WAR GASES IN PEACE USE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 6 February 1925, Page 4

WAR GASES IN PEACE USE.

Following up what Mr. Curtis Wilbur, Secretary of the Navy in the United States, had to say the other day ridiculing storiesi of the awful horror which will characterise the next war, particularly in the use of gases, it is interesting to notice, how the usual order has been reversed in tne last year or so, and scientific device® of war turned to good account in peace time. In. bis last annual report, Brigadier-General Amo,s A. Tries, Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service of the United States Army, outlines the outstanding features of his department's work for the betterment of mankind. ■ Chlorine gas,, for example, has proved especially valuable in the treatment of ordinary colds, bronchitis (acute and chronic), whooping cough and other infections 1 of the nose, throat and lungs. In General- Fries’s own words, “Perhaps no development in the treatment of diseases has spread so rapidly as the chlorine treatment. Following its successful application to the treatment of human beings, it has been successful in- influenza, among horses ■ and the same general type of disease, among dogs All throughout the natjon clinics- are being established in hospitals and in private institutions for administering chlorine. . . . Conclusive proof has been obtained that chlorine effect® cures in all the diseases mentioned. Jt is not a panacea, but wherever the chlorine can reach, the germs of the diseases in sufficient concentrations it will kill. them. The most startling side of this work has been its cure of whooping cough. Practically 1' '0 per cent, of whooping cough cases have been completely'cured, or the distressing symptoms nearly all banished. It is a boon, to childhood such as is not found once in a generation." More romantic and exciting, if less important, are the peace uses to which tear gas has been turned. No human being has beer, found who will stand up before a heavy concentration of this', although, so far as permanent injury goes, it is absolutely harmless. Tear gas is now being useu in bombs and grenades, in bank vaults, and even dwellings. It furnishes the police with a means of getting criminals out of blarricaded buildings without loss of life,’ and it is never-failing when brought to bear upon an unruly gathering, of whatever nature. Other avenues of peaceful service that have been opened up to the chemical discoveries of war experts - are the protection. of wood from the ravages of sea-winter, and an attack on, the boil weevil, which works such havoc in the cotton States of America. It was one of the tragedies of civilisation that the best brains of the world should have been concentrated, half a dozen years ago, on devising new and more terrible means of destroying 1 human life. Now that those devilish devices of war are being turned to such good account in the cause of humanity, science can again raise the bead that must have been bowed in shame; and the effect may be to help convince the world of the utter folly of nations scheming always to perfect methods of harnessing the gifts of Nature fur the maiming and destruction of Nature's noblest creature.