The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-06-01


be afforded by the torpedo boat. a
torpedo boat costs $4,000, and you
can build whole feet Of such craft
for the cost of one battle ship.
''The advantage of high explosives
is that only little power is required
to concentrate them in the place IN
which they are to do work. Their
adoption as a means of construction is
certain to introduce an entirely new
series of inventions for war. The
development of the art of war from
this time on will be battle OF inven-
tion. IF hostilities should break out
between Spain and the United States,
invention in this line would be mar
yellously stimulated. Has it ever oc-
Cured to you to think Of the fact that
during our own civil war a greater
number Of fighting machines were in
vented than in all the history CT the
world up to that time? The Franco
Prussian conflict gave a'great stimulus
to military invention.
owe, of course, are nation of in
ventors. A war with Spain would
bring into existence many coEtrivan-
ces for destruction far surprising
what has hitherto been devised. The
Spaniards, themselves not at all an
inventive people, would think that
thev had come up against nation of
devils.
cit is logically proper to assume
any absurdity for the sake of argu-
ment. Let US assume, then, that we
we're driven from the seas actually by
the Spaniards, and that our defeat was
absolute and overwhelming. The
wind up of the whole affair would
nevertheless be the total viping out
of Spain, for we would build vessels
adjusted to requirements. There is
no telling what we might do with cleo
tricity, which doubtless is destined to
play part in future warfare as an ac-
tive agent of destruction. Tclegra-
ply without wires is as yet in its in
fa'ncy, but something very substantial
in this line has been accomplished al
ready. If we can convey, as We do,
to distance and without wire,
enough energy to communicate intclli-
gence, we shall be able before long to
convey enough energy to work injury.
As our control of electrical energy
becomes more complete, we can extend
its reach farther and farther. 1t does
not seem wholly improbable that the
time will come when we shall be able
to explode the magazine of a ship
without going near it.
THE only attempt thus far made by
the United States in the direction Of
utilizing high explosives for purposes
of naval warfare, if torpedoes be cx-
cepted, is represented by the so-called
dynamite cruiser Vesuvius, which is
now in the neighbornood Of Key West.
This vessel has on her forward deck
three fifteen-inch guns, which threw
projectiles loaded with dynamite near
ly mile and a quarter This ship is
only an experiment. and her practi .al
utility is regarded by naval authori-
ties 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-
tine, for example. is the most power
full of all known explosives, being ff
teen times as strong as gunpowder.
1t is made by dissolving gun cotton in
nitro glycerine, the preparation hav-
ing the consistency of honey. But it
is very unsafe for use in battle, be-
cause bullet striking itw II set it off
by conclusion
1T is extremely likely that in the
next great war shells that liberatc
poisonous gases on explosion will be
employed 1thas been suggested that
bombs loaded with hydrocyanic acid
gas under pressure could be thus uti
lized, releasing such fumes on burst
ing as would destroy all life in the
neighborhood. The French mcinitc
has for its base coal tas product
termed picric acid Inconsistency is
about that of molasscs, and it is pour
ed into sholhs and permitted to harden.
This stuff is entirely safe to handle.
though three times as powerful as
gunp"wdcr. The fumes set free by
the bursting of bomb loaded with it
arc most deadly. a single one, fired