THE ItOYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
253 
they should question and talk to each other regarding it when they are 
together—for instance, when they are on guard, in their barrack-rooms, 
when they go out for a walk; in fact, they should never rest until they 
have a clear and distinct conception of what has been told them and of 
what they have read. 
“A good way of impressing on the memory the principles of field 
duty, is to endeavour to picture to one's mind those situations or cir¬ 
cumstances of war of which one has heard or read, or to which the 
attention has been directed. The instructors and the older and 
experienced soldiers will gladly assist their younger comrades, who 
thus gradually will clearly and distinctly understand how to act under 
the various circumstances which may occur. This theoretical study will 
be of great use to the men, both when they receive practical instruction 
and when they go on service." 
The tedium of the most wearisome drill may be greatly removed by 
making the men understand the reason of everything—as, for instance, 
why each man does his particular work at gun drill. 
If two squads are constantly drilled together at the same thing, a little 
rivalry is excited between them, and more interest is aroused than if 
they work separately. 
Drills should be as practical as possible. For instance, a detachment 
will work with greater zeal if ordered to lay as many times as possible 
on a ship passing an embrasure, than if the guns are always pointed on 
a fixed bull's-eye. 
As a variety, and to give an intelligent knowledge, supernumeraries 
at drill may occasionally be ordered to place small numbered blocks of 
wood ill the positions of the men at drill. 
/ 
To ATTAIN THE SECOND OBJECT. 
Ordinary military books must be translated into the simplest language. 
This is more difficult than appears at first sight, as it takes some time 
to find out that the commonest expressions convey no ideas whatever to 
some of the less educated of the men ; and so definitions and terms 
must be explained in almost childlike language—which is by no means 
always easy to do. 
Care should be taken that all drawings, models, &c., are as simple as 
possible. A few lines drawn on a black board will generally afford a 
better illustration than an elaborate section or plan, as most of the men 
cannot understand them. The W.O. lithographs are beautifully executed, 
and are most useful for shewing to the more intelligent and educated; 
but a very large proportion of the men see no more resemblance between 
a fuze (for instance) and its lithographed section than a savage does 
between a man and his photograph—simply because they are unaccus¬ 
tomed to making the comparison. 
There is a common saying which contains a considerable amount of 
truth, that one who has just learnt a subject is the best person to teach 
it to others; as, of course, he is fully alive to all the difficulties which 
beset a learner's mind, from having just passed through them himself. 
