to jaded men.

CHAPTER IV.

The Conservancy of Force or Energy-Heat Convertible into Force -The Replenishment of Vital Heat-Cæsar on RashnessComposition of the Roman Armies-Reliefs of Fresh Troops Important-Necessity for one Supreme, Directing Mind-Instance in German Army in late War-No Parallel in History to these German Successes-Obedience Imperative-The Important Moments in Battle-The One Tug More-Anything Unusual is Perplexing-Comparative Value of Numbers-Night Attacks.

Pluck useless THESE gleanings from history are meant to prove that all the pluck' in the world is of no use when men are exhausted. You might, as reasonably, expect a sick giant to rise and fight, as to imagine that a tired soldier can combat a foe. In the number of Once a Week' dated November 1, 1866, there is a splendid article on the 'Conservancy of Force or Energy,' a subject we have never before seen handled on such scientific grounds. We have ever considered the human body a mere thermic machine;' deprive it of food which acts as fuel, or take away its breathing power, and it is a 'steam-engine' with the fire out. We read that there is a 'certain definite amount of force distributed throughout nature, which is invariable in

'Conservancy of force or energy.'

amount, and which can be converted over and over again from one form to another.' 'Force,' we are told, 'is never lost, but changed;' and again, 'When the moving body is arrested, the motion of the mass is transferred to the motion of the molecules, or particles composing it; and this molecular motion is heat.' Again, 'As motion or force is convertible into heat, so conversely is heat convertible into force.'

Examples of

how men are

defeated.

Now when a moving mass of humanity is suddenly arrested by nerve:' by superior nerve, that is to say, and potential energy on the part of a stubborn enemy, the nerves' of the multitude in motion suffer; despondency sets in, and like a flash of lightning this despondency is transferred to the individuals who are the 'molecules,' or 'particles,' of the mass. Hence it is that overspent masses, if suddenly arrested when in motion, are defeated. Now molecular motion is heat; and heat Molecular is convertible into force. Therefore, so long as heat. the men have heat, they have force; expend that heat, and where is the force or the potential energy?

Cornhill,' we read, 'If

motion is

In a number of the the motion of the earth (revolving at the rate The de

struction of

fire reason

of 63,000 miles an hour) were suddenly arrested, the world by an amount of heat would be developed sufficient

to heat a globe of lead, the size of the world, to a

able.

Intense heat generated by friction.

ment of vital

heat.

temperature of 690,000 degrees, an intensity of heat 200 times as great as that required to melt iron,' and the writer adds, 'The very motion of the earth embraces the conditions of the fulfilment of the prophecy: that the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works therein be burned up.'

That is to say, on the fiat from Omnipotence -at the mere word 'Stop' to the celestial bodies, The replenish- and to the globe we live in-all the world would be consumed. So when men rush at others they expend by energy or force a certain quantity of the fire or vital heat of the thermic machine,' and, by an established law of nature, man must replenish that heat before he can again work with effect. As great rapidity of movement uses up that heat, so the force, or energy, of the human being or the animal is also expended.

Argument supported by the blood theory.

Oxygen

pumped out must be replenished.

'The blood is the agency by which the oxygen gas of the atmosphere is absorbed in the lungs, and which coming in contact with the carbonaceous matters of the system (previously prepared in the liver), unites with them, forming carbonic acid gas, and generating the heat of the animal system. The blood carries the carbonic acid gas to the lungs, where it is expelled at the same time that the oxygen gas is taken in.' Now as oxygen is pumped out in running, a man must get in a

of the blood.

further supply before he can do his work, or get up the heat or force again. Then there is the yellow substance floating in the blood, called 'fibrine,' The 'fibrine' which substance is the very basis of muscle; deprive the body of oxygen and you affect the muscles at once through the blood. This is what happens when a man's breath is too suddenly and lavishly exhausted.

movement of a a muscle

causes.

'Every operation of the muscles, or nerves, What any involves the disintegration and death of certain part of the substance. We cannot lift a finger without a change in certain of the atoms which compose the muscles executing the movement and in those of the nerves conveying the stimulus which directed them to contract. The loss then of the body and of each part being in relation to its activity, a second process is necessary to replace the loss, i.e., the reparative process performed by the nutritive system.' 1

Let us then recollect this whenever we are called to march men to battle.

'An advance in action in a long thin line formation requires that phlegmatic kind of courage which we believe to be peculiarly inherent in the British soldier; to preserve the proper order, the

1 Physical education by Archld Maclibaaren, i. e. 'Oxford Gymnasium.'

The British

army in line,

by Sir J.

Burgoyne.

The Golden

Mean by
Horace.

French

tactics not suitable against the Germans.

progress
rush.'1

must be slow till the last closing

'Whoever loves the golden mean is secure from the sordidness of an antiquated cell and is too prudent to have a palace that might open him to envy. A well provided breast hopes in adversity and fears in prosperity." A commander who fears in his prosperity will not pursue too rashly in the field; another meeting a stubborn foe gains hope from the very difficulty, and this with the fortitude that he possesses in his heart braces him up to redoubled efforts.

It must be noted here that the remarks as regards 'dash,' are meant to allude to British troops opposed to soldiers of other European nations. Against the wild tribes, or natives of India generally, a little extra risk may sometimes be incurred with safety.

The French made the great mistake of bringing the tactics they practised in Algeria into the field against the Germans. All their heroic dash and dauntless impetuosity were as nothing, when face to face with the phlegmatic Prussians. It was their Algerian fighting and the success at Solferino which spoilt their splendid army. They were behind the age. As the system of war is

1 Sir John Burgoyne, Bart., G.C.B.

2 Horace,' Ode x. book 2.