230 
MINUTES OP PROCEEDINGS OP 
nothing whatever concerning the requirements of the service P As for the 
artillery and naval officers on it, a better selection could not probably have 
been made; and I would not say a word against any of the other members, 
who are all able men, and have no doubt done their best to obtain true 
results. But the decision upon a mere artillery question should not be left 
to a mixed committee. 
Purely scientific experiments* are often better left to committees composed 
of officers and well-known men of science, but these should not be mixed 
up in any way with trials of guns, carriages, or other materiel . 
John Bull must learn patience, and not expect to re-model his artillery in 
a year or two; and he should also turn a deaf ear to the loud and positive 
declamations of amateurs, and trust all questions of armament to those who 
are educated for and spend their lives in the service. Those who propose 
valuable inventions, and still more those who spend time, thought, and 
money in carrying them out, deserve our gratitude, and should be amply 
rewarded by government, but they should not therefore be constituted 
judges of other inventions, or, unless officers of experience, be taken 
as authorities on military or naval questions. 
* To ascertain the laws of resistance of the air, or those of different materials to the impact of 
projectiles, &c., or the suitability of any substance (as gun-cotton) to military purposes. 
