LAYING GUNS BY TELESCOPE. 
409 
There is no difficulty in teaching men the ordinary use of the instru- Use of 
ment, indeed, I have found that 10 minutes explanation was quite easiiy menfc 
sufficient even with the least intelligent. acquired. 
This apparatus also serves as an accurate check on the laying of Application 
guns at the regimental aiming drill. If a gunner always lays in the ofESruc 6 - 3 
same manner with the naked eye, then if the telescope is placed in tion * 
position it will be found that the intersection of the cross-hairs is 
always projected on the same point. Thus he may be shown in an 
indisputable manner whether he is a good or a bad marksman. 
This instrument may be usefully employed by committees for ascer- Use by 
taining the comparative value of different guns, for all errors in committees, 
connection with the laying are sure to be eliminated. 
Finally, if the telescopic system of laying guns were unreservedly 
adopted, the apparatus might be greatly simplified by introducing a 
uniform pattern of sights on all guns. Thus, by generally adopting 
a “ Broca ” fore-sight 6 or 7 centimetres wide, and a tangent scale 
similar to that of the 90 mm gun, the spring might be dispensed with 
which now serves to give stability to the apparatus in the absence of 
a sufficiently broad base for it to rest upon. The apparatus for 
different guns would then only vary in the length of their rests. 
I was obliged to seek for a solution of the problem without touching 
the gun, for doubtless I should not have been permitted to make any 
alteration in the ordinary sights. 
In the foregoing extracts, taken from notes kindly placed at my 
disposal by the author, I have endeavoured to give a sufficient idea of 
the principle and working of the telescopic apparatus, together with 
the various arguments which may be urged in favour of its adoption; 
but I have omitted many details which, however important in them¬ 
selves, would have little interest for us owing to the difference which 
exists betweeu the French materiel and ours. 
E. WALSH, 
Capt. R.A. 
In the following sketches, which are not drawn to scale, Fig. 1 repre- 
Fig. 1. 
