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No ballistician, TIME'S Science writer erred pardonably in assigning "drift of waves" as one of the factors affecting the trajectory of a projectile fired at long range from a battleship.
What he probably meant was "drift," by which is meant the gyroscopic precessive motion of the projectile to the right of the plane of the initial trajectory. This drift to the right increases with the range, and obeys definite scientific laws. . . .
The only effect the sea waves may conceivably have is an indirect one: inevitably they affect the course and speed of the firing ship, and thus, indirectly, the initial velocity of the projectile.
... I have read your magazine ever since I entered the Naval Academy (in 1928) and have always enjoyed it thoroughly. This letter is written in the interests of scientific accuracy, rather than as ostentatious carping criticism. RICHARD S. MANDELKORN Ensign, U. S. N. Cambridge, Mass.
When firing from a moving ship, both drift of projectile and drift of vessel must be taken into account.—ED.
"Biased Biography"
Sirs:
Under Greece (TIME, March 25, p. 24) you printed three columns of irrelevant non-sense and you have made yourselves unique by saying that in 1821 "Greece was a servile . . . province." The Greeks have their faults but they are not and never have been "servile.". . .
Greece has been redeemed by the Greeks who fought and bled for every inch of it, and not "through the benevolence of the Great Powers." You must be naive indeed to assign such idealism to these powers, who, for their gain, have created in Greece such internal antagonisms and hatreds that it will take many generations to wipe out. It is now history how during the War they financed Venizelos to set up a rebel government in Saloniki by promising that great diplomat territories which they had already assigned by secret treaty to Russia. After the War, in the Greek Asia Minor Expedition, France showed again her "benevolence" by secretly supplying munitions and officers to the Turks, thus causing the defeat of her Greek Allies.
. . . Having found nothing to write that would give some insight into the recent Greek rebellion, you come out with a biased biography of a traitor whose latest idol is the Handsome Adolf and who imitated him with a Putsch. . . . S. D. Vinieratos Hampton, Va.
"Fair, Faithful"
Sirs:
May we offer a note of appreciation of the eminent fairness, faithful historic recording and informative handling of your several stories in recent editions concerning the late Greek difficulties, particularly for the excellent report on March 25 (114th anniversary of Greece's independence from Turkey) captioned ''Farewell to Venizelos." We are certain that Venizelists and Tsaldarists alike in this country are grateful for such reporting. DR. MARC WILKINSON Retired Governor American-Hellenic Educational Progressive Association Pueblo, Colo.
Slam
Sirs:
IF LITTLE SLAM BONUSES REMAIN AS BEFORE, THEN TIME IS WRONG BECAUSE A LITTLE SLAM VULNERABLE HAS NEVER BEEN 1,000 BUT 750. IF I AM WRONG WIRE ME COLLECT.
ALBERT G. PETTINGILL San Francisco, Calif.
For Subscriber Pettingill, no telegraph tolls. For an erring copyreader, rebuke. —ED.
Savory Banks