V!) 





SCIENCE 



lEntered at the Post-Offlce of New York, N.Y., as Second-Class Matter.J 



A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



EioHTH Year. 

 Vol. XVI. No. 403. 



NEW YORK, October 24, 1890. 



Single Copies, Ten Cents. 

 $3.50 Pek Yeab, in Advance. 



THE CIVILIAN ELECTRICIAN IN A MODERN WAR.' 



I BEG to propose for your consideration this evening a plan by 

 which, in time of war, all the electrical resources of New York, 

 both in supplies and in men, will become at once available for the 

 defence of the country and the city. 



It is well known to all here that electricity has come into use 

 as one of the great factors in warfare, both on sea and on shore ; 

 not as an adjunct merely, as for lighting ships and forts, but as a 

 vital element in the handling of weapons in actual battle, and in 

 the construction of new instruments which accomplish things 

 heretofore impossible. 



I desire to recall to your recollection a few of the most impor- 

 tant uses to which electricity is now put in warfare, to indicate 

 some of the probable paths of future development, to show that it 

 would be impossible for our navy and army to adequately handle 

 the vast electrical work that would have to be instantly done in 

 time of sudden war, and to suggest a plan for coming to their 

 assistance. 



The science of electrical engineering is now recognized as one 

 of the most necessary of the practical sciences of the world. It 

 stands out as distinct and well defined as the science of medicine 

 or the science of astronomy. It enters into thousands of the de- 

 partments of daily life, but in no other department is it used in so 

 various and so important ways as in warfare. This is so much 

 the case that the prophecy is sometimes ventured that in the near 

 future nations will fight by electricity. Though this, like all ex- 

 treme statements, requires modification, yet the number of ways 

 in which electricity has come to be applied within the last eight 

 years, is calculated to inspire the liveliest anticipations as to the 

 developments of the next eight years. No vessel pretending to 

 modern equipment goes to sea without a complete electric plant 

 for furnishing light. This light is so much more suited to ship 

 life than any other lioht, that we now wonder how we ever went 

 to sea without it. The electric motor is coming into use for ven- 

 tilating ships, and it is beginning to be used for training gims and 

 the hoisting to the deck of shot and shell. The best and the most 

 accurate results at target practice are attained when the guns are 

 fired by electricity. Range finders give the gunner constant 

 knowledge of what he must know; i.e., the distance of the enemy. 

 The best means of night signalling, and the one adopted in nearly 

 every navy in the world, is by means of incandescent lights. The 

 electric search-light is almost as much a feature of the equipment 

 of a modern war-ship as are her guns and her torpedoes. In the 

 actual use of the Whitehead and the Howell torpedoes, electricity 

 plays an Important part. The telephone is now coming into use for 

 ship-work, and will unquestionably supplant the speaking-tube, 

 which is acknowledged in all navies to be unsatisfactory. In 

 fact, we find all through modern war-ships an increasing use of 

 electricity. The reason is clear. The modern warship is the 

 most intricate, tremendous, and powerful machine existing. In 

 no other equal space can be found so many, so various, and so 

 important kinds of apparatus. Every thing must be done which 

 will put her absolutely within the grasp of the captain. She 

 must respond at once to his command, and her whole strength 

 and power must be his, as though she were a part of him. En- 



* Paper read before the New York Eleotrioal Society at Columbia Coilega 

 •n Oct. 23, by Lieut. Bradley A. Fiske, U.S.N. 



sconced in his armored conning-tower, he must be the brain of 

 the gigantic body. Electric wires must convey instant tidings to 

 him from her innermost recesses, and electric wires flash back 

 from him the inevitable command. In this way only can a mod- 

 ern ship, no matter how large, how strong, how heavily armored, 

 or how swift, completely fulfil her mission and be a perfect fight- 

 ing-machine. 



What is true of ships is equally true of forts. The power of 

 ships' guns has so increased that it has become essential to protect 

 shore batteries by iron and steel instead of masonry as in the days 

 not long gone by, and, in addition, to use disappearing carriages 

 wherever it can be done. Disappearing carriages, as is well 

 known, are so arranged that the gun disappears below the parapet 

 of the fort when the gun is fired, and remains out of sight and 

 safe during the operation of loading, so that it is exposed only tor 

 a short time when it is raised to fire. Now, without the aid of 

 electricity, a very considerable time would elapse, even after the 

 gun was raised, before it could be fired; because the gun would 

 have to be trained in the proper direction, and be elevated to the 

 proper degree, for propelling its projectile over the distance be- 

 tween it and the enemy. To estimate this distance and make the 

 proper adjustments would entail delay, and would be absolutely 

 impossible if smoke obscured the target, as would be the case 

 during a great portion of the time. But electricity, acting 

 through the medium of the position finder, gives the gunners 

 continuous information of the distance and direction of the 

 enemy, no matter how thick the smoke; so that the gunners 

 know exactly what to do, before the gun is raised to fire. 



Electricity, furthermore, gives the commanding officer complete 

 control of all the different groups of guns and mortars in his fort. 

 Noting the progress of the action from a station aloof from the 

 smoke and noise, he can direct the concentration of as many bat- 

 teries as he thinks best on one ship, or can disperse the fire as 

 much as circumstances from time to time dictate. 



For the handling of the monster apparatus used in forts, — the 

 guns, the carriages, the ammunition, — electricity is rapidly com- 

 ing to the fi-ont. Some power must be used, since the muscles of 

 men are too weak. Hydraulic power has been used hitherto, but 

 for many purposes electricity has the same advantages that have 

 caused its unprecedented advance in the other departments of en- 

 gineering throughout the world ; while for repelling a night at- 

 tack from ships the search-light has been found, by repeated 

 trials in the naval manoeuvres abroad, to be simply indispensable 

 to the land defence. P'or military service in the field there is not 

 an army in the civilized world that has not its military telegraph 

 service. One great cause of the suddenness and completeness of the 

 German victory in 1870 was the rapid mobilization of the Prussian 

 Army, and its appearance on the frontier ready for battle. Now, 

 the splendid efficiency of the telegraph service in the hands of the 

 military authorities made this possible. Nothing is more impor- 

 tant in warfare than despatch in moving the enormous bodies of 

 men of which modern armies are composed, with all their ammuni- 

 tion, equipments, and numberless accessories. To move a quarter 

 of a million of men to the frontier in one day means a good 

 deal; and to manoeuvre so large a body in the field with such pre- 

 cision and rapidity that no one division shall have to wait for 

 any other division, simply cannot be done without electricity. 



But the most immediate and important use of electricity in the 



