548 
SUPPLY OP AMMUNITION IN THE FIELD. 
almost certain that long before such a radical change in the method of 
carrying ammunition could be carried out shrapnel (or a shell of similar 
nature) will be our only projectile. 
It is agreed on all hands that the only advantage to be gained from 
the use of common shell is its facility of observation in ranging under 
difficult conditions, while the disadvantages of having two kinds of 
shell are too obvious to be worth setting down. 
This being the case it seems not too much to hope that some plan 
may be adopted whereby the smoke-giving property which is so im¬ 
portant may be transferred from the shell to the fuze, and that instead 
of having for such a limited object two separate articles of manufacture, 
and two separate classes of shell cumbering our limber-boxes and con¬ 
fusing our calculations, we might have a certain number of time and 
percussion fuzes fitted with (instead of the elaborate time-arrangement) 
some smoke-giving composition which would answer the same purpose 
and solve our present shell difficulty. 
As to case shot it now seems clear that short-fuzed shrapnel are 
much more effective, and the elimination of the former will probably 
take place before long. 
In conclusion I may add that writing as I do from the wilds of 
Kashmir I have had no opportunities, since the above solution of the 
problem occurred to me, for inviting criticism upon it, and I may, 
therefore, perhaps ask the indulgence of my critics for not having seen 
and met objections that may occur to them. 
