D

URING the Franco-German war, the want of hospital accommodation was severely felt on both sides, notwithstanding the fact that the principal engagements were fought in the summer and autumn, and in cultivated and populous districts where a network of railways for the transport of the wounded and many good dwellings for their accommodation were available. In the war of 1877-78, the sufferings endured by the Russian wounded defy description. Many battles in this campaign were fought in an uncultivated country, where the only shelter consisted in the mud huts of the peasantry, and the removal of the wounded was effected

transport with the army. These shelters, while containing suitable arrangements for the comfort of the patients, must be constructed of materials which will not facilitate the spread of disease germs, as did the mud of the huts into which the Russian troops were packed.

A large number of portable barracks and hospitals were shown in the Antwerp Exhibition, but most of these differed only in size from permanent buildings. In the latter, for instance, 37 to 40 cubic metres of airspace are allowed to each bed, while the circular stating the conditions of a competition inaugurated by the Empress-Dowager of Germany required only 12 cubic metres. It is evident that the results of such a restriction

ventilators are opened by means of cords, those on the lee side being raised, so that the wind acts to exhaust the air from the sick-room. 3rd, the exhaust becomes stronger if, as shown in Fig. 2, both boards are opened. 4th, in summer the sections of one side wall are taken out and placed on a stand, leaving only a canvas wall. 5th, when the weather becomes still warmer, the sections of both side walls may be removed. 6th, on extremely warm days, one or both sides of the tent may be raised. If only one side is raised and the other sprinkled, the evaporation will cool the air perceptibly. 7th, the disinfection of the floor, which is considered the chief seat of contagion, may be effected by raising the tent walls a short distance from the floor, so that a current

of air may pass from one side to the other over the floor without striking directly on the patients in the beds. With care, the floor may be disinfected in this way even in winter.

The

Two of the sections of each side wall are covered on the inside with boards instead of canvas, and when the frames are packed for transportation, these two sections. form the top and bottom of the package, thus protecting the other frames, and obviating all need of cases. sections of the roof and other walls are protected in the same way. The parts are of such sizes that they can be packed on an open railroad car without difficulty, and, if carried on wagons, three two-horse teams will be required for a barrack with 15 or 16 beds.

THE PNEUMATIC MACHINERY ON THE "TERROR."-The signing of the contract by Secretary Whitney with the Pneumatic Gun Carriage and Power Company, of this city, for the application of the Company's system of pneumatic apparatus for elevating the turrets, steering and ventilating the double-turreted monitor Terror, which was announced last week, is a matter of sufficient importance to warrant further notice in our columns.

Should the pneumatic system, as it is now to be applied to the Terror, prove an entire success, as there is every reason to suppose it will, an improvement will be effected in the construction and operation of warvessels which can hardly fail to be generally introduced in our future ships. It will be readily understood that not the least advantage from the undertaking as defined in the contract which is entered into is the marked increase in the comfort of the interior of an ironclad which must result from the liberation of cool compressed air in every part of the vessel which the officers and crew are required to inhabit. The perfect ventilation of war ships may be regarded hereafter as not only possible but easily attainable in all cases. The merit of this system, as applied to the elevation and rotation of the turrets, and the manipulation of the steering gear consists in the easy and certain transmission of power by means of compressed air, a method the superiority of which to the use of steam pipes and engines requires no extended comment here. The plans proposed by the Company have been carefully considered at the Department, and duly approved by both the Construction and Ordnance Bureaus. A different system,

which has been devised by naval officers, will be applied to the Miantonomoh, and the two methods will thus have a thorough comparative trial when the vessels are completed.

The successful application of the Company's system of pneumatic steering apparatus has been already demonstrated to the Department by the experiments which have been made. The Department has been testing this pneumatic gear on the Tallapoosa for the past two years. The last report on the gear on the Tallapoosa is dated January 1st, 1888, Montevideo, Uruguay. Commander Dickens says: "In forwarding the report of the board on the pneumatic steering gear of this vessel, I wish to emphasize my approval of the principle of the gear, which is certainly far superior to the hand gear." The board, composed of Lieutenant Commanders George M. Totten and Barber, and Lieutenant Norton report as follows: "The members of the board have found no new conclusions. As stated in each report to the Bureau, they are unanimous in recognizing the utility of the pneumatic steering gear under proper conditions, and believe the principle of using compressed air instead of steam to be correct." The use of compressed air instead of steam and hand gear is rapidly growing in favour, and promises to revolutionize steam steering. The gear on the old Dominion Line steamer Seneca, built by the Pneumatic Steering Gear and Manufacturing Company of New York, has received the unqualified approval of the naval board which recommended the pneumatic gear to be used on the Terror in lieu of steam.-Army and Navy Register, Washington.

