169 
TOEPEDOES. 
By a. HILLIAED ATTEEIDGE. 
[PLATE XCVIII.] 
T HEEE are few things more remarkable than the great revo- 
lution which science has effected in modern warfare. 
Within the last twenty years there have been hundreds of inven- 
tions and improvements in our means of attack and defence, 
and the result has been such a development of destructive 
power that in all but its great unalterable principles war has 
been completely changed. On the battle-field, before the deadly 
fire of the breechloader, the long line and the massive column 
have given way to clouds of skirmishers ; huge guns, such as 
men only dreamed of a few years ago, are mounted in our ships 
and fortresses; and instead of the old three-deckers which 
carried our flag in the days of Howe and Nelson, our fleets are 
composed of ironclad monsters, any one of which could annihilate 
all the armadas of former times. A new feature, too, has been 
introduced into naval warfare — a new means of defence has been 
gradually devised — and now an armament, when it approaches a 
hostile shore, has to risk destruction from mines hidden deep 
below the surface of the sea. Torpedoes, once rude contrivances 
scarcely less dangerous to those who used them than to the 
enemy against whom they were employed, are now, thanks to the 
researches of our electricians, marvels of ingenuity, perfectly 
safe to handle, but fearfully dangerous to the aggressor. By 
their means coasts and harbours can be easily and cheaply placed 
in a thorough state of defence ; and ports, while secure from the 
approach of a foe, can be still left open to friendly men-of-war 
and merchant ships. It is only of late years that torpedoes have 
been brought to this high state of perfection ; they have hitherto 
been employed comparatively rarely in actual warfare, but there 
is little doubt that they will play a great part in future conflicts. 
In this paper we propose to give a short account of the various 
ways in which they are constructed ; but as in a few pages it 
would be difficult even to enumerate all the methods which have 
