For this reason it seems to me to be most important that we should establish a systematic method of training our men. It is an axiom that in order to master any subject properly the student must first be instructed in its elementary details, and it is in this respect that at present our system fails. During the annual course of training a few night operations are carried out by companies, by battalions, and by brigades, but during the rest of the year little attention is paid to night work, and, in many units, at any rate, no attempt is made during the winter to give the soldier that elementary instruction which is indispensable to fit him to take an intelligent part in operations in the dark. It must be remembered that many of our men up to the time of their enlistment have passed their lives entirely in large towns, and have rarely been beyond the range of street lamps. Such men, when first taken out in the dark, are helpless; they start at every shadow, stumble even on level ground, make a terrible amount of noise, and are generally in such a state of nervous excitement that they are hardly responsible for their actions. Yet these same men, by a short course of careful, individual instruction, can be trained to work together with confidence on the darkest night, and when once they have gained confidence their further instruction is comparatively easy. If in daylight the moral is to the physical, as three is to one, there can be no question that at night the proportion is many times greater. Indeed, I doubt if the true ratio can be estimated at all. History furnishes many instances of night fighting, in which the success achieved has been out of all proportion to the number of the victors, but it also teaches us that, in most cases, at any rate, the defeat of the beaten side was due to disorganization through panic. Now it is unquestionable that the best troops, if suddenly called on to face conditions to which they are not accustomed, are liable to panic, and it is to make sure that night fighting shall not be a strange occurrence in our Army that I advocate closer attention to training in it.