Page:Science and War.djvu/33

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it was, I believe, little more than one fifth of that of our adversaries.

It would take an artillerist to explain to you all the changes in tactics brought about by the scientific work that has given us these reliable explosives. It has endowed us with heavy guns of great accuracy having ranges of twenty to thirty miles and with the even more important Howitzers which have been so effective at shorter ranges. We have for instance had Howitzers which at ranges such as eight to fifteen miles could be relied on to fire shot after shot with a variation of a few yards. Consider what perfection of propellant, projectile and gun is required to enable a gun to repeat itself to that degree of accuracy. All this has been attained by scientific research into the causes of variation in the behaviour of the propellant and the gun and the determination of the right practice to be followed in their manufacture, and the history of our advance in artillery is a fascinating tale of difficulties met and overcome. But I must not linger on this subject and will content myself with a

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