Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-09-14

OF field gun or naval gun whilst flr-
ing even at a considerable distance
(several hundred yards), the crack is
painfully intense to the ears, and may
even cause injury. whereas it Is pos
slble to stand close behind the gun
with compai ative impunity. In other
words. the sound wave from a gun is
more concentrated along it's line of fire
than elsewhere No such difference is
observable with shell. it's concussion
being equally violent to the ear wheth-
er it explodes in front of or behind
one.
Now the laws of sound say that the
/ intensity of the sound emitted from
body grows less in proportion to the
. square of the distance of the ear from
the source of the sound: in other
words. at double the distance the
sound is quarter as great. This. of
. course. is identical with the laws of
, light. and applies perfectly to the
shell. but not to the gun. in the same
way as the ordinary law of the in
| tensity of light will apply to candle.
but not to a searchlight. which con-
centrates its light along one path in
stead of distributing it equally all
around. Hence. in fact we are driven
to the conclusion that the wave of
sound emitted by gun is closely
analogous to the wave of light emitted
by searchlight. The intensity of the
ray from searchlight only diminishes
gradually. and this analogy is borne
ont by the peculiar fact. familiar to
those who have been in the trenches.
that the German machine guns, or rife
shots. always seem as loud. whether
/ the width Of mo Mans Land" is 20
yards or 500 wards. One of the most
wonderful and. indeed. majestic of all
! sound phenomena in connection with
. artillery-brt which 7 have never seen
described or even referred to. ae. when
first heard. the novice is unable either
/ to explain il or decide upon its ma
tIlre. and afterwards the ear becomes
50 used 70 it that it passes unnoticed-
is the great "roll" that follows the
discharge of a high velocity gun To
hea" this at its best one must visit
part nf the front where the contour is
rugged. or where the landscape is we'll
wooded. and where houses and other
eXcrescences are abundant. as at
ATras. The report of the cannon is
followed at once and continuously by
majestic echong roll that may be
compared to a mixture of thunder and
the music Of mighty bass orchestra
Now this rolling sound seems to travel
forward as though it were following
tho flight of the shell. and is. indeed.
mistaken by some for the actual sound
of the she'll
The real explanation. however. is
that it is a series of echoes from the
thousands of heterogeneous ex-
crescences in the surface of the land
scape, each Of which sends back its
echo to the ear. the whole combining
to form continuous trail of sound.
Now the fact that this continuous
sound travels in the direction of the
shell. and hence in the line of fire of
the gun. also fits in with the search
light analogy: as otherwise If the
sound of the firing gun were not con-
centrated along its line of fire this
chain Of echoes would not appear 10
flow in any definite direction. and
thus one of the most grandiose aural
phenomena that the car can receive
would not exist.
Now the above considerations give
rise to a remarkable and surprising
fact. which, indeed, arises in theory
and is borne out in practice. This
Is that at certain distance and up-
wards from the firing line the sound
CT the German guns will be greater
than the sound of our own, because
We are in front Of the German guns
but behind the British, and. al
though the latter are nearer to us vet
the sound of the former will appear
louder and sharper because of the
peculiar nature of the sound wave
emitted from the muzzle Of a gun. the
noise being nearly all concentrated in
the direction of fire. Thus, when an
preaching the firing line before a big
attack the sound of the German euns
often appears to preponderate over our
own, giving the apprehensive i'm
preston that the enemy's artillery is
IN superior strength to our own. and
II is only in coming into the artillery
zone that the British superiority ia
perceived. Another point illustrat ting
this is the origin of the word drum
ire This term (trommel -feuer) was
frst used by the Germans to describe
tne erect of our massed artillery on an
unprecedented scale on the Somme.
Now to the British, who were. Of
course. behind the direction in which
their artillery was firing this term
would never have occurred, for to he
behind British homba rdment there
is but little resemblance to drum.
mer's tattoo. the whole sound being
merged into dull and heavy roar of
guns: but to the Boche generals be-
nind their lines every shot from the
british guns would stand out as a
sharp staccato note. the whole com
h!nlng to give the impression of the
rat-a-tattat of a mighty drum tattoo
From these conclusions II vir ~
pear that the further one is behind tho
firing line the greater is the tendenc,, |
for the sound of the German guns m
prepnnderate over our own. aIthou,b
the latter may be in much greater
strength. and the probability is that
the greater part of the noise Of firing
audible on our coasts comes from the
German artillery and not the Rrit,sb
although the sound Of shell bursts
may tend to modify matters.
GEORGE F.. SIEGGS p &c
2As kTTn1IlAaF