the field artillery journal - Fort Sill - U.S. Army

Supplemental Notes on Lost Motion
BY CAPTAIN R. R. NIX, ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT
1. In the last January-March number of the FIELD
ARTILLERY JOURNAL an artillery officer submitted his opinions
concerning "The Effect of Lost Motion on Accuracy,"
predicated upon experience with 3-inch matériel gained in the
Ordnance Department. The July-September number of the
JOURNAL contained a most interesting attack by a field
artilleryman upon carefully chosen extracts from this paper
under the caption, "Notes on Lost Motion and Jump." The field
artilleryman could scarcely be accused of treating the views of
the coast artilleryman with sympathy and appreciation.
2. With a purpose primarily to straighten distorted meanings
which may result from reading the criticism by refreshing the
memory sufficiently on the first article, these supplemental
notes are prepared. Where the subject is viewed from a very
narrow and imperfect angle the fault lies—certainly not with
the Coast Artillery or with the Ordnance Department—but with
the writer, as he does not assume to present any but his own
convictions. The whole tenor of his first paper differs
materially from the impression conveyed by "Notes on Lost
Motion and Jump."
3. Where a reasonable difference of opinion exists, the true
point of view can best be attained by a careful consideration of
both sides of a question. It is difficult for an opponent in a
discussion to render a correct interpretation of the other man's
opinion; extracts and partial quotations, moreover, fail in many
cases to express a belief or a fact in its entirety: for these
reasons the criticism of, "The Effect of Lost Motion on
Accuracy" contains several misconceptions. Acknowledgment
is made to the author of "Notes on Lost Motion and Jump" for
the prominence given in his paper to the faulty diction used in
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