Norwich bulletin., 1916-10-07
THE WAR. PRIMER By National Geographic Society

Strange Engines of War-"The
 mysterious British tank described as
 car of death resembling g. ponder
 ous, slow moving steel caterpillar, is
 the current 'enfant terrible in the
 large family of strange engines of
 destruction sired by the God of War;"
 says a bulletin issued today by the
 National Geographic Society.
 ''The modern fighting man has been
 so SchOoled to expect unique and pow
 erful inventions designed to destroy
 spired more curiosity than terror, but far different has been the story of the
 vast breed of monsters that have en-
 gendered panic in the hearts of sol-
 diers in ages past
 Reviewing the history of warfare
 among civilized nations, one of the
 earliest engines of destruction whose fame has been perpetuated on the pages of legendary epic, was the great wooden horse which the crafty Ulysses left on the plains of Illium, and which the Trojans believed to be an offer ing sacred to the goddess Athena. 1 Counseled by the false simon. the Tro- jans razed their walls in order that the 'gift' of the Greeks might be brought into the city. After nightfall
 the warriors hidden inside the wooden
 animal crept out, threw open the gates of the city and admitted their com
 panions, thus bringing about the des-
 structjon of the city of Priam and wreaking vengeance upon the people who had sheltered Paris and the fair but false Helen of Troy.
 An engine of war which e,lerges from tho cloud of legend and takes its
 place among historical actua1ities was that employed by Alexander the Great in his seven-months siege of the fla
 nous Phoenician metropolis, Tyre. TTbiG yyraC fA,oolxy Sifi1- ated on an island and as there were no longe range catapultS in the fourth
 century before the Christian era. Al exander conceived the plan of building
 a mole or causeway from the main land to the island. This engineering enterprise was hampered by the Ty- l rians who launched blazing ships against the assailants as they sunk piles to hold in place the rock and | debris that formed a roadway over which the army was to march. In order to protect his construction corps Alexander devised as an engine of war
 great towers covered with green hides. There were set up as shields against the floating flames of the enemy and the result was one of the memorabl victories in Alexander's conquest of the eastern world.
 One of the most terrifying engines of war of ancient times was the bat | tie elephant employed by Pyrrhus. AL
 exanders cousin, in the first of the | 'Pyrrhic victories over the Romans. l used against the enemies of the Tar entines at the battle of Heraclea in 2S0 B. c. The strange, moving noun tains of flesh caused a wave of fear to sweep over the Romans and they fled from the field of carnage, but after one experience with the animals their courage returned and henceforth the war elephant was more of a curiosity l than an effective engine.
 "One of the simplest and yet one of the most effective inventions of an- cient times was the javelin with a point of soft iron employed by Julius | Caesar in one of his Gallic wars. The Roman legionaries hurled these weap . 1 ons against the shields of their ene- l mics. The iron head penetrated the
 outer covering of bulls hide, but 11at- tened out against the hardwood or metal back of the shield and thus be- | came hooked to this protector. The shanks of the dangling javelips so im- peded the movements of the barbarian i soldiers that they were forced either
 to throw away their shields and fight uncovered against the Romans or else stop long enough Ca fatal delay in their advance} to disencumber them selves from this unique weapon which
 may properly be called the du1n-duna l plum. the progenitor of the soft-nose l or dun-durl bullet of today.
 Perhaps the strangest engines of | destruction in the history of the world were the seven trumpets of rams horn 1 which the priests or Israel blew as | they encompassed the walls of Jcri- cho once each day for six successive l days and seven times on the seventh day. After the final blast the hosts of Israel gave a great shout and the walls 1 fell fiat, according to the Biblical &C., count in the Book of Joshua. Those who endeavor to explain all miracles on the theory that they are the re- suit of extraordinary applications of l the natural law have seen in this re-
 markable event a demonstration of the vast destructive power Of sympathetic