Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-08-25

realized that if it proves itself, the pos
session OF one such missile of death
tions.
Turning Back the Clock of Mars
one very striking lesson pointed out
py the European war to date is the
Necessity OF turning back the clock of
Mars mars as well as turning it forward
WhlIe the explosives which are being
used used are the latest products of the
! ! tt ttheinleal factories, their containers and
the manner in which they are applied
are often primitive in the extreme. The
ISIeHches along the western battlefront
curing the past winter were often as
IL was therefore practically impossible
10 70 dieVlse any gun or cannon which
sn9Ia would hre the projectiles at such an
enemy's trenches such short distance
away The Germans devised a gun,
iknown iI , to the allied troops as the
Lazy Willie, which was capable OF
cropping shells some 200 yards away.
put IL was not found to be effective at
a9 sh9rter ranges: Accordingly both sides
catapults, varied by voIieys of hand
grenades, relics of warfare of q cen-
utry or more ago.
The Hand Grenade
The hand grenade is small circular
bomb, with fuse attached. The fuse
is lighted and the bomb thrown by
hand into the opponents trenches
Trest where, at1h1esoaretically it explcdes with
formpity N the. length and burning
qualities of the fuses, however. some
OF these ,grenades have exploded before
they could be thrown, with effects simi-
lar to the bursting of a gun at the mo-
ment of firing.
There is also a report OF an American
baseball star. who was serving with the
allies during the Spring Campaign
When the hand grenade warfare was at
us height This young mans speciality
catching
the enemy and throwing them back SO
QUICKLY that they either exploded In
midair without damage or else reached
their original destination before burst
Ing, thus creating considerable havoc
among the very men who had started
tnem on their journey of death. Spring
training for baseball does not appear
lantic.
Improbable Reports
The tremendous advance in the
sclence OF warfare and the great strides
that have been made in the manufac-
ture of new explosives have given rise
70 number of highly improbable re-
ports of epoch making substitutes for
which was supposed to asphyxiate an
entire company of the enemy when it
burst, or the German projectile which
around. The latter was probably the
outgrowth of the poisonous gas''
method of the Tsutons. by which chic
into the .enemys trenches by means of
pipes laid under cover of darkness
This method was found to be particu-
larly efective for paralyzing the enemy
just before a charge was contemplated
but It can hardly be said to come under
1.-THE head of explosives.
The "F-Ray"
There remains the Philosophers Stone
OF warfare, the super-explosIve for
which inventors have sought during the
past thirty years-the so-called ''Violet
ray" or "Infra-ray" or Fray" which
Will sound the knell of powder and
all kindred explosives as surely as they
disposed of the armor of the Crusaders.
This ray, transmitted through the ether
like the wireless waves, will explode the
ammunition or detonants of the enemy
and destroy them with their own
weapons. 1t will sink the greatest
battleship by exploding the magazine
and 1T will dispose of the submarine
peril by exploding the torpedoes, II
will be irresistible; it will be revolu-
tionary.
But the violet ray exists only in the
confidence of inventors who claim that
1t Will be perfected within a short time
One thing, however, is certain-the ma
tion that controls the ray will hold in
its hand the destinles OF the world. I'm
til the discovery is made, the United
States will continue to depend unon
the modern explosives.