The Times of Wednesday announces that Sir Joseph Whit- worth
has invented armour-plating impenetrable to any missiles sow employed. This armour is composed of "fluid-compressed 'steel, and is built up in hexagonal sections, each of which is -composed of a series of concentric rings, around a central circular disc." A target nine inches in thickness was built on this principle, supported by a wood backing against a sand-bank. A, Palliser shell weighing 250 lb. was then fired at it, at a 'distance of only thirty yards, with 50 lb. of pebble-powder. The shell broke into innumerable fragments, and the target was driven 18 in. back into the sand. The target itself was absolutely unhurt, though the apex of the shell, a mass of some 8 lb. weight, stuck fast in it. If these results should be obtained in further 'experiments, the batting will have beaten the bowling again, and All ironclad could pass any fortress. That would be for this 'country a most important success.
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