Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-21
PRACTICAL SCIENCES


The former Importance OF leaders and the
temperament and numbers OF men mas sunk
into insigniacance beside the highly de-
veloped mechanism of scientific warfare
There are two distinct tendencies; one to-
ward the development of offensive warfare
and the other toward multiplying the results
of this offensive. Thus, seemingly science
contradicts the old text about serving two
masters, for the scientists are today serving
on the one hand, the gods of hate, and on
the other the gods of pity. While one group
deVises siege guns to destroy men by bat
talions and zeppelins to blot out entire
townships, another group experiment with
Vaccines and surgery to reduce the mortality
among the wounded and reclaim n greater
percentage Of those who are fortunate
enough to escape the malevolent ingenuity
OF the gods of hate.
III spite or their purposes of mercy, there
seems a cruel refinement about the new
French surgical ambulances fitted out as
complete operating rooms on wheels which
follow the armies almost to the firing line
and picking up the wounded as fast as the
new devices produce them, begin to
operate on what is left, and put the MANNED
IN condition to return to the front, to be
wounded again or, perhaps killed outright.
describing the advance in medical science
IN thls war Gelett Burgess writes %:
or the wounds received only about per
cent. have been fatal. This low percentage
nus nus oeen attained by great improvement in
the ambulance work Military surgery has
peen brought to its highest efficiency in the
surgical automobile manufactured by Boulant
Tor the French army These cars make 1t
possible to operate while the battle Is in prog
ress, not with the atrocious slaughter house
methods and technique that have made pre-
Nlous wars infamous but under conditions
In fha hdrN ISg,, g,1r Ia
mile of the places where the wounded have
fallen.
Each of these automobiles is a complete
ana Independent surgical unit consisting of
~, comfortable and vigorously aseptc OPP
erting room; (2), an adequate collection of
surgical Instruments (3), sterilizers for wa
ter, instruments and dressings; "a, air
sterilizers producing ozone; Co, electric
lighting and heating, and 60, radiograph ap
paratus.
The submarine and the 42-centimeter gun
are the two supreme scientific achievements
of the gods of hate. The submarine is de-
scribed by Burton Hendrick (2):
1t was a Yale freshman, David Bushnell
who discovered the principle Of submarine
warfare which the Germans are now using
so EFFECTIVELY. All through his college days
from 177l to ITS, he worked steadily at his
fayorite hobby vessel that would sail un-
der water.
Not until about is years ago did the great
navies seriously take up the idea. Again
hostility to England resurrected the sub
marine, again the weaker naval powers Sc
lected it as the only means of assailing Eng
lands preponderance at sea. The submarine
is the most peculiar weapon ever introduced
into warfare. This Is because it is the only
weapon against which there is no defense.
There is no way Of fighting a submarine.
There Is nothing you can send against it, not
even itself. Conceivably, single little vessel
of this kind could destroy a whole battle fleet,
ship after ship. As matter of naval STRAIT
egy, therefore, 1t endangers chiefly the
stronger power At the present moment the
British fleet has means of meeting sub
marine attacks.
The science of aviation has furnished the
gods OF hate an efficient substitute for the
classic messenger with wings in his heels
These modern Mercuries fly swiftly at
the bidding of their lords, scattering thun-
derbolts of destruction in true Olympian
style, II. B. Needham repeats the story of
the young British naval lieutenant, who
after a secret accommodating trip, drew the
map for the successful aeroplane raid on the
Zeppelin airship factory at Friedrichshaffen.
The young officer tells the story of the
raid (3):
The start was made on Saturday morning
three machines, at intervals of five min
utes Briggs is the finest pilot of the lot a
scientific flyer. In peace times he goes up
surrounded with instruments for the meas
urement Of altitude, air speed, engine speed
and angles of tilt. His four bombs landed
on the sheds, but punctured petrol tank
II,
every shot in his automatic pistol at the
Germans. in order TO divert attention from
the flyers behind him. Thanks is due to the
German officer who telegraphed that Briggs
wounds are not serious. They potted him as
he came down.
Sippe saw the shrapnel shells burst around
Briggs machine, so he sailed along six feet
above Lake Constance took them by sur
prise and when they did see him they could
not tilt their guns to that angle. He rose
to 1900 feet, let loose a bomb which dropped
on the pavement, puncturing the hydrogen
gasometers, dived to about 400 feet and
dropped two more. hitting the Zeppelin she'd,
then got away. He succeeded in ratCmg
the Germans who scattered after his first
bomb and thus drew attention away from
Babble following.
an hour at an altitude of 1000 feet. He made
a plumb-nose dive down TO 400 feet, dropping
his bombs on the mark the Zeppelin shed; lie
was travelling so fast that he felt the kick
of his bombs travelling over 200 miles an
hour at the bottom Of his dive, probably
out alive. First thing he said when he came
down on friendly soil was: Never saw any
thing so rotten as their shooting. They
ought to be shot" Just like him.
Paralleling the work OF medical science in
retaining human bodies is the work OF a
branch Of the Allies engineer corps, which
rescues all the motorcars left in the
wake OF either army, sending them back to
a big repair depot about 100 miles west OF
the firing line, where they are either over
hauled or junked. W. F. Bradley describes
the yard ID;
At the beginning OF row OF SO cars were
two German touring cars. The Dixi had gone
over a bank when the driver was shot by a
British scout. For weeks the machine lay
rotting in the mud until the breakdown gang
brought il in. Although its metal work was
red with rust, its Tenders ana running board
carried away the instruction card read:
"Complete oyerhauli return TO advanced
base" Next down were three London taxi
cabs. They were destined for the scrap heap.