VOL. VIII.

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[THE EDITOR will be glad to receive contributions from naval, military, and volunteer officers. The subjects should bear on matters connected with the two Services, and be illustrated if possible by the author. To facilitate their reproduction, drawings ought to be executed with ink as black as possible upon Bristol boards. The Editor will furnish detailed instructions on application.]

[To prevent mistakes, authors are requested to sign their names and addresses at the conclusion of the MSS. which they contribute.]

[The attention of readers is called to the military problem submitted for solution in the present issue; it is the second of a series which will appear monthly. All details will be found on p. 394].

[A reply, by a French writer, to Plus d'Angleterre will appear in our next issue.]

It is worthy of remark that the three great men whose names are identified with the rise of Prussia and the genesis of the new German Empire disappeared from time at intervals of about a century. Frederic William, the "Great Elector," died in 1688; Frederic the Great, in 1786; and lately William the Emperor-King, now styled in Germany William the Great, has just departed from among us. The first-named was incontestably the founder of the modern greatness of Prussia, though the title of King was reserved for his son, Frederic I., perhaps the most unworthy representative of the Hohenzollern dynasty. Frederic the Great raised the Monarchy to the dignity of a Great Power; while the Emperor William converted it into the modern German Empire, all three realising their plans by force of arms. It is doubtful, however, whether the name of the venerable Monarch who has just expired will be identified with his epoch like those of his two predecessors. No imposing figure towered above the heads of Frederic William or of Frederic the Great. Their greatness was all their own, and there was no Bismarck to overshadow it. The Great Elector having died on the 29th April 1688, that excellent periodical the Internationale Revue über die gesammten Armeen und Flotten, in May, supplied us with a compendious estimate of the historical significance of his career. When he ascended the electoral throne of Brandenburg the State was in a nebulous condition. Its Its fragments were scattered broadcast from the Niemen to the Rhine; while between the ducal Prussia and Brandenburg Polish Prussia was thrust like a wedge including Dantzig and the mouths of the Vistula. Moreover, this embryo realm was jammed in between

the Empire and Sweden's continental possessions, its ruler's sympathies being divided between the two; for the Emperor was his suzerain and the official protector of German nationality, the Kings of Sweden were Protestants and consequently his co-religionists. For this reason his policy necessarily appeared double-faced his allotted task was at once to guard the independence of Germany-the Holy Roman Empire as represented by Austria having become unequal to it-and to preserve the Protestant faith from extinction. France would willingly have assisted him, but her alliance had to be accepted with reserve, for he saw that in endeavouring to humble the House of Austria she was in reality striking at German independence. The Great Elector, like most of the Hohenzollerns, possessed considerable military talent. In 1675 by a rapid march from the banks of the Rhine he surprised the Swedish invaders of Brandenburg, inflicting on them a severe defeat at Fehrbellin. At Warsaw also, in 1656, he won a great victory over the Poles, but this was in conjunction with Charles X. of Sweden, who exercised the supreme command.

WE learn from the Revue de Cavalerie that the zealous advocate of Cossack warfare, Major-General Sukhotin, has once more been expounding his views in public. At a conference held under the auspices of the Russian Commander in-Chief, and of the Grand Duke Nicholas, at the Staff Officers' Club at St. Petersburg, he declared for a further augmentation of the already numerous Russian cavalry, which now, as the reader is doubtless aware, consists almost exclusively of Dragoons (i.e. mounted infantry) and Cossacks. He is of opinion that three divisions of that arm should be amalgamated into a corps numbering 12,000 horses; that the squadrons of each regiment should be increased from six to ten, and that patrolling should be unceasingly carried on in the field by bodies of not less than twenty men. These conclusions were, it is said, unanimously approved by the distinguished audience who were present.

