New-York tribune., 1907-08-04
BLAME FRENCH POWDER
THAT USED IN T.. S. BETTER
Experts Opinions on NduaI Mishaps
-Lombr0so's Bad Mistake.
Especial by French Gable 10 The Tribune,I
Copyright 1907. bv The Tribune Association,


Paris, Aug. 3-The alarming series of mis-
haps to the French navy is attributed by tech
nical experts to the fnferiorfty of the French
service powder. This view is confirmed by the
result OF the annual firing practice during the
mannuvres of the fleet. Targets were exposed
to continuous fire from twelve battieships dur
Ing twenty minutes All the targets were We'll
covered with hits. but the zone of dispersion
was great and the density of fire in each zone
was extremely feeble, proving that although the
aim was accurate the powder Itself had greatly
deteriorated, and disclosed an irregularity of
explosive force thoroughly disheartening and
dangerous.
For instance, on board the Carnot three pre-
mature explosions We're recorded out of five
shots fred by the 305-millinetre guns. while
the st. Louis there were no less than eleven
premature explosions out of total Of twelve
shots fired by that ships 305-miIlimetre calibre
guns.
The technical Judgment here is that the pow
der used in the United States navy is far better
than the powder adopted in most of the Euro
pean nayies. because the compounds OF gun
cotton have much greater regularity and sta
biIity and are far more durable than the nitro
glycerine powders Of Europe.
FAILURE OF PALlTSTRY.
Professor Cesare Lombroso, the Italian
criminologist, has committed a quaint blunder
that goes far toward diScredltlng the science
OF palrnistry IN the minds of the French public.
Professor LombrOso, to whom were recently
submitted photographs of hands purporting TO
be those of Soleillant, recently sentenced TO
death in Paris for the murder Of a young girl
under most repulsive circumstances, reports
with profuse, minute and most positive deduc-
tions and conclusions that the crime COM
rnitted b. Soleillant fully explained by
the lines of his hands, which indicated by their
chromatic asSymetrie the born rnalefactor ana
epileptic" and that these hands demonstrated
that several individuals had been practically
melted into one for the misfortune Of hu-
Inanity."
JJnluckily for Professor LornbrOsO. 1t Is an
nounced by NJ. Bertillon, director OF anthropo-
metric service at the Paris Prefecture Of Police,
that the hands Of Soleillant had never been
photographed, and It appears that the two
hands On which the famous Italian cr!mlnoIo-
ftst based his learned disquisitions and concIu-
s!ons we're those OF perfectly harmless men OF
excellent character and reputation, one being a
dresser OF sheepsl1ins and the other a stable
man forty years old. According to Lombrosos
diagnosis the latter's hand was distinctly char
acteristic of the lower apes. and its owner must
be born criminal and epileptc.'
AMERICANS IN PARIS.
Among Americans in Paris are Mrs Barton
French Mrs Charles Barney, Mr. and Mrs. A
+ Drexel Mrs Frank Leslie. Mrs. George NJ
Pullman. Mr and Mrs. Whitney Warren. Judge
O,Gorrnan William II. Crane John Gilbert, -4r
and Mrs william Farnsworth Ar and Mrs
Frank Mackee, Mr.. and Mrs. James thompson
General and Mrs. A. Lee. Judge and Mrs T. d