“According to thoroughly trustworthy reports, the Japanese in the battle of Tsushima were the first to employ a new kind of explosive in their shells, the secret of which they bought during the war from the inventor, a colonel in one of the South American Republics. It was said that these shells could only be used in guns of large calibre in the armoured squadrons, and that is how those of our ships engaged with Admiral Kataoka’s squadron did not suffer the same amount of damage, or have so many fires, as the ships engaged with the battleships and armoured cruisers.” The second instance is the Krupp fire shell designed for use against dirigible balloons. The third is the “Thermite shell,” which, early in 1912, was proposed for adoption in France. It was calculated that one 12-inch A.P. shell exploding would melt half a ton of steel. The following passage from Hans Busk is of interest:-- “In 1855 Mr. Longridge, C.E., proposed to construct cannon of tubes covered with wire wound round them so tightly as almost entirely to relieve the inside from strain. On the 25th of June of the same year Mr. Mallet read a paper advocating the construction of cannon of successive layers of cylinders, so put together that all should be equally strained when the gun is fired; thus the inside would not be subject to fracture, while the outside would be useless as in a cast mass. His method of effecting this was, as is well known, to have each cylinder slightly too small to go over the one under it till expanded by heat, so that when cool it compresses the interior and is slightly strained itself. Thirty-six-inch mortars have been made on the principle, and if they have failed with 40lbs. of powder, cast-iron must have failed still less. In 1856 Professor Daniel Treadwell, Vice-President of the American Academy, read a paper to that body recommending the same principle of construction; and Captain Blakely has himself for some years been endeavouring to urge its adoption by argument and direct experiments. In December, 1857, some trials were made with guns constructed by that officer; and the result of a comparative trial of a 9-pounder with a cast-iron service gun of similar size and weight gave results proving the soundness of his views; for Captain Blakely’s gun bore about double the amount of firing the service gun did, and being then uninjured, was loaded to the muzzle, and was thus fired 158 times before it burst.” [Illustration: JOHN SCOTT RUSSELL.] From these contemporary extracts it will be seen that by 1859 the germ of nearly every modern idea in connection with gunnery existed, and has since developed somewhat on “trial and error” lines for at any rate the greater part of the intervening period.