Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-24
CHANGE In WARFARE.
Concentrated Earthquake and Cy-
clone the Coming Agents.
NO COSTLY ARMAMENT REQUIRED,
War Will Be Quick, Sanguinary, Terrific
and Decisive.
NlTR0-GLYCERINE AND ITS ALLIES
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH

welded are we to the old, that changes gen
orally come some considerable time after
the utility of the new order is recognized
and its practicability is conceded. Gun.
powder so revolutionized all military arts
and was such decided advance on all previ
ous methods, that the nations throughout
the world still cling to it with the utmost
tenacity 1t was undoubtedly the great
factor that shaped the political map of mod.
ern Europe, if not of the entire hemisphere.
1t rolled back the tide of Asistic invasion al
the opportune time, and taught the
hordes of the East that supremacy
no longer lay in mere numbers,
1t took centuries of valuable time
to develop ordnance to yield the best re-
suits from its explosive power, and what
now seems singular is that the aim has
always been to apply the expansive force to
the hurling of projectile and thus depend
for the execution on the secondary and not
on the primary effect.
The philosophy of this tendency finds its
basis in the fact that the crude, barbaric an
cestor was first mechanical rather than
chemical; he must hurl his spear or his
arrow, so when chemistry dawned on him
he weuld still cause 1t to hurl a missile in-
stead of directly striking the enemy with
the primary force of propulsion.
No Systematic Blowing Up.
OF course, there have been attempts made
at direct ''blowing up" bnt not in q svs-
tematic and general way. All this, how
ever, has been logical enough, when we con-
slder the extreme slowness, the large bulk
and clumsiness involved in the explosive
discovery of Schwartz, and as we now glance
at the military and naval establishments of
the world, we see that not 3 few of the ma
tions have actually bankrupted themselves
in the endeavor to provide armament and
equipment for this costly and roundabout
way of bringing explosive action to bear on
the enemy.
In general terms, the plan has been and
still is, to generate gases in strong
chamber with sufficient energy to expel a
metallic missile with great velocity and to
as great distance as possible Great
strength with its usual accompaniment Of
tremendous weight, are the necessary con-
comitants of the devices thus rendered in
dispensable, until the weight of some
pieces reaches into the many tens of tons
with expensive paraphernalia, and the
iron-sheathed vessels mount up to an sp-
palling avoirdupois.
All this reaches to the grotesque and the
comical when we consider that it is only
the refinement of crude and ignorant bar
barism holding on to the coat-tails of
modern progress. Clearly there is still the
trace of the old cave dweller, only under
much changed methods.
But later chemistry has produced what
will not only supersede the ancient explo-
sive, but what will relegate to the rear. as
lzs H.
pensive and clumsy ironclad in whatever
guise it may present itself 1t needs only
an occasion to call the application of this
force into practical effect and iron arma-
ment will vanish, at least from all naval
calculations.
But why and how?
In nitro-glycerine and its allied products,
there is the volcano, the earthquake, the
cyclone and the lightning, all condensed
and packed into small space. So sudden
and instantaneous and so terrific is the dis
placement of the atmosphere when i'm
PEELED by the electric swiftness of the ex-
pansion of this simple compound and over
so wide an area are its effects disastrous,
that no particular spot need be indicated as
an objective point of assault, but it is only
necessary that the explosion be produced
within some miles of the object aimed at
TO insure its utter annihilation. The vaunted
lTOu leNldLIlduS VI lut mOutGu navy WOulu
only need to be hit with an atmospheric
wave whose initial impulse might be gener-
ated miles away.
The Power of Nitro GIycerine.
Let anyone that is conversant with this
explosive undertake to calculate the disas-
ter that would occur to feet of vessels,
large or small. should even one ton of nitro
glycerine be released in its proximity. Two
waves Of destructive force, atmospheric and
aqueous. would be set in motion, and the
recoil of the pressure of the former would
literally crush into the depths of the ocean
any vessel in the vicinity, as if a mountain
had been hurled on to it.
But, as nitric acid and refined grease are
both plentiful and inexpensive, what is to
hinder the letting loose of dozens of tons of
this concentrated and portable lightning,
should occasion call for it? The ingredients
when separate are harmless; compounding
them is q matter of no expense, and herein,
were there no other advantage, lies an i'm
mense superiority over gunpowder, as this
compound can be made of the crude in
gradients anywhere and Just as fast as
needed. There need be no magazine explo- |
sions
But let US illustrate some of ..its practical
applications, especially in defensive war
fare. Let it be assumed that q hostile fleet
is on its way to pay its respects to some of |
our seaboard cities. The Dondolo, Druilio, |
Dreadnaught or some other huge unwieldly |
iron plaything-snd however costly, this is |
about all that such vessels have been to date |
finally heaves into sight and takes posi- |
tion to lombard, let us suppose, New York !,
CITY.
But now, quietly and simultaneously |
from different points, from as much of the |
radius OF circle as possible, small |
and simply-equipped vessels depart, |
having the enemy as common |
converging center. Either of these |
craft has stout engine and ample boiler, |
whose fuel is crude petroleum, boiler and |
fire gauged to insure the necessary run, fv-
ing at the rate of 30 miles per hour, which |
may be maintained for the required dis
tance Each of these diminutive boats is
tanked with an equipment of destruction
in quantity sufficient for the purpose in
view, and with clock apparatus to go off in /
any given time.
Here comes craft from different direc-
tions, from front and rear, come automatic
ally, with not a soul on board, fearless:
come laden with an element of more than
internal destruction, dire, swift, sure-what
is to be done?
What can such an unwieldy monster do
in the brief but fateful limit of half an
hour? Fly? No! There is no time to get
started even and there is no defense against
these inanimate messengers, charged with
the capacity of such terrible and inevitable
consequences.
Possibilities Undreamed Of
But there comes crash, then another
many times intensified. Earth and ocean
shake and the very molecules of the atmos-
phere seem shattered. Columns of water
seem to reach to the clolds and for an |