, if not of gratitude. 



In his earliest communication, — a pamphlet published in the year 

 1845, — Mr. Treadwell seems to think that the appropriateness of the 

 term " useful," as applied to an improvement in implements of destruc- 

 tion, may be questioned. We need have no misgiving in this respect. 

 So long as life and property, which the ravages of war destroy, are 

 not the most valuable of human possessions, they may be justly yielded 

 and taken, if need require, for the preservation of those that are. And 

 so nations must always count among their greatest benefactors those 

 whose inventions increase their strength and defence in war. And 

 certainly those men who, by their inventive genius, revolutionize the 

 art of war, exert a most powerful and enduring influence upon the fate 

 of empires, the course of history, and the progress of civilization. 



We in our day, within the last fifteen years, have witnessed a change 

 in the means of attack and defence greater than any made in the two 

 hundred years previous, — a change. involving a complete revolution 

 in tactics, both on land and on sea. To take a single illustration from 

 heavy ordnance, — in which the importance of the change impresses 

 us when we are told that our strongest forts, armed with the best guns 

 we had ten years ago, could oppose no effectual resistance to the 

 entrance of such ships as are now built into any of our harbors; and 

 that a ship could now be built and armed, which, singly, would over- 

 match our whole navy as it was in 1855. 



Fortunately, the balance is redressed by equal improvements in 

 defence. 



The improvement in fire-arms, both great and small, is in their in- 

 creased, range and precision. When the effective range of a musket- 

 bullet was extended from two hundred yards to fourteen hundred or 

 more, it became imperatively necessary that ordnance should be im- 

 proved in the same ratio, or it would be useless, as gunners and horses 

 would be picked off by small arms long before they could effectively 

 reach the enemy. This improvement in guns of great calibre has been 

 made,, with consequences the importance of which, present and pro- 

 spective, cannot be over-estimated. 



But the point which we have to consider is, that this increased range 

 and precision are entirely dependent on the augmented strength of the 

 gun. The weakness of the gun is the only thing that imposes a limit 



