ARMOR 



376 



ARMOUR 



DEVELOPMENT OF ARMOR 



(a) The equipment of a warrior in the Stone age; (&) a German soldier of the third and fourth 

 ronturies; (c) warrior of ancient Greece; (d) Roman soldier; (e) German in full armor at time 

 of Maximilian I; (/) soldier of Western Europe in early seventeenth century; (#) French soldier 

 of the eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries, the last type of armor-clad fighting men. 



lets. The armor was made of plates of metal 

 or of metal rings linked together and worn 

 over a leather tunic. The helmet had a visor 

 or covering for the face, and when in full 

 armor a knight was quite unrecognizable. This 

 led to the introduction of armorial devices and 

 bearings worn on the shield for purposes of 

 identification. The making of armor developed 

 into a high art, and the metal was so well 

 forged that the wearer was fully protected 

 from arrows, spears and sword thrusts, except 

 at the joints of the armor. After the intro- 

 duction of gunpowder the use of armor grad- 

 ually decreased, though noted armorers still 

 provided armor which could not be penetrated 

 by a musket ball. 



Against modern rifle bullets such armor 

 would be useless as a protection and its weight 

 would make it impossible for the wearer to 

 move quickly enough for the requirements of 

 modern war. The helmet still survives in 

 some modern armies, particularly with the 

 Germans, and is of great value as a protection 

 against shrapnel. Against the high-powered 

 explosives now used by all countries, however, 



armor is of slight value. The only defense, 

 entirely inadequate, is a protective coloring in 

 uniforms which renders it difficult for the 

 enemy to determine that a company of men 

 is not a part of the distant landscape. See 

 UNIFORM. F.ST.A. 



ARMORY, ar'meri, a building in which 

 arms and other instruments of war are stored, 

 and which very frequently contains rooms for 

 the use of troops. These rooms may be merely 

 drill rooms, but in the United States the 

 armories devoted to the use of state militia often 

 have all the fittings and luxuries of a gymna- 

 sium and club house combined. The state or 

 national government pays for the buildings and 

 for their upkeep, but the officers and soldiers 

 provide the club house features at their own 

 expense. An attempt is always made to have 

 the buildings present a military appearance, 

 and most of them are well adapted to serve as 

 places of defense in case of trouble. 



ARMOUR, ar'mer, PHILIP DANFORTH (1832- 

 1901), an American merchant and philanthro- 

 pist, one of the founders and for forty-one 

 years the head of Armour & Co., the largest 



