MUSTARD GAS.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14895, 18 October 1918, Page X

MUSTARD GAS.

AN INNOCENT-LOOKING TERROR

CAUSE OF BURNS AND PNEUMONIA.

"Mustard gas" is well enough known fay name, but £fc is not common knowledge that there is no mustard about it and that it is a product of the laboratory. Although it is generally regarded as a German weapon, it appears not. only that it is freely used by the Allies but tj^vt it was known to them as a very, potent, instrument of warfare long before it was used by the eneriiy. It is according to an article in the New Yorli "Times," an amber-coloured fluid of a: faint and not unpleasant odour, not highly volatile, but liable to lie about for from two to four days. Phosgene and other poisons evaporate-so readily that they do not make any spot untenable for more than a few hours but "mustard" lingers from two to 'four days, depending on weather conditions. At the end of last year, at Cambrai, the importance of the weapon became manifest. British infantrj> held Bourlon Wood. Again and again" German troops were hurled against that redoubtable force. Ten times they attacked, and each time were driven back. Then came the official announcement of the British retirement. But enemy infan,try Had won no decision. Mustard-gas was the victor.

A drop of the fluid on a a so\dier's sleeve penetrates, and, after the lapse of hours, blisters like mustard. It is a deep burn,-and.causes great swelling. But nnfstard gas is so innocent in appearance and so inoffensive to the nostrils that the soldiers were not on their guard against it. The chief sufferers'were the artillerymen, who threw aside their masks after working for a time amid it. The masks were of little avail, anyhow, for the kind then in use did not last ten minutes in an atmosphere drenched with the drug. Such was the new weapon forced by Kaisercraft, the weapon the originator of which, as a German military asset is credited to be Dr. Nernst. '

In an interview on the subject, a noted American chemist, Dr Brooks, stated that the manufacture of "mustard" in large quantities was not a matter of a few days, because a large supply of electric; power and an expensive plant were required. A question arises as to how the Germans can advance through territory , they have subjected to this gas. if' the_ territory in untenable for tlie Allies it is untenable for the Germans, too. liiat is why some persons wonder that they can make such gains with it We are likely to think of the battlefront as being a solid line, like tho maps we see daily, with another line of trenches back of that. If the Western front were a, level plain, like an,lllinois prairie, that would be fairly true of it, and "as would not be so useful for the Germans ; but the situation actually is that there are certain. strongly held posts, such as Kemmel Hill or Messines Rido-e around which the fighting centres. °ltv is against such positions "that the Germans have been using gas. They do not use it indiscriminately. And, once the Allies are forced by gas out bf a strong position, they must fall back to others prepared in the rear. Maps are supplied to the German troops showing gassed areas, and Tn the advance they may avoid them until they are safe for occupancy. "One reason the mustard gas is so dangerous is that it seems so Innocent, .the smell is faint, and is not especially disagreeable. Tne vapours from the liquid can be inhaled without any immediate discomfort. The effect has been called 'chemical pneumonia.' The symptoms^ are similar—high fever, stertor-j ous breathing, arid sometimes stupor. \ Autopsies have .snown that the effect of tho gas on the lung tissues has been such that they break down like wet paper.

"Ihe chief danger of mustard gas is from contact. A soldier walking alonj«- : a trench wKich has had a sprinkling of it, rubs his shoulder, for instance, against the side of the trench, and a ■tiny drop gets on his coat. -It looks like a drop of oil. It does not hurt the cloth. He is likely to pay no attention to.it. It penetrates to tho flesh, but only causes a slight smarting. It is not until hours later that the effects are apparent. Then the flesh becomes pufty and red- the tissue swells enormously. The effect is similar to a very deep burn—a bnrn of the third or fourth class.

'When avmustard gas shell explodes it throws a fine mist over a wide area It; it gets into a soldier's ryes it blinds him. But our experiments have shown that it is not necessary to touch the eyes directly to cause blindness. The poison can be communicated through -"O tissue.

"How little of the stufF is effective is illustrated by an experience of my own. (Here Dr Brooks lifted a. scarred and reddened right hand.) Several months ae;o, when I was making an experiment some mustard gas got" between two of my lingers. It was so little that it escaped notice. It was not until nine o clock that night that my hand began to look pufty The next morning it was badly blistered."