THE 110YAL AliTILLEKY INSTITUTION, 
251 
NOTES 
OK 
G-UNNE'RI INS 1’ EUCTION. 
BY 
LIEUT. G. MACKINLAY, E.A. 
The N.C. officers and men composing a squad sent to Shoeburyness 
for a long or short course of instruction, seldom fail to work bard and 
gain a good practical knowledge of their profession. These are, however, 
selected men, sent to the very focus of artillery life, where the most 
perfect materiel of the newest patterns are at hand to stimulate the desire 
for information; they will not in all probability go through a similar 
course again; they are free from all other duties, and so able to learn 
without interruption; last, but not least, they have the incentive to 
study supplied by the prospect of future advancement consequent on 
good progress. 
But the squads which come under a brigade gunnery instructor are 
differently constituted and circumstanced. Instead of selected men, he 
has to deal with all, including the ordinary rank and file—many of whom 
are naturally wanting in education and intelligence ; the materiel at his 
disposal is often limited in quantity and obsolete in quality (especially in 
India); so that it is difficult to excite much zeal in the men of his squads, 
more particularly as the courses recurring year after year are apt to 
become monotonous, and are of necessity frequently interrupted by 
the performance of other duties. It is therefore evident that there are 
some difficulties in the latter case which scarcely appear in the former; 
and from this it would follow that the method persued in the one case 
may not always be applicable in the other. It is proposed in the present 
paper to discuss the means for facilitating the instruction of the men 
with their batteries. 
Three objects should be aimed at in instructing the men 
1. Their full attention should be gained and kept. 
2. Only language which they clearly understand should be employed. 
3. Efforts should be made to prevent their forgetting what they learn. 
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