THE EOYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
51 
But, if sufficient penetration can be obtained with a spherical shot, no doubt 
it would cause more destruction on board the ship than the projectile which 
punches or cuts its way through, for the same reason that the shot with a 
comparatively small velocity is more effective against a wooden ship, at short 
ranges, than one fired with the full service charge; and, it is quite clear 
that, if the desired effects can be produced with smooth-bore ordnance 
under those circumstances, which it is reasonable to expect will arise in 
actual warfare, it would be most unwise to adopt the more complicated, 
expensive, and delicate system of rifle guns. 
Circumstances, however, may often arise under which the arrangements 
shewn to be defective when applied to a particular service, will produce better 
results as regards penetration, than those carried out in smooth-bore ord¬ 
nance, and will prove, in other respects, most valuable. For instance, when 
the range exceeds a certain limit, the elongated shot will, from the com¬ 
paratively small area acted upon by the opposing atmosphere, lose less of 
its “stored-up work” than the spherical projectile. 
If, therefore, a system of ordnance could be devised combining the advant¬ 
ages of both, there could then remain no question as to its general introduc¬ 
tion, but until this is fully accomplished (as it has been in the case of small 
arms), there will exist great differences of opinion,not as regards its employment 
for special purposes, but as to the desirableness of its general use* 
When two systems have to be compared, each of which has, with regard 
to the other, its advantages and defects, it would be unreasonable to expect 
that all should agree in estimating the amount of value to be attached to any 
particular quality, or as to what extent any defect would be likely to operate 
prejudicially. 
Some are so dazzled with the brilliant quality of the rifle gun in respect 
to accuracy of fire at long ranges, that they fail to give due weight to the 
existing defects of the system. 
There are others who consider that the degree of probability of striking a 
given small object at a long range under certain favourable circumstances is 
not, by any means, the principal test by which the real efficiency of a military 
weapon is to be decided, as perhaps success may depend on an amount of 
care and attention in the service of the gun exceeding that which will, as a 
rule, be bestowed; and that although a gun may be capable of projecting a 
shot truly to a very long range, circumstances may seldom occur where such 
a quality can be made available; and further, that the great difficulty amount¬ 
ing almost to an impossibility of judging the distance to the required nicety, 
when the range is even moderate, reduces the relative value of this property 
very considerably. 
* We have at present no gun in the British service sufficiently powerful to operate effectually 
against a properly constructed iron-clad battery. Under these circumstances there can be, it is 
imagined, but one opinion as to the vital importance of arming, with all possible dispatch, our ships 
and coast batteries with guns capable of penetrating at moderate ranges, iron-clad ships of war. 
Whatever opinions may be entertained, as to the probability of our ultimately obtaining a rifle 
gun with an elongated shot which shall be more effective against ships constructed on the new 
principle, than a smooth-bore gun with a spherical projectile, a considerable time must elapse 
before this point can be decided ; and as any delay may prove disastrous, it would indeed, in my 
opinion, be folly not to take immediate advantage of the arrangement which has been shewn, both 
theoretically and practically, to be the most efficient, and which can be made at once available. 
