“People will tell you the Germans can’t shoot,” he says. “Well, they have not seen them. They also say one Briton equals three Germans. There is no difference, and because of their being taught from infancy regarding militarism, the German is the better of the two. And by Britons I mean all the Allies.
“The guns here are booming all day, and an occasional ‘Jack Johnson’ drops around our billet, which is a mile or so from the actual firing line.”
Mr. Neilson continues that the British are bringing to the front only their best men, and says the troops are now supplied with fur jackets and warmers, but remarks that because of the heavy boots many leave them near the trenches, as they can hardly carry themselves, not to speak of ammunition. Even rifles, too, are thrown down.
Under date of Sunday, the twenty-fourth, he adds a brief postscript:
“The French people here won’t allow any one to sing. They say it is a time of weeping. All France is the same, and everybody, or very nearly so, is dressed in black. So you see I have not heard any singing since coming to France. Imagine my surprise when just now—this is what made me write this extra bit—there burst forth the 100th Psalm. On looking out, I see it is the Black Watch. Fancy hearing it here! It tones you up a bit. They are at church parade, and really that is the best music I have ever heard in all my life, and they are not good singers.”
Why Common Powder Smokes.
Ordinary powder produces smoke when fired because of the quantity of fine particles formed from the breaking up of the saltpeter and from some of the charcoal which is not completely burned.
To get rid of smoke, so long a handicap in the use of guns, it was necessary to produce a substance that would explode without leaving any solid residue. This was accomplished by the use of guncotton or nitrocellulose, from which the most satisfactory smokeless powder is made.
The substance is a chemical compound, not a mixture like gunpowder, and is made by treating cotton with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids. When exploded, it is all converted into gases. Burning is not necessary to cause an explosion, a mere shock or jar being sufficient.
It is too violent an explosive to use in small arms or in cannon, but guncotton can be made into less forceful forms, suitable for use in guns, and most brands of smokeless powder are made in this way.