April 24, 1915. 
hAND A^n .W A T E R 
'did not crackle. He did not look up towards the palms. He 
merely thought: " We shall never get there," and went on. 
He thought: "My big toe's Blistering." Then again: "We 
fhall never get there I" 
A little later he saw a mirage, a village upside down on 
the top of its own picture right side up. He did not care. 
Ho did not know that he cared very much vfhether they got 
to El Arish or not. He only knew they never would. His 
belt hurt his hip. He moved it a little and burnt his finger 
upon the buckle. . . . 
The battalion was lined up in front of the oasis. Private 
Norley and his neighbour quietly shoved each other: they 
were fighting in deadly earnest for the scrap of shadow 
afforded by the stem of a palm tree. But discipline endured : 
no man moved out of the ranks while water was drawn from 
the well, and squad after squad stepped forward to fill its 
water-bottles. The ofiicers, fearing mutiny, dared not delay 
and risked colic. At last Private Norley drank. . . , 
His mouth was full of something that felt solid, some- 
thing new, something he gulped at savagely, tried to bite. 
... He choked and still fiercely he bit on at the cold 
thing v.hich filled his mouth. He could hardly breathe, for 
he could not tear his lips away from the bottle-neck. He 
had known what it was to eat when hungry, he had known 
praise, and love, but now his sweating, burning body was 
racked to the very entrails by the passionate wedding of his 
flesh in a cold embrace with this water that pene- 
trated him. lie felt his lungs swell and an exquisite fresh- 
ness rise from his breath. It was agony, for his teeth 
froze J and his head ached above the eyes as if he had bitten 
ice. But still he could not stop, as if he were in the grasp 
of some frightful sensual desire that imperiously bade him 
go on to his delight through the pain. . . 
He stopped, threw down the water-bottle, and, clasping 
both hands upon his belt where he felt all swollen and cold, 
he breathed greedily of the hot air. The bottle was empty. 
PROJECTILES. 
By "A.M.I.GE." 
RO.JECTILES employed in modern warfare may be 
classified as follows :~(1) Shrapnel shell; (2) 
Common shell, which may be either the ordinary 
common or high explosive shell; (3) Universal 
shell, a combination of the shrapnel and high ex- 
plosive, which has been developed to a considerable extent 
by the Germans; (4) Armour-piercing shell. 
SHRAPNEL SHELL. 
Shrapnel was first proposed in 1792 by Major Shrapnel 
6f the Royal Artillery and was introduced into' the English 
Army about 1808. The long wars in the beginning of the 
nineteenth century gave inventors several opportunities 
of studying artillery problems, and it was during this period 
that the shrapnel shell was developed. 
:Pi^£f "Sesin QntnlTube SHRAPJJEL SHELL 
Slirapnel consists of a hollow shell filled with bullets 
and a .small bursting charge, ignited either by a time or 
percussion fuse. The object of the bursting charge is to rup- 
ture only the shell in order to release the bullets. Each bullet 
will then proceed by itself according to the velocity and 
direction given to it by the bursting charge. When a shrap- 
nel shell bursts in flight the bullets will spread out in a cone 
which is technically known as " the cone of dispersion." 
The thickness of metal of which the shell is made should 
be strong enough to withstand the explosion of the charge 
in the bore of the gun, but at the same time it should be easily 
deritroyed by the bursting charge, which should be sufficient 
only to open the shell. In case the bursting charge is too 
powerful, the disturbing effect produced on the bullets when 
the shell bursts would be too great and the bullets would be 
dispersed over too wide an area. In the shrapnel shell used 
with the 15-pounder quick-firing gun there are 230 bullets 
per shell. The body of the shell consists of forged steel, 
while the head contains the fuse and the base the bursting 
charge consisting of 1^ oz. of gunpowder, which is placed in 
a tin cup. A central tube passes through the centre of the 
shell in order to communicate the flash from the fuse to the 
bursting charge. After the bullets have been packed into the 
shell, melted resin is poured in which, when solidified, keeps 
the bullets from rattling. It is usual to place a smoke com- 
position among the bullets, consisting either of coarse black 
powder or a mixture of red phosphorus and black powder, 
the object being to render the bursting of the shell more 
\isiblo. Apart from its usefulness when ranging it is also 
important because a dense cloud of smoke in front of the 
enemy may prevent him from obtaining an accurate range. 
T.N.T. melted and poured into the shell combines the func- 
tions of a packer of bullets and sm.oke producer. 
The exact moment when the shell is exploded may be 
varied from the instant when the shell leaves the gun to any 
distance up to several thousand yards. This variation is 
obtained by means of a ti)ne fuse, which may be looked upon 
»3 a small automatic apparatus for igniting the bursting 
charge. It can be so adjusted as to come into operation at 
any predetermined time, wliich varies, of course, with the 
range. Shrapnel fitted with a percussion fuse differs from 
"time" shrapnel, for the shell does not open in flight 
but only after contact with the target. It is chiefly used for 
range finding. In the olden days, when shells consisted of 
spherical balls filled with gunpowder, a piece of slow burning 
match was inserted, having such a length that it would burn 
about the same time the shell would take to reach its destina- 
tion, v.?hen it would explode. Shrapnel is the principal shell 
used by field artillery. It is mainly employed against living 
targets as it is the most efficient " man-killing " type of shell 
known. When burst by a time fuse in the air, it sends a hail 
of bullets over a fairly large area, having a deadly effect 
against infantry in the open. Against entrenched detach- 
ments it has, however, very little effect. 
COMMON SHELL. 
A common shell is a hollow projectile filled with a burst- 
ing charge, which is ignited either by a time or a percussion 
fuse. Common shell occupies a place between the shrapnel 
and armour piercing shell. It is of very little use against 
living targets, and its proper field of employment is against 
earthworks, unarmoured fortifications, and trenches. When 
made of forged steel it will penetrate thin armour, but would 
be scattered against modern armour. 
Ordinary common shell filled with gunpowder has now 
become obsolete. 
A high explosive shell is simply a common shell filled with 
lyddite, melinite, T.N.T. , or any other high explosive. It 
is made in two types — thin and thick walled. The thin 
walled shells are not employed in field guns, but to a certain 
extent in howitzers. 
Thick walled high explosive shells consist of forged steel 
filled with picric acid or T.N.T. One of the difficulties 
encountered with high explosive shells is to obtain complete 
detonation of the bursting charge without using a large 
quantity of fulminate of mercury. The use of a large 
quantity of fulminate of mercury as a detonator would bo 
too dangerous, as the shell might ea.sily be exploded before it 
leaves the gun owing to the great facility with which fulminate 
of mercury can be detonated. As a rule picric or nitro- 
glycerine powder is uaod as an intermedium (which in turn is 
detonated by a small quantity of fulminate of mercury) to 
explode the main charge. 
In the Krupp high explosive shell the first charge con- 
sists of fine grain nitro-glycerine powder, which is ciiclosod in a 
small !;teel cylinder and is fired by. means of the fuse. The 
violent bursting of this small cylinder detonates the primer 
consisting of T.N.T. or picric powder, v^hich in turn detonates 
the main bursting charge. Technically this process is known 
as " progressive detonation." 
High explosive shells are generally made to burst by 
means of a percus;"ion fuse. The French high esplosive shell 
used with the field artillery has a weight of 141bs., carries a 
bursting charge of about IJlb. of melinite, and is made of 
thick steel which, when exploded, is broken into thousands of 
small pieces. 
Quick-firing guns fire fixed ammunition ; the projectile 
complete with fuse and bursting charge, the brass cartridge 
case , containing the propelling charge and primer are com- 
13* 
