558 
ON THE QUESTION WHETHER ANY DEVELOPMENT OP THE MATERIEL OP 
FIELD ARTILLERY IS NECESSITATED BY THE GENERAL ADOPTION OP 
ENTRENCHMENTS ON THE FIELD OP BATTLE; AND IF SO, ON THE 
DIRECTION SUCH DEVELOPMENT SHOULD TAKE. 
BY 
CAPT. E. R. ELLES, R.A. 
{The B.A. Institution Silver Medal Prize Essay, 1879.) 
“ Progress.” 
There is a most instructive Persian anecdote to tlie following 
effect :—“ There was once a great wrestler who had a most apt pupil. 
The pupil became stronger and more skilful daily; at last he thought 
he had mastered the whole art of wrestling and had become a greater 
adept than his master, so he challenged him to a wrestling match before 
the King for the post of court wrestler. To his great astonishment he 
was easily thrown by his master. f How is this V said he, f I thought 
I had learned everything which you could teach me.’ His master 
replied, f I know 360 tricks in wrestling, and taught you 359 of them ; 
but seeing that you, with your youth and strength, would become puffed 
up with pride, and imagine yourself my superior, I kept the 360th trick 
to myself, so as to defeat your pretensions .'’ 99 One moral of this story is 
that we should never consider ourselves perfect in anything, or be puffed 
up with an idea of our superiority over others. Now this is the moral 
that I would deduce from this story with reference to our field 
artillery; for I regret to state that we are rather apt to consider our 
field artillery very near perfection, and superior to that of other powers. 
Now, no doubt in most points we are equal, and in many superior; but 
even though we may have the advantage in 359 points, yet there is 
one point of superiority which they have in hand, and which, if it ever 
comes to a trial between us and any great European power, may turn 
the balance in their favour, and that point is breech-loading . Unfor¬ 
tunately, we cannot, like the young wrestler, plead ignorance of the 
trick to be brought against us; we are more in the position of one 
who, having learnt the trick, has either forgotten it or else failed to 
recognise its value. 
In order to recognise fully the importance of breech-loading field 
