POISON-GAS DETECTOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20922, 11 July 1931, Page 7 (Supplement)

POISON-GAS DETECTOR.

ESSENTIAL FOR NEXT WAR. i Several devices intended to detect yperite, or mustard gas, which was the terror of the trenches in the world war, are lo he tested soon in Paris. The International Red Cross has offered a prize for the most efficient detector of the poison gas in small atmospheric concentrations.

The jury of award includes Dr. Fitz Haber, who helped make chemical warfare an effective part of modern battle in the world war. The Eed Cross also expects to offer two other prizes, one for the best anti-gas mask and the other for large-scale shelters against poison gas, in line with a campaign for protection of civilians against chemical warfare in future wa'rs.

It has been difficult to combat mustard gas because mere contact with the soil or contaminated objects, as much as two or three days after the attack, is sufficient for a gas case to develop. An odor of mustard is all that first gives warning, but in four to six hours the victim suffers temporary blindness, suffocation, burning and blistering, the retarded effects being due lo the fact that yperite is projected as droplets and not in gaseous form.

Mustard gas requires protective clothing as well as a gas mask, for it. permeates cloth. The ideal detector, still being sought, must be sensitive enough to signal oven-a feeble trace o[ the gas, and function rapidly enough lo allow time for self-protection. It must also be easily handled and sufficiently inconspicuous to bo placed in front of the lines if necessary.

THE ORIGIN OF OOAL. Conl was not formed from plant remains washed into great shallow lakes, as lnis been held previously, but was made by the steady fall of leaves and other plant waste on the forest floor in the vast, ill-drained swamps of the coal ages. This is the theory of Dr. David White, of the geological Survey in America, who," in many tests, claims to have shown the roots of the coal-age trees embedded in the clay strata underlying the coal. He believes the laminated, or sheetlike, structure indicates a probable seasonal deposition. It is now generally recognised that coal could have been, and probably was, formed in a temperate rather than ;i, tropical climate with the recurring wet and dry periods, or summer and winter weather. The occurrence of " mineral charcoal" on top of coal layers dors not necessarily indicate that coal swamps were burned over at intervals, in Dr. White's opinion. COLOURS AND THE EYES. Eye strain and fatigue of workers in factories is being relieved by painting the machinery in gay colours. One shoe fa'ctory in America has used delicatetinted paints not only on its machinery, /but on benches, doors, walls and furniture, after extensive tests indicated that colour and light in the plant had ?> direct effect on the health and comfort of the employees and on the amount of work they were able to turn out. The. experiment* started when one workman complained of eyo strain and painted the machine on which he worked a bluish-green. It was found the colour broke up the shadows, softened the light and relieved the eye fatigue. Acting on this experiment, the owners worked out a colour scheme for the entire plant, some machines being tinted in orange, others in orchid-purple, and still others in green. Tables, benches, steam pipes and even typewriters in the accounting department were given bright hues as the work progressed.