AMMUNITION OP ARTILLERY IN THE PIELD. 
315 
12. For destroying obstacles, common shell must take the first 
place; percussion shrapnel may, however, be of value in the case of 
abattis, &c., to complete the destruction. 
13. For incendiary purposes also of course common shell must 
be used. 
These conclusions are drawn supposing the guns to be those of the 
English field service, and the ground such as would be met in ordinary 
European warfare, or on the plains of India. They cannot, of course, 
apply to such exceptional positions as mountain warfare, on ground 
thickly strewn with heavy boulders, especially when ordinary mountain 
guns are used. In the first place, the shrapnel of these guns is so 
wanting in velocity as to be almost powerless even under the most 
favourable conditions, and common shell would therefore generally 
be the only possible ammunition. In the second place, such ground 
offers continuous actual cover impervious to the effects of the best 
shrapnel. The greater the number of small common shell used, and 
the more vertical their descent the better; our field guns with their 
flat trajectories would not only be unsuited to such work, but any con¬ 
clusions drawn from their performances under such conditions would 
be utterly misleading with regard to their real capabilities for ordinary 
service. 
If these views are sound, it would certainly appear likely that the 
present proportion is perfectly adapted to ordinary work, although a 
larger proportion of common shell might, under exceptional circum¬ 
stances, be apportioned temporarily to batteries destined for any 
exceptional work such as the attack of villages, farm buildings, &c. 
To conclude ; the attempt has been made to argue that, compared 
with common shell, shrapnel is,-— 
1. Not more difficult to manipulate when percussion fuzes are used. 
2. Nor to judge. 
3. Far superior in effect at all ordinary objects and ranges. 
4. And capable of still greater effect with time fuzes. 
With regard to the use of time fuzes, it must further be remarked 
that,— 
a. Batteries are, almost as a rule, not under a fire so heavy as to 
interfere to any great extent with the coolness of the officers and 
non-commissioned officers in whose hands the manipulation of the 
fuzes should really be. 
I, And that if the instruction in, and knowledge of, artillery 
duties were made a stronger point in the service, their manipulation 
