In the first period of the siege of a stronghold it is of very great importance for the besieged to embarrass the first progress of the attack, in order to complete their own armament, and to perform certain operations which are of absolute necessity for the safety of the place, but which are only then possible. In order to retard the completion of the first parallel, and the opening of the fire, it is necessary to try to discover the location of such parallel, as well as that of the artillery, and to ply them with projectiles. But, on their side, the besiegers will do all in their power to hide their works, and those that they are unable to begin behind natural coverts they will execute at night. It will be seen from this how important it is for the besieged to possess at this stage of events an effective means of lighting up the external country. Later on, such means will be of utility to them in the night-firing of long-range rifled guns, as well as for preventing surprises, and also for illuminating the breach and the ditches at the time of an assault, and the entire field of battle at the time of a sortie. [Illustration: ELECTRIC LIGHT APPARATUS FOR ARMY USE.] On a campaign it will prove none the less useful to be provided with movable apparatus that follow the army. A few years ago. Lieut. A. Cuvelier, in a very remarkable article in the _Revue Militaire Belge_, pointed out the large number of night operations of the war of 1877, and predicted the frequent use of such apparatus in future wars. The accompanying engraving represents a very fine electric light apparatus, especially designed for military use in mountainous countries. It consists of a two-wheeled carriage, drawn by one horse and carrying all the apparatus necessary for illuminating the works of the enemy. The machine consists of the following parts: (1) A field boiler. (2) A Gramme electric machine, type M, actuated directly by a Brotherhood 3-cylinder motor. (3) A Mangin projector, 12 inches in diameter, suspended for carriage from a movable support. This latter, when the place is reached where the apparatus is to operate, may be removed from the carriage and placed on the ground at a distance of about a hundred yards from the machine, and be connected therewith by a conductor. Col. Mangin's projector consists of a glass mirror with double curvature, silvered upon its convex face. It possesses so remarkable optical properties that it has been adopted by nearly all powers. The fascicle of light that it emits has a perfect concentration. In front of the projector there are two doors. The first of these, which is plane and simple, is used when it is desired to give the fascicle all the concentration possible; the other, which consists of cylindrical lenses, spreads the fascicle horizontally, so as to make it cover a wider space.