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MINUTES OF PKOCEEDINGS OF 
rigidly to the English service conditions; that is to say, to fire 2501b. 
Palliser projectiles, with 431b. battering charges of “rifle large grain” 
powder. 
It is hardly necessary to observe that for a competitive trial between two 
systems of ordnance, the object of which is the selection of one of those 
systems, the weights and calibres of the guns should be exactly the same ; 
and whatever variation is permitted to one gun in respect of those elements 
which go to make up ballistic conditions—such as w T eight of shot and 
charge, description of powder, nature and form of projectiles—the same 
variations should be permitted to, and in certain cases imposed upon, the 
other. If, however, the object be to discover whether a given service 
system furnishes as powerful and useful a weapon as another given service 
system, it is permissible, of course, to place two dissimilar guns in com¬ 
petition. If it is desired, for example, to measure the relative merits of the 
armament of a particular English and the armament of a particular Russian 
iron-clad, it is proper to take from each ship one representative gun as it 
stands, with its charges, projectiles, carriages, and fittings. 
In this case, no departure from, or slightest variation of, the service con¬ 
ditions should be permitted. 
We recognise, therefore, two distinct classes of experiments :— 
(1) Competitive trials, which have for their object the determination 
of the relative merits of abstract systems; the determination, for example, 
of the relative merits for naval purposes of wrought-iron muzzle-loading 
rifled guns and steel breech-loading rifled guns. Eor the purposes of such 
trials, the competing guns should obviously be placed throughout the 
competition on exactly equal terms in respect of weight, calibre, charge, &c. 
(2) Comparative trials between definite embodiments of particular systems, 
such as trials between any two given service guns, the details of which are 
fixed and fully adopted. 
In both classes of experiments, two things should be observed. Eirst, 
if the trial is to be complete and conclusive, the comparison must be made 
at all points, as to range, accuracy, ballistic power, shell power, handiness, 
endurance, safety, price. Secondly, if the results are to carry weight and 
conviction, the trial must be conducted by an impartial body—a body im¬ 
partial either in the sense of being composed of men absolutely free from 
bias and judicially disposed, or of men confessedly partisans, and repre¬ 
senting the contending interests with equal force on opposite sides. 
The object of the Prussian trials having been stated to be the selection 
of a heavy rifled gun to be supplied to the Prussian iron-clads, these 
experiments obviously belong to the first of the above classes, and should 
therefore have been made with two guns, which in weight, calibre, charge, 
&c., were equal. As a matter of fact, however, the Prussians brought against 
the English muzzle-loading 9-inch 12|-ton gun, a Krupp breech-loader of 
9J ins. 1 calibre, which weighed 14 \ tons, 2 and was 32 ins. 3 longer in the 
1 The exact figures are 235*4 millimetres = 9*26 ins. 
2 The exact weight is 14,700 kilogrammes — 14 tons, 9 cwt. 7 qrs. 
3 The exact measurements are; Krupp, 4*002 metres = 157*56 ins .; Woolwich, 3*188 metres 
= 125*61 ins. 
