be reasonably represented to the scale of the diagram as infinitesimal quantities. Then the lines b, c, d, e, f, etc., describe a polygonal figure approximating to a circle, which in the limit becomes a circle, whose radius is represented by the original force a. Fig. 8. Here we have graphically represented the result that the fighting value of the added forces, no matter what their numerical aggregate (represented in Fig. 8 by the circumferential
_-_Fig._8.png)
Fig. 8.
line), is zero. The correct interpretation of this is that in the open a small force attacking, or attacked by one of overwhelming magnitude is wiped out of existence without being able to exact a toll even comparable to its own numerical value; it is necessary to say in the open, since, under other circumstances, the larger force is unable to bring its weapons to bear, and this is an essential portion of the basic hypothesis. In the limiting case when the disparity of force is extreme, the capacity of the lesser force to effect anything at all becomes negligible. There is nothing improbable in this conclusion, but it manifestly does not apply to the case of a small force concealed or
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