SHELLS AND TEARS

Waikato Times, Volume 88, Issue 13432, 10 March 1917, Page 7

SHELLS AND TEARS

HUNGARIAN PEPPER. Frojeciilos asserted to be a now horror added to war arc mentioned from tune to time in t ] lo dispatches, and described m the "Lancet," in the shape ot shells which distribute, when they burst, a substance that irritates the eyes, causing a copious flow of tears. Anyone who has peeled.onions, says a recent exchange, knows how the sul-phur-oil causes discomfort and a How of tears, and can appreciate to a small extent what the tear-bomb means to the men m the trenches. No one has accused the Germans of shooting onions at their enemies. Acrolein, another tear-excitant, is also thought out of the question. Formaldehyde has been sugested. But the suspected new seasoning for the daily dish of explosives is pepper, which grows so abundantly in Hungary. Tile "Lancet's" discussion of this subject reads as follows:

"A new and frightful weapon of wartare introduced by the Germans is the lachrymal shell, and considerable discussion has turned upon the nature of the tear-exciting substance employed. There are, of.course, many well-known substances which, in contact with the moist tissue of the eyes, cause extreme irritation, and the copious How of tears that results in the natural attempt to remove the irritant.

•Perhaps the most homelv example of tear-excitant is the 'freshly-cut onion, which gives off 'only a. Very small quantity of acrid sulphur-oil, but sufficient to cause some pain and a flow of tears. One of the most powerful of tear-excitants is acrolein, obtained in tlie burning of fats or glycerine, but it is certain that the enemy would destroy no fatty substances.' Another acrid gas is formaldehyde, which possibly has been brought into service. Casa for Pepper. "But it is more likely that pepper has ben used, judging from the reports of those who have been exnosed to (Ins baptism. Pepper has, indeed, been used ;>i civil affairs to bring about the surrender of persons who have shut themselves in and defied capture by ordinary means. The plan has usiiallv been to burn ihrt pepper on a shovel and to direct the stream of irritating acrid fumes produced in to the apartment. The tear-exciting constituent is pro-bablv-o-.ipsiran. driven out of the pepper hy beat. Common popper appears to answer the purpose quite well, but

ca venue neper, or flip dried chili gives off an pxtremcJv pungent vapour, which is absolutely irrespirablc and exccodinglv irritating. '

"It is reported that the enemy is paving n vorv |,j KM ,„.j,, ( , 10 ,. p e pp pr] and it has heeii assumed that the eondimpnt was* wanted for use j n tin's wav as an offensive weapon, but it is quite conceivable that paprika, or red Hungarian popper, suits his 'purpose better. Large quantities of this pepper are grown in Hungary, wliere it is a very favourite eondiment, having the qualities of a mild cayenne. Tearshells are a modern horror, but protective men surcs are comparatively simple to adopt."