Page:Science and War.djvu/32

 Boer War we used Lyddite in our shells—a high explosive of the finest quality—but we did not then know how to detonate it with certainty and in only one type of shell was it of substantial value. By the commencement of the late War we had however learnt how to detonate with fair but not absolute certainty the High Explosives then used in the service. But soon afterwards the prospect that our supply of toluol might fail to equal the enormous demands of our shells necessitated a change of high explosive and the one that was taken required special study before detonation could be ensured. It was achieved through the unremitting labour of those scientific workers who, little known to the public, have had to face and solve the innumerable problems that have presented themselves in the preparation and use of explosives during the War and to whom personally I feel deeply grateful. Through their labours we ultimately arrived at a degree of excellence which reduced the proportion of the shells which failed to detonate from all causes to so small a figure that 26