Monday, August 3, 2009

Misguided

How's this for misguided?

Richard Gatling, inventor of the Gatling Gun:

“It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine--a gun--that would by its rapidity of fire enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, it would to a great extent supersede the necessity of large armies and, consequently, exposure to battle and disease would be greatly diminished.”

Two thoughts:

1) I love the phrase “battle duty”.

2) The very fact that he's talking about disease as a major reason for limiting exposure to war sort of explains a lot.

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