ALL's well that ends well. Such is the conclusion of the Salisbury-Wolseley incident. The country has received timely warning of the unsatisfactory state of its its defences, and the Adjutant-General has made amends for a constructive breach of etiquette. It is sometimes forgotten, however, that indiscreet revelations of our weakness really increase the chances of war with France, where the question would not be decided by a stable government, but by a dictator

borne to supreme power by a

66

wave of popular opinion." In such a contingency, were the French masses to get it into their heads that this country would fall an easy prey to their arms, they would jump at the opportunity of washing out the memories of Waterloo as eagerly as they would revenge the disgrace of Sedan. The chances of Boulanger attaining supreme power are nevertheless remote. The French have a citizen army now, and the soldiery look forward to returning to their hearths and homes in preference to buying promotion with the blood of their countrymen, like their Imperialist predecessors.

ADMIRAL BATSCH, of the Imperial German Navy, in an article which appeared in the May number of Unsere Zeit, thus compares the respective strength of the British and French ironclad navies :

1st Class (ships of 10,000 tons and upwards).

2nd Class (ships of 9,000 tons and upwards).

.

79,740 79,338 112,410 56,000 41,500 29,500

3rd Class (3,000 to 8,000 tons) Ships for coast defence. He does not consider, however, that our superiority in battle-ships would suffice for the blockade of the ports of Toulon, Brest, Lorient, Rochefort, and Cherbourg immediately after the declaration of hostilities. And yet it would be absolutely necessary to close them in order to secure our commerce from the depredations of the enemy's cruisers. He also points out that the French have a naval reserve numbering from 80,000 to 90,000 men, to which there is nothing comparable in point of numbers on this side of the Channel. Certainly, if this force be efficient, it will prove formidable for us. Still we possess a reserve in the seafaring population of these islands.

As was anticipated in our last issue, Admiral Krantz has laid before the French Chambers his project for the improvement of the military ports, Toulon, Brest, and Cherbourg. The total cost will amount to 62,010,000 francs. Brest, however, will still remain somewhat inconvenient for the movements of large ironclads, the space available being so restricted, says the Journal de la Marine, that the Admiral Baudin was near breaking her screw lately against the cable of a ship laying at anchor. This petty economy of three million francs effected on the original estimate seems ill-advised to our contemporary.

Now that the Transcaspian Railway has been completed as far as Samarcand, that city can be reached from St. Petersburg in little more than seven days. The line has been constructed with marvellous rapidity.

Commenced in July 1885, it reached Merv in the course of a twelvemonth, and on the 30th November in the same year the first locomotive steamed into Charjui, on the Oxus. On the 18th January last year, the wooden bridge across the Oxus, which is over 2,000 yards in length, was completed, and on the 27th May last the inauguration of the station of Samarcand was celebrated. The nearest station to Herat is Dushak, distant about 400 miles from the Caspian. From this point the Afghan-Indian Railway will branch off and, it is asserted, soon reach Kandahar. The main line will also be prolonged as far as Tashkend.

In these days of eager competition for employment, when the various professions are overstocked with practitioners, a scheme like the "Methuen Settlement" cannot fail to attract public attention. It presents a fair prospect of a successful career in life to that numerous class of young gentlemen who, starting with a moderate capital, feel that it would be thrown away were they to compete in the vortex of English life with rivals better equipped for the struggle in a pecuniary sense of the word. By the payment of £600 to the promoters of the "Methuen Settlement," which is under the dis

tinguished patronage of Colonel Methuen, C.B., and Lord Elibank, R.N., those who desire to seek their fortunes as citizens of our Colonial Empire can become landed proprietors in the pleasant district of Bechuanaland, which offers advantages and facilities for settlement which hitherto have rarely fallen to the lot of our adventurous countrymen. Its climate is good, the land being many thousand feet above the level of the sea; labour is cheap, the natives being a docile and industrious race; and the soil is represented as naturally fertile in pasture, while with artificial irrigation it would produce a crop of maize and another of wheat annually. The intending colonist is required to pay down £200 in London, in return for which he receives a first-class passage to Cape Town, a warrant for rail to Kimberley, and conveyance by ox-waggon to his destination; also the requisite saddlery and a gun and rifle. On arrival in Bechuanaland he gets a title deed from Government, securing him a farm of 3,000 acres, a homestead, cattle, sheep, and two horses, with the necessary agricultural implements. The settlement is situated in latitude 26° south, and due west of the Transvaal Republic.

THE Illustrazione Militare Italiana relates that the Queen of England, at the conclusion of her visit to Florence, presented her portrait and autograph to the Italian 94th Regiment, in recognition of the services of their band during the stay at the Villa Palmieri. The band-master, Signor Ricci, at the same time received a valuable ring from Her Majesty engraved with the royal initials.