The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-04-10

doubtless is destined to play a part in
future warfare as an active agent of
destruction. Telegraphy without wires
is as yet in it's infancy, but something
very substantial in this line has been
accomplished already. If we can con-
vey. as we do. to a distance and with
out a wire enough energy to communi-
cate intelligence, we sha be able be-
fore long to convey enough energy to
work injury. AS our control of cleo
trical energy becomes more complete
we can extend its reach further and
further. 1t does not seem wholly inn
probable that the time will come When
we shall be able to explode the maya.
zine of a ship without going near II.
The only attempt thus far made by
the United States in the direction of
utilizing high explosives for purposes
of naval warfare, II torpedoes be except
ed, is represented by the so-called dy-
Mantle cruiser Vesuvius, which is now
in the neighborhood of Key West. This
vessel has on her forward deck three
15-inch guns, which throw projectiles
loaded with dynamite a distance of a
mile. The ship is only an experiment,
and her practical utility is regarded by
naval authorities as very doubtful. The
problem of throwing high explosives
with safety to those who use them has
not yet been solved satisfactorily. No
explosive is good for fighting purposes
that can be touched off by shock or
otherwise than by actual contact with
fire. The stuff called explosive gela-
tim for example. is the most powerful
of all known explosives, being Is times
as strong as gunpowder. 1t Is made by
dissolving gun cotton in nitroglycerin,
the preparation having the consistency
Of honey. But 1t Is very unsafe for
use in battle. because a bullet striking
IT would set 1t of by concussion.
1T is extremely likely that in the
next great war shells hat liberate
poisonous gases on explosion will be
employed. 1t has been suggested tina
bombs loaded with hydrocyanic acid
gas under pressure could be thus util-
ibed, releasing UGH INT on bursting
as would destroy all life In the neigh
borhood. The Frenc 'melinite' has for
its base a coal tar product termed pic
ric acid. Its consistency Is about that
Of molasses, and Ii is poured into shells
and permitted TO harden. This stun
is entirely safe to handle, through three
times as powerful as g~unpowder. The
fumes set free by the bursting of a
bomb loaded with IL are most deadly. A
single one fired experimentally at a
vessel. on the deck OF which had been
placed a number OF sheep and goats.
killed by suffocation all OF the animals
that were not destroyed by the flying
fragments. If a shell loaded with hy-
drocyanic acid gas-this 10 the same
thing as prussic acid, and the deadliest
of all poisons-should be fired into a
ship and explode inside the vessel. pref
ty nearly everybody on board would
surely perish.
In the recently published novel.
War Of the Worlds which describes
an attack by Martians upon the earth.
the assailants from the sister planet
are represented as destroying immense
numbers of people by letting loose a
cloud of black vapor that link to the
ground and smothers to death every
living thing. The author may have
had In his mind bisulphide Of carbon.
an extremely explosive substance. which
resolves itself into a most deadly gas
when exposed to the atmosphere. This
gas is heavier than air. so sinks.
The newly invented smoke grenades'
are filled with chemical substances
which on explosion produce clouds of
dense black smoke. They are intend
ed to be carried in advance by skirmish-
ers and thrown 80 as to conceal the
troops following. A novel German
continuance is a bomb. which on ex-