2 
it was thought possible to replace gunpowder by gun-cotton. In a pamphlet 
written nearly 30 years ago in favour of gun-cotton .(“ Gun-cotton and its Imper¬ 
fections,” by A. Butzky and Von Grahl, Vienna, 1863) it was remarked “ It 
is a fact proved by the history and development of this world that the old as 
soon as it is used out must give place to the new and better.” " When the 
artillery have the chance of profiting by the unfettered human intelligence of the 
present day, should they bewail the necessity of replacing the black compound 
discovered by the alchemists of the Middle Ages by a more perfect explosive, 
because the former has heretofore done its work for it? Certainly not!” 
And the authors, founding their arguments on further similies, declared them¬ 
selves in favour of discarding gunpowder, and of the exclusive use of gun-cotton. 
That gun-cotton did not carry the day is a well-known fact. 
A similar case now lies before us, yet the above quoted words cannot be applied 
any more reasonably than in the former case. Assuredly the smokeless powder 
is a better explosive than the ordinary powder, but the latter has in no way been 
fully played out, but still possesses a many-sided usefulness, nay, under certain 
conditions many advantages over the other which are in no way to be despised. 
The exclusive adoption of smokeless powder would often cause the other to be 
sorely missed. 
With regard to infantry the question whether the old powder has become 
obsolete should almost unconditionally be answered in the affirmative. The 
superiority of the new explosive is here most clearly marked. One has only to re¬ 
call the street fighting in 1848 and 1849, when the insurgents frequently fired with 
gun-cotton. The troops that were attacked could hardly ascertain the where¬ 
abouts of these antagonists and scarcely inflicted any damage at all on them. A 
section of infantry firing with smoke-giving powder, if opposed to troops equipped 
with the new explosive would find themselves in a very evil plight. Even when 
they had become aware of the position of the troops using smokeless powder, 
the object would soon be obscured from them by their own fire, and they would 
themselves, be pelted with bullets from the enemy, who would only have to aim 
at the lower part of the smoke cloud. 
Very recently the demands for the use of the old powder in certain cases (and 
hence the keeping up of both kinds of powders) have waxed very loud. 
There may be cases in which the use of the old powder would yield advantages, 
but such cases would be rather rare, and even when they did occur one would 
rather try to obtain the desired object by other means. 
So would the much talked of English “ smoke attack,” (at least in the most 
critical case) not be put on the stage by the use of a smoke-giving powder, but 
by the help of taper-shaped smoke compositions. And when the ltussian regu¬ 
lations recommend the creation of a thick cloud of smoke by means of mass 
firing in order to cover a retreat, they are evidently framed with the idea of 
paralysing the advantages of the smokeless powder used by the enemy, which 
they have been as yet unable or unwilling to adopt. 
The similar proposals in the French army remind one of the injunction, highly 
prized after 1859, but either neglected or followed with disastrous results in 
1870. “The all-concealing cloud of Zouaves, under cover of which the main 
troops hurled themselves unexpectedly on the ruins of the discomfited foe.” A 
German writer remarked at the time that a quiet and well-directed fire would 
render it possible for the foe “ to hurl himself on the ruins of the Zouaves,” 
and it still remains an open question whether the opponent would allow himself 
to be deceived by the cloud of smoke raised in front of him. 
There may, we repeat, be cases in which it would be desirable to have at hand 
the old or perhaps, another powder. But how can this desire be fulfilled, and 
should a few men in each company be exclusively armed with a special powder, 
or each man be provided with cartridges of a different pattern ? Since it is 
quite possible that there would soon arise a necessity for still other different 
