Morning journal and courier., 1888-09-18
NOvELTIRs IN TEE ART OF WAR.
New ExRIssivss-ExPsrime in Eng
 land.
From the London Standard

From the London Standardl
 Public curiosity has latsly been excited
 with regard to certain experiments at Lydd,
 and against tho resistance at Portsmouth, for
 the purpose of testing the effect of new
 kind of shell, in which the explosive agent
 consists of a chemical compound much more
 violent in its character than eunpowdsr.
 At Lydd sheli-fre of this description direct ed against an armorsd target wss found to
 be most destructive, and the Portsmouth ex-
 pefimsnts gave a corresponding result Nr. E. Stanhope has admitted that the trials
 with the new shell have bean "satisfactory," and that he had ''little doubt' that with the proiectiles now under manufacture it would
 bs found inapracticable to maks use ofsa high explosive.
 The character of the compound employed is allowed to be "akin to meliuite,n but its precise nature was not divulged. We have some reason to believe that the "kirship" is very close. So far as the mssn principle is concerned there can be no doubt that gun powder as bursting power for shells is be- coming obsolete. The question has already
 ripened to such degree that for the pene- tration of the more massive description of ship armor cored shot--that is to say a shot
 solid with the exception of a small space along the central Hne-is considered 6 more
 effective projectile than shell charged with simple gunpowder; and such Is the defensive
 excellence of the armor now carried by ships of war that one of three things appears inev-
 itahle.
 Either the development of monster ord- nance must be carriedd still further, or shells must be abandoned in fs~or of shot, in or der to penetrate armor of high resistance; or more powerful explosive than gunpowder must be employed to enhance the destructive energy of the shells. The perfection to which the manufacture of what ga termed high explosives hfs been carried joints the way to the adoption of projectile which shall restore the prestige once attaching 10 shell-Gre as employed against armor and oth- CT forms of defence.
 The details of the experiments which have lately been conducted at Lydd are known to very few individuals. But it is unques- | tionable that the results were such as de- monstrate the enormous advantage to be | gained by using more powerful class of ex- | plosive than that which hss been hitherto ! employed. There could be no mistake as to | the destructive energy of tho projectiles. Neither was there any mishap in the use of these terrible appliances. The like immuni- | ty was enjoyed at Portsmouth. A deterrent | to the adoption of violent explosives for war purposes has consisted in the risk of prema- | ture explosion. But there is still the con. sideration that the advantage to be gained l far exceeds the risk which has to be incurred. France has not neglected this question, and | she is ahead of us. Her chosen explosive Is melinite and with this she has armed her self to an extent of which the British public have no conception. All the requisite mnts- rials, in the shape of steel projectiles and the meiinite Cor filling them, have been provided for the French service and distributed So @ l to furnish complete supply for the army and the navy. Whatever may be said as to the danger which besets the use of naelinite, the French authorities are confident that they have mastered the problem of making this powerful compound subset sient to the pur- poses of war Concerning the competition