a> 
92 CARNOT. 
Let us now remark, that modern fortification has the 
defect of being extremely expensive. It was this ruin- 
ous defect that Carnot wished to remove, by substituting 
curved (or vertical) fire for the direct.* Carnot sur- 
rounds a fortress by a simple wall, not faced, but fur-_ 
nished with scarp and counterscarp. The wall does not 
require a great thickness, because it has not to resist the 
thrust of the earth destined to bear artillery on it. Be- 
hind this wall he places mortars, howitzers, and pierriers 
which are to carry curved fire into the country; the 
results of which, according to him, must be much more 
effective than those of direct firing, and oppose obstacles 
to the enemy’s advance, more and more efficacious in 
proportion to his approach. The wall is defiladed against 
the direct fire of the besieger, by the earthen counter- 
scarp, forming one of the faces of the ditch. It seems, 
then, that to make a breach, it is requisite, as in the 
present system of fortification, to crown the covered way ; 
an operation which, according to the author, would be 
eminently galling to the assailant. ‘This supposes that a 
breach could not be made in Carnot’s wall but at a very 
short distance, and within le tir de plein fouet, or point- 
blank range. Foreign experiments, it is said, contradict 
this hypothesis; by employing curved fire, a breach 
might be made at a sufficiently great distance, provided 
the projectiles were of very large calibre. ‘The question 
then is not yet solved;} the new mode proposed by 
* The word “curved fire’? is employed, though “ vertical’ is the 
usual term in English technical language, because curved includes 
more—as the vertical, the ricochet, and every thing between those 
two. It might possibly be rendered “ elevated fire;’’ and it should 
be remembered that Carnot intended to use a sort of ricochet fire as 
well as the vertical— Translator. 
t We should say, the question %s now solved; the experiments 
made by foreigners are to be relied on, and are kept on record; at 
