POISON ROMANCE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16462, 14 June 1919, Page 3

POISON ROMANCE.

23 TRIALS TO FIND A DEFENCE. BRITISH SCIENCE WONDERS. Bit by bit the story is being told of how, working secretly, British men of science beat Germany as effectively as the British soldiers did in the'ffeki.. Every branch of industry must eventually benefit by their work, wEch ex. tended from munitions-to the. tolotheS we wear and the food we eat. Poison gas, for which a commercial use will no doubt be found, wae the subject of a long series of experiments undertaken by Professor Brereton Baker; and his colleagues at the British Imperial College of Science. They were asked -first to combat German gas and. then to produce a gas even more deadly, Professor Baker; sent to France to find out the secret of the gas used M the first German attack, received m best aid from a dying Canadian soldier. 2 With his legs blown off and know, ing himself to be on the point of d eauhj the man yet told his story with calmness and invincible heroism. .- After describing the effect of the gaa wave, he added: “Out off my tumo buttons and take my bayonet—you will then be able to tell how the gas is made. The professor acted on the; sup gestion and nis investigations into the corrosive action of tfe gas led to discovery <>f the first'means used ta protect our men. - " ’ ‘: Later word cam© that the Germans had in preparation -a deadlier gas- "he character of it was discovered. Experiment after experiment was tried before a defence could be found. -“4™-’ trials success came. ‘ Out of 35,000 men drenched with the new gas only two died, and they were men who had used the old pattern mask. . ' . , A better gas for offence against the Hun was discovered by patient lahqratoary work, and the new and temblel British gas shell was finally sent in overwhelming quantities to France., .The chemists also made great advance in explosives. “AmatoT, by the Research Department at Woolwich, pioved so cheap and effiectave a high explosive that before the end of the war it had been adopted by the Americans, and also largely used by the French, m mustard gas the British chemists .completely beat the Germans, obtaining a vield of 99 per cent., as compared with the German yield of 40 to 60 per cent, from the same material. . Similarly the chemists came to the rescue of the margarine-makers, showing them how to apply a French scientific discovery to the problem of turning a liquid vegetable oil into a solid fat by the use of finely divided metal-as « “matrimonial agent.”