34 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
lengths being marked with the range which each suited, and this was 
carried ont at Dartmoor. 
One word on onr fuzes. 
“We have no reliable percussion fuze;”* then, after ten years 5 expe¬ 
rience, it seems high time to try something else. For such shells as are 
fired from our muzzle-loading guns, and are intended to be exploded on 
graze, a concussion fuze is the natural alternative; that.is, a fuze which 
contains no detonating powder, being lit and burning like a time fuze till 
impact opens a passage for the flame into the bursting charge of the shell. 
As you may be aware, there are many fuzes of this class now submitted 
for trial. In such we avoid the evils which are entailed by the presence 
of percussion powder, and which render the percussion fuze unreliable. 
Unreliable because it deteriorates in store, especially in hot climates; 
and unreliable because it is prone to cause accidents in handling, such 
as that which blew up our men at Malta. 
But where—as in our present breech-loaders—there is no windage, 
every single fuze is obliged to be lit by percussion, and so every one is 
liable to deterioration and accident. The condition of some of the field- 
service percussion fuzes returned from out-stations to the Royal Labora¬ 
tory, may be understood from the fact that a very simple operation— 
which effectually prevented the danger of prematures with the Dyer 
fuze—was suspended because the fuzes did not even seem worth the 
cost of such a trifling job. Much might be given in detail, but I will 
conclude a paper, already longer than I originally intended it to be, by 
observing that although it is probable at this moment our field artillery 
would, whenever they might be brought to the test, hold their own 
against all comers, yet it is most desirable that much should be done to 
simplify their materiel , and I believe that this will be rendered far easier 
whenever the muzzle-loader is introduced generally. 
At the conclusion of the reading— 
Colonel An ye invited discussion upon the subject of the paper, and 
said that if any officer wished to ask a question, no doubt the lecturer 
would have pleasure in answering. 
Captain Strange, R.A., said: If his brother officers would have 
patience with him, he should like to make a few observations; not 
perhaps on the subject under discussion—for that had been so fully and 
clearly explained by Captain Browne that he could add nothing to it— 
but suggested by some observations made in the course of the lecture. 
* Since the date of the lecture, many concussion fuzes have been tried ; but all have, as yet, 
proved too slow in their action. Cap composition, however, which is at ail events far more reliable 
than phosphorus composition, has been substituted for it experimentally. 
