THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
311 
conditions, desirable where obstacles have merely to be surmounted, are 
disadvantages where entrenchments, walls, and other defences, have to be 
burst through and demolished, and where the smashing power of shot is 
looked for in shell. The operations for which the howitzer class of ordnance 
are especially adapted will however still present themselves on service. 
Cases might well occur where a highly curved fire would be essential, and 
where the increased capacity of the howitzer's shell would confer a prepon¬ 
derating advantage. It is perhaps however not impossible to combine such 
elements in a single rifled piece for field service, as that it shall possess the 
qualifications of both gun and howitzer. It may indeed be a difficult matter, 
to distribute the maximum weight of metal admissible, so that the piece shall 
possess strength and length of bore sufficient for the effective employment of 
the charges required by a gun of long range and great accuracy, and at the 
same time present a calibre of such dimensions, that the shell shall be 
formidable from the amount of its bursting charge. This is a question for 
those who have practical experience to determine. 
In the course of these observations it has been remarked, that the power 
of artillery to dislodge an entrenched enemy, will depend to some extent upon 
the skill with which the guns are served. Modem field-artillery practice 
demands a high degree of precision at long ranges, coupled with a rapid 
delivery. The precision of fire attained with solid shot is still attainable 
with common shell, while it would appear to be sacrificed to some extent in 
shrapnel fire, where the explosion of the shell takes place, not at the end, so 
to speak, of the trajectory, but at some point in it depending upon the 
action of a time fuze. This description of fuze therefore appears to introduce 
an element of uncertainty as regards precision of fire, and it is not unnatural 
to suppose that the preparation of the time fuze in the excitement of action 
tends to confusion and loss of time, in however small a degree, thus affecting 
the efficiency of the fire as regards rapidity. 
To sum up in a few words the substance of the foregoing pages, it may be 
stated, that it appears to the writer probable, that one of the direct effects of 
the use of arms of great precision and rapidity of fire, will be to enhance 
the value of cover to such an extent, that the ordinary duty of field artillery 
may be to engage in operations in which serious obstacles have to be 
overcome, or to oppose the advance of troops taught to take advantage of 
every feature of ground which may afford protection, and moving with 
increased rapidity across the ground which lies between the extreme ranges 
at which artillery opens, and those ranges which come within the scope of 
case shot. 
The conclusion to which this opinion tends, is, that the occasions requiring 
the use of common shell in the field, may be considerably increased, and 
further, that the operations may require, that this shell should be projected, 
not from howitzers, properly so called, but to a considerable extent from 
shell-guns retaining a high velocity and power of penetration. 
The consideration of the maximum size of shell which would be admissible, 
introduces the important question of transport, and the proportionate supply 
which might be allowed per gun, depends upon the probable frequency, 
which experience or opinion might assign to the operations requiring this 
nature of projectile. 
[vol. v.] 
43 
