Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-11-30
LYDDITE IN WARFARE.
Nothing to Prevent the Use Of the
Explosive.
Fatal Results Of It's Conclusion Nature
and That Of Other Explosives.

| ClNllZeu warfare ana llllti
agreements about methods of mutual
killing and wounding have been some
| what puzzled by recent dispatches
| from the seat of war in South AFRICA
in which it has been stated that Gen.
eral Joubert sent formal protest -
| Sir George White against the use Oh
the new-fangled "lyddite' as h'iihs
for explosive projectiles. Inc ha'ui''
question is. why should lyddlte De
| barred in civilized warfare!
This question was put TO two prorhi-
| nent members of the United ota'eS
ordnance department. Inc hrst an
swered. Probably because Generai
| Joubert has none and the BRUSH nave
| plenty" and the second simply salu
| that he had no idea on what srouhus
| the protest could have been made.
The aim of all these international I'M
| darstaudings" said the latter of these
two officers lis to prevent the inflic-
ton of unnecessary pain. Explosive
bu,lets for use in small arms are for
hidden. because they iacerate the
| bodies of the wounded cruelty and
needlessly. In the same way one form
of the dum-dum bullet has been put on
| the forbidden list. though another
|
| calibre of the weapon-that is, gives
to 3O-calibre bullet the effect of a
4O-calibre-is allowed. But in the
matter of artillery fire there is no
| limitation as to the character or force
| of the explosives used for filling
! shells
But it was urged. they say that
at the battle of Omdurman. where
these lyddite shells We're used, many OF
| the Mahdi's men We're killed by Suffo-
| cation
| In the open air? Pooh.
| The expert further pointed out that
there was nothing in the laws of war
or the comfy of nations to prevent
people killing their enemies by suffo-
cation, if that should happen to be the
most effective means within reach.
There must be something, however.
at the bottom of that 'suffocation'
story which has survived from the
flaming days when the English papers
were full of Kitchener's victory over
Fuzzy WuzZy" and his brethren.
| What gave rise to the notion that this
| explosive made a vapor which either
poisoned or asphyxiated seems TO be
satisfactorily explained by an officer
connected with the United States war
department. who was in New York
last week:
IF you could explode 20 or 80 of
those shells close together at the same
time, then, l dare say. those of the
men who happened to be standing at
that spot and We're not otherwise killed
would be suffocated. even in the open
air. But with the intervals of time be-
tween the firing of the successive
rounds the carbonic oxide. which is
poisonous and the carbOnic dioxide,
which asphyXiates. would be dissipat-
ed in he open air In an inclosed
space it might be different
What the correspondent really
meant. / suppose. by asphyZiation, or
suffocation, was the effect of the shock
produced by the violent explosion OF
such a mass. The bodies of these poor
fellows would be found without a
scratch or bruise after the action. at
spots where shells had exploded. and
then it would be supposed that they
had died of suffocation by the dis
charges of gas. or their deaths would
he so described by war cores
pendent.
1T is not generally understood what
| a tremendous conclusion of the at
mosphere is produced by the bursting
of shell charged with a composition
of many times as much explosive force
as that of gunpOwder AS l under
stand, the naval guns latterly en-
ployed in the defence of Ladysmith
throw a six-inch shell. In our ord
nance six-inch shell weighs 100
pounds. The armor-piercing projectile
| is 10 inches long. the common kind %
inches. The latter is made of cast
iron and. of course. is filled with a
much more sensitive fuse than the
I former, so that it will explode upon
| contact with the earth or earthWorkS,
and this is the kind Captain Lambton
must have used.
Now, I cannot speak Of the effect
Of such a shell except in the way Of
conjecture because this is almost the
first time it has been used in actual
warfare, and I was not present; but |
should say that nothing within a
radius of 10 feet could survive the ex-
plosion, and many more wounds would
be inflicted beyond that radius by the
fragments. The conclusion would be
fatal within the 10-foot radius, l be-
leve. All that is generally known of
its physiological effects so far is what
has been ascertained by experiments
with chickens. 1t was found that a
number of chickens that had been
within few feet of a defamation like
that of lyddite shell were unwounded
but dead, and on dissection their blood
vessels We're found to be choked with
clots of blood. From this it has been
deduced that the conclusion produces
such an effect upon the nerves as sud-
denly to check the action of the heart
and blood vascular system, with, Of
course. fatal effect.
"As to the wounding power of the scat .
-ering fragments, that will vary with
their size. The fragments of a high ex :
plosive shell are generally much smaller
than those Of gunpowder shell. but their
velocity is also generally much higher.
suppose that any fragment of lyddite
shell, except the small ones. would kill up
to a distance of $50 feet from the point of
lexplosion."
Referring to the statement that one shot
from one of these heavy naval guns had
wrecked a heavy 40-pounder on the Boer
side the same officer said he did not be
lieve that this effect would have been pro-
duced unless the shell had struck either
the gun itself or the carriage, or exploded
in the ground Immediately under the car
| riaye these hits would he re-