POISON GAS ANTIDOTE

Taranaki Daily News, 9 June 1932, Page 7

POISON GAS ANTIDOTE

DISCOVERY IN ENGLAND.

RESEARCH OFFICER’S DEATH.

The staff of the Chemical Defence Research Department of the War Office in England has at last, after experiments, stretching over 14 years, discovered an effective antidote to all gases used in modern warfare. It was disclosed in London that men have been sprayed with poison gas;' The antidote was applied. The men survived the tests, normal and healthy. Not only is the discovery of the greatest value as a means of military defence—it is a gift to humanity. It means that the 8,000,000 citizens of London and the populations of other cities cannot now be killed in a night, poisoned horribly by gas bombs dropped from the air. f But in the triumph of this discovery there is the tragedy of sacrifice. The chief expert in charge of the- experiments, Major W. R- Galwey, M.C., MB., D.Ph., died on March 6. fie was only 52. He had devoted 16 years of his life to finding the antidote. He was daily in contact with the most deadly poisons in the world, always experimenting, working all day and fai into the night. ; The cause of death was gn en as pneumonia. But his staff are certain that he gave his life for his country as surely as any soldier dying on a shellscarred battlefield. The real experimental station, where the materials and apparatus are tried” out, is at Borton, Wiltshire, where a number of retired senior officers of the artillery and engineers, with a band of civil scientists, have investigated to find protection against gas. Now the life-saving formula has been found. Major Galwey, aftei a brilliant army career, retired in 1926. He then accepted a civilian post as head of a department at Borton, and a year later was appointed director of experiments. Mrs. Galwey .said her husband had worked ceaselessly, and gave his whole life to research work.