DEADLY VAPOURS.

Northern Advocate, 23 August 1924, Page 12 (Supplement)

DEADLY VAPOURS.

POISON GAS DANGERS. POST-WAR EXPERIMENTS. The flesh of Londoners is constantly made to creep with stories of how, owing to our limited aircraft, an invading and well-equipped enemy coul/L from tho skies, reduce the Metropolis to ruins within twenty-four hours. If, unhappily, we were at war with some Continental neighbour, it is certain air fighting would be one of the

most decisive factors, and that the

use of poison gases would be directed towards the killing of civilian populations. Indeed, it is known that during the last four years chemists have been devoting much time to the production of gases which are much more terrible than those used during the war with Germany. In this regard it is interesting to learn (states a correspondent in the London "Morning Post"), that, during the years the war area was being cleared of vast quantities of scattered ammunition, a series of valuable experiments were made concerning the treatment of poison gas victims. When the war ended we had in England some ; 30,000 tons of poison gases, which were difficult and dangerous to handle, with the result that the Disposal Board consented to dumping about 12,000 tons into the sea. at a cost to the nation, I am told, of something like £120,000. It is reckoned that in the British war area in France there was, following the Armistice, something like 500.000 tons of munitions, including all kinds of high explosive shells, and 45,000 ' tons of poison gases. The story has ' never been fully told how a young Englishman, Mr F. N". Pickett, who had been successful in breaking limited quantities of ammunition for the French and Belgian Governments, fulfilled the duty of cleaning up the British war aroa, restoring metals to ] industrial and commercial purposes, and leaving the countryside, which our troops had occupied for so long, fit for agricultural purposes. '' DEMUNITIONISING.'' An additional chapter to the storv of the war will have to be written one of these days of how millions of high explosive shells, many of them diffi- j cult to identify owing to long- exposure in the open, were broken down; of the way in which hand grenades 1 were crunched like walnuts in ' huge j machines; of tons of cordite burned on the sea shore; and the ingenious method whereby gas shells were pierced in the side by steel wads filled j with wax, and then subjected to fire, i so that the gases slowly escaped and were consumed by the names. No • doubt Mr Pickett achieved a remarkable triumph in demunitionising- hundreds of thousands of tons of ammunition.

I have had it from his own lips that the only financial failure he had was with the poison gases. He had undertaken the whole work in a lump, as it were, and though he would have liked to have dumped the British poison gases in France into the sea, in the same way the poison gases lying in Britain had been treated, he was prohibited from doing so, and, with no precedent to act upon, had to find a way to get rid of them. This, after laborious scientific adventures, was accomplished by allowing the gases to escape from the canisters into special furnaces, where, under a combined treatment of steam and fire, they were rendered innocuous — although for many months there was the abiding danger of a disaster which might havo led to the asphyxiation of thousands of French people living in the region of the eleven "dumps, ,, which cover an area of 150 square miles.

In the treatment of the gases in France there were 750 cases of serious

gas poisoning, with, of course, many thousands of lighter cases, but onlythree lives were lost. Everybody ha 3 recollection of the terrible consequences of gassing during the war, especially as medical science was then not far advanced in providing more than alleviation of the distress. Mr Piekett recognised the necessity of discovering means of counteracting the effects of gas, and, expecting accidents during his work of breaking down, spent £50,000 in hospitals with experiment chambers and in furthering special investigation -at the PickcttThomson laboratory in London.

PKIN-CIPAL POISON GASES. The principal gases which have been dealt with have been Mustard, which burned the victim in great agony; S.K., a lachrymatory gas; N.C., composed of chloropicrine and stannic chloride, suffocating in its effects and frequently deadly; Phosgene, a dangerous suffocating gas, and much used: Di-phosgene, a German variant of Phosgene, which was taken amongst the captured German munitions; White Star, a mixture of phosgene and RTsenic chloride, which produced arsenic poisoning together with suffocation. In treating the 45,000 tons of these gases, and with many cases of poisoning amongst the five thousand workpeople, discoveries were made, if not to prevent poisoning, at any rate to side-track disastrous consequences.

During the war Mustard gas burned the skin of the victim and subsequently set up boils and blisters, so that the wounds were septic; often men were scarred for life and frequently amputation of limbs had to be made, or the, victim, died. Many poor

fellows went through months of agony before they were out of danger. Now, I understand, a special oil is applied to the burn and the wound is prevented from becoming septic by the innoeulation of detoxicated vaccine, which means that the poison in the vaccine is removed. At one of the French dumps, due to the explosion of a shell, a man was covered from head to foot with Mustard gas. He was terribly burnt; yet, owing to the new treatment, he was. cured in two months. Generally, however, a Mustard victim at the "dumps" was cured and back at his work in seven dav*.

A man who was gased with Phosgene in the w-ar generally died, or he was left with weak lungs and very often with tuberculosis as an after effect. In any event, the men who were phosgened were never really well afterwards, and more often than not had to be discharged from the Army. In Mr Piekett's research laboratory it has been discovered that toxic action of phosgene completely changes the character of the blood. After innumerable experiments it became known that the old method of bleeding was the only one which gave relief and enabled the body to re-estab-lish its vitality. Men, when badly phosgened, immediately fall uncon-

scious, and are in a state of coma for the better part of a day, but by bleeding and other appropriate treatment it has been found that the men are able to return to work within five days. NEW SYSTEM OF DIAGNOSIS. N.C., lethal in its character, has not been found difficult to treat, the usual remedy being special diet and very heavy doses of magnesia. The Gorman Di-phosgene was particularly deadly because the men did know they had been gased for something like eight hours after they had inhaled the fumes, with the result that in war time many men died. In those days there was no physical test to indicate whether the men were gased by Di-phosgene or not. In the Pic-kett-Thomson laboratory, I am told, there has been worked out a system of diagnosis by blood tests, so that it can be speedily learned what form of poison a man is suffering from. Having, by this agency, learned that a man is under the influence of Diphosgene, the treatment is similar to phosgene poisoning, but remedial steps have to be taken quickly.

In the case of White Star gas a similar treatment is necessary, but the heart action has to be stimulated. C.B.R. is treated by bleeding. It would be rash to say there was no knowledge of the cures during war time, but the beneficial effect of the experiments during the last four years, while de-munitioning was in progress in France, has been to standardise the results so that now it is practically certain what method should be followed in dealing with the vari-

oua forms of gasing.

Since the war many new gases have been invented, but I understand these have been investigated and their effects can be counteracted by similar methods to those which are

now recognised as successful

It is obvious, therefore, that if there is an aerial war and London were liable to attack, not only should there be a sufficient resisting force in the way of aeroplane for aeroplane, but our medical men, in hospitals and private practice should make themselves acquainted with the methods of dealing with poison gases. The Pickett research experts have prepared their report showing that the treatment is simple and that if the knowledge wero general in the medical profession casualties would be reduced to a minimum were London subjected to a poison gas attack from the air.