NATURE 



37 



THURSDAY, MAY 17, 1877 



SCIENCE AND WAR 



T^ ECENT 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 

 undoubtedly 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 lience look 

 with favour upon the means taken every day to render 

 weapons more destiuctive 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 wars of our forefathers and those of to-day, but al a 

 crisis like the present we need hardly apologise 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 assistance furnished to the 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 

 harbour, torpedoes were laid down. The torpedoes were 

 fired by electricity, and contained gun-cotton, this being 

 the first instance on record of the employment of electric 

 torpedoes and of the newIy-inventcd nitro-compounds. 

 Nor was this all. The torpedo- system devised at Venice 

 by the Austrian engineers had yet another point of scien- 

 tific interest. A camera ^obscura was built overlooking 

 the harbour, 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. i\ row-boat in the harbour de- 

 scribed 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 harbour itself was 

 apparently free from all obstuiction, a very effective 

 means of torpedo defence 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 any one as soon as he ob- 

 served—by means of the camera — the presence of a hos- 

 tile vessel within the limits of any of the circles marked 

 upon his white table. 



In the American war of 1S60, the electric torpedo, in- 

 vented but two years before, played a most conspicuous 

 role, and formed indeed with the use of big guns and 

 monitor ironclads, one of the most important features of 

 the struggle, at any rate from a scientific point of view. 

 The war of 1 866, when the Austrians suffered such a terrible 

 defeat at the hands of the Prussians, will long be remem- 

 bered as a combat between the old muzzle-loading rifle 

 and the breech-loader, in which the latter was victorious. 

 The Franco-German struggle of 1870 again, though 

 marked by the employment of no special arm, if we 

 Vol. XV r. — No. 394 



except the mitrailleuse, was assisted by important appli- 

 cations of science ; to wit, the reproduction, by means of 

 photo-lithography of the Frcncli ordnance maps and 

 plans, which were distributed in thousands throughout 

 the German army, and the establishment in France of 

 la posle acrieitnc to communicate with the besieged gar- 

 ;iscn of Paris. The regularity with which the mails left 

 Paris par ballon moiilc, must still be fresh in the memories 

 of our readers, the publication of correspondence from 

 the French capital being maintained in our journals 

 during the whole period of the investment. From Sep- 

 tember 23 to January 28, when Paris was practically cut 

 off from the rest of the republic, no less than sixty-four 

 balloons left the city with passengers, mails, and pigeons, 

 and of these only three were lost, while five were captured. 

 The return-post by " homing pigeons " was hardly so 

 regular, but nevertheless half the number of despatches 

 given in by correspondents at Tours and elsewhere, or in 

 other words 100,000 messages, were by the unflagging 

 energy of the postal authorities carried into the beleaguered 

 capital. The despatches, most of them as brief as tele- 

 grams, were distinctly printed in broad sheets and pho- 

 tographed by the aid of a micro-camera ; impressions 

 upon thm transparent films were then taken and rolled in 

 a quill attached to the tail of the winged messenger which 

 was to bear them into Paris. Arrived at their destination, 

 the tiny photographic films were enlarged again by the 

 camera, and the despatches being once more legible, were 

 distributed to the various addresses. 



The present Russo-Turkish war cannot well be less 

 interesting than those that have so recently preceded it 

 and we may especially point out two directions in which 

 fresh examples of scientific warfare will probably manifest 

 themselves — in connection, namely, with the cavalry 

 pioneer and the Whitehead torpedo. Both of these will 

 probably be seen in warfare for the first time, and before 

 many days are past we may hear of their doings in 

 action. 



The cavalry pioneer must not be confounded with the 

 Prussian Uhlan who played so conspicuous a part in the 

 last war. The ubiquitous Uhlan, terrible as he was, 

 did not work the injury which some of the Cossacks 

 will have it in their power to inflict if accoutred as 

 pioneers. These are selected from the smartest and 

 most daring troopers, lightly armed and well mounted. 

 In a belt round their waists they carry a few pounds of gun- 

 cotton or dynamite, and with this highly destructive ex- 

 plosive they may work incalculable harm. A small charge 

 of gun-cotton placed simply upon a rail and fired with 

 a fuze suffices to blovv several feet of the iron to a distance 

 of many yards, thus rendering the railway unserviceable on 

 the instant. A trooper may dismount, place a charge at 

 the base of a telegraph pole, fire it, and be in his saddle 

 again within sixty seconds. Wires may thus be cut and 

 communication stopped in the heart of an enemy's country 

 by fearless riders, who have but to draw rein for an instant 

 to effect the mischief, while lines of railway in the neigh- 

 bourhood arc entirely at their mercy. Even light bridges 

 and well-built stockades may be thrown down by the 

 violent detonation of compressed gun-cotton, and forest 

 roads considerably obstructed by trees thrown across, 

 which are never so rapidly felled as when a small charge 

 of this explosive is fired at their roots. 



