THE royal ARTILLERY institution. 
329 
too high nor too low. If they are placed in a hollow, not only are they 
confined in what may be looked on as a shell-trap, but all view of the 
surrounding country and the movements of the enemy is cut off, and 
any attempt to carry on an effective fire is hopeless. Fig. 1 will 
illustrate my meaning. 
Fig. l. 
Nor should the guns, even when otherwise well placed, be brought 
into action on ground very much below the level of the position occu¬ 
pied by the enemy, as in Fig. 2; first, because while the enemy has a 
clear view of every part of the battery, his own position is entirely 
Fig. 2. 
hidden from sight; secondly, because even if his position be partly 
visible, the velocity of projectiles on reaching such heights is necessarily 
reduced to some extent, and the success of such projectiles as shrapnel 
depends almost entirely on the velocity of the fragments on striking 
the object fired at. 
The evils which result from perching guns on the highest eminence 
at hand are sevenfold. In the first place, as Frederick the Great pointed 
out in his Potsdam Regulations, all the advantages of a flat trajectory 
are lost by this “ pernicious practice.” Secondly, solid shot, shell with 
percussion fuzes, and shell with time fuzes bored somewhat too long, 
will stick fast in the ground and prove almost innocuous, owing to their 
very great final velocity, especially if the ground be in any degree soft. 
It was to this circumstance that Wellington's Light and 7th Divisions 
owed their escape from destruction at the crossing of the Huebrain 1812. 
To protect the English artillery, which was crossing the river, from the 
attacks of the French cavalry, these divisions were placed in columns 
on the bank, exposed to a heavy fire from the French artillery; yet 
they “ suffered little loss, because the saturated clayey soil swallowed 
