cation can be obtained from the interval between shell-wave and gun- wave at the different posts.
Work in the Field. It is not feasible to have the film running con- tinuously during any period when records are expected. It should be started a second or two before the sound reaches the first micro- phone. In. the field this is effected by having two forward observers in front of the line of microphones, so placed, one to each flank, that either the one or the other of them must hear the sound of the hostile piece a few seconds before it reaches any of the microphones. These observers are provided with keys, the depression of which starts the film running. They also report by telephone informations judged useful as to the estimated calibre, the approximate location of the burst, if seen, and so on.
The line of microphones in general covers a front of some 8,000 yd. and is some 2,000 yd. or more from the front line. It is usually pre- ferred to place the instruments at approximately equal intervals on a smooth curve, which may be a straight line, or the arc of a circle either convex or concave towards the enemy, according as guns well to a flank have to be located, or attention is concentrated on a more central group of guns. Such arrangements lead to greater ease of identification of a record than is possible if the microphones are very irregularly placed.
The microphones may be placed anywhere where the hearing is good : the only obstacles which seem to cast sufficient sound shadow to affect them are high hills just in front of them. They may be put in shallow depressions dug for them, and should be protected from splinters, and also from wind and draughts. Canvas and hurdles may be used for this latter purpose without appreciably affecting the sensitiveness of the instruments.
Ranging on Hostile Pieces. A heavy burst near a hostile gun position will furnish a sound record of its position just as does the gun itself. Fire may be directed on a piece which is in action by comparing the records which it supplies with those of the bursts of one's own answering shell. Since both gun and burst are located by the same method all uncertainties introduced in an ordinary location by ignorance of the precise atmospheric conditions are eliminated.
A differential method is adopted, the difference of times of arrival of the sound of the hostile gun and of the friendly burst at each micro- phone being plotted as ordinates against a certain simple function of the relative positions of the microphones and the hostile gun as abscissae. A horizontal line then corresponds to a direct hit; a straight line sloping to left or to right to an error of line to one side or the other; a curve (approximately an elliptical arc) convex or con- cave downwards to an error of range. The magnitude of the cor- rections necessary is easily estimated from curves previously pre- pared. (E. N. DA C. A.)
RANGER, HENRY WARD (1858-1916), American painter
(see 22.891), died in New York City Nov. 7 1916.
RASPUTIN, GREGORY EFIMOVITCH (1871-1916), Russian
monk and court favourite, was born in 1871 in the village of Pokrovskoe, near Tyumen, in the province of Tobolsk, Siberia. He was the son of a poor peasant whose disorderly behaviour resulted in his being given the name of Rasputin, meaning
" debauchee." He received no education, and till the end of his
life was unable to write properly. He spent the first part of his
life till the age of 33 in his native village; he married in 1895 a
well-to-do girl, Olga Chanigoff, and they had two daughters and
a son. In 1904 Rasputin resolved to change his mode of living.
He left his family and devoted himself to religious exercises,
declaring to his people that he was inspired by God. His
passionate nature, his great physical strength, and the supersti-
tious atmosphere in which he had been brought up, gave an un-
expected direction to his religious exaltation. He adopted the
views of the sect known under the name of " Khlysty," the
leading idea of whose teaching was that salvation could be
achieved only by repentance.
" Sin in order that you may obtain forgiveness " was the practical rule which he drew from this doctrine. " A particle of the Supreme Being is incarnated in me " he told his hearers. " Only through me you can hope to be saved; and the manner of your salvation is this: you must be united with me in soul and I body. The virtue that goes out from me is the source of light, the > destruction of sin " (E. J. Dillon, The Eclipse of Russia). This extravagant and dangerous teaching, which resulted in practice in the most wild orgies, not only created for Rasputin immense popularity and the reputation of a holy man among his fellow- peasants, but opened before him the doors of some of the most fashionable Russian houses and even those of the Imperial Palace. Looking for new experiences Rasputin left his native village, and made long pilgrimages to various holy places, and even went to Mount Athos and Jerusalem. He spent some time in
different monasteries and applied himself to the study of holy books, but his lack of elementary education reduced the results of his labours almost to nothing. He only retained by heart some incomprehensible passages, and often used them in his prophecies. He had, however, a strong magnetic power, the influence of which was recognized by his bitterest opponents.
In 1907, during a stay in St. Petersburg, Rasputin was introduced to the Archimandrite Feofan, rector of the Theologi- cal Academy and confessor to the Empress, who took an interest in the story of his conversion. The Archimandrite, with the assistance of the_ Grand Duchesses Militza and Anastasia, pre- sented Rasputin at court, and he produced a deep impression on the Empress and Emperor. The mystic atmosphere which always prevailed at the Russian court, and which was especially strengthened by the disasters of the Japanese War, the internal troubles in 1905, and the constant fear for the health of the Tsarevich, created a convenient background for the appearance of such a man. His disdain for all rules of good behaviour, his dark prophecies, and, above all, the eventual improvement in the health of the Grand Duke Alexis, which more than once seemed to result from his influence when medicine was ineffectual, created an exceptional position for him with the Empress. Disgusted with the Russian intellectual classes and the bureau- cracy, she saw in Rasputin the representative of the mass of peasantry, the only sure support of orthodoxy and autocracy, specially sent by God to save the heir to the throne and preserve the dynasty. Rasputin took advantage of this belief, and did his best to persuade the Empress that his fate was closely tied with that of the imperial family. The example of the court was followed by a large section of the upper class, and many doors were opened for the " Saviour," as the Empress used to call him. For some time Rasputin was satisfied by this side of his social success, and at first he did not interfere in politics. But his activity was felt in church questions. His friendship with the famous monk, Heliodor, and the Bishop of Saratov, Hermogen, which resulted in a complete rupture between them and in a series of scandals, had a painful echo in the country. The appointment of Varnava, an illiterate peasant and a friend of Rasputin, to be Bishop of Tobolsk in 1911, and the extraordinary servility with which the Holy Synod followed the wishes of the favourite, provoked a strong opposition among all classes of society. The most prominent upholders of ortho- doxy demanded a complete reorganization of the Russian church, and denounced the servile attitude of the Holy Synod. Guchkov, the Octobrist leader, in a famous speech delivered at the State Duma, made direct allusions to the nefarious influence exer- cised by Rasputin. But the influence of the " Saviour " was too strong to be checked by any expression of feeling in the country, and Rasputin triumphed over all his enemies.
An unsuccessful attempt to kill him, made by a certain Guseva in 1914, incited by the monk Heliodor, only strengthened his influence, which became especially powerful during the two last years of the imperial regime. No important nomination was made without his approval, and the most unexpected people rose to the highest offices as result of his interference. Rasputin was too ignorant to have any opinion on political questions: he was in most cases an instrument of the reactionaries. Numberless stories of the debauchery practised at the court, in which the name of Rasputin was coupled not only with some of the court ladies but even with that of the Empress herself, became a common topic of conversation in all classes of Russian society. At length a supreme effort to free the Empire and the dynasty from his influence was made by a small group of men of the highest social position, which included the Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich, Prince Yussupoff and M. Purichkevich. Rasputin was invited to a supper at the Yussupoff Palace on Dec. 15 1916, and shot dead, after an attempt at poisoning him with a strong dose of cyanide potassium mixed with wine had not produced the desired effect. His body was thrown under the ice of a canal. The death of Rasputin was a terrible shock to the Empress; she transferred his body to the park of Tsarskoye Selo, where a special chapel was erected, and came every night to
