Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1859-05-27
THE WORK OF HUMAN SIAuc1

LIE w ORk OF HUMAN OLA UGHTER-
Ho,O can 1t best be done .2-The fol-
lowing communication from DR.. Lard
ner, which recently appeared in the
Londen Times, will have melancholy
interest at this time:
SIRs The public attention having
been recently invited to various expe-
dents, chiefly mechanical, by which
the destructive power Of projectiles
used in war can be augmented, it Will
not be considered inopportune to sug-
gest to the authorities the advantages
that may be derived from chemical
agents, which, though sufficiently fam
iliar in the laboratory, would, as far
as 1 know, be altogether novel in the
field and on the water. As the destruc-
tive powers of such agents do not de-
pend on any secret properties Of their
materials, and have therefore no spec
ulative or merely theoretical character,
they may be deemed the more deserv-
ing the attention Of practical men.
Hitherto the offensive engines of war
destroy the enemy by mere mechanical
effects, cutting or piercing vital parts,
tearing off members, and destroying
life either instantaneously, or disabling
the enemy by manning and mangling
his body. The class Of destructive
agents to which | would now demand
attention would produce totally differ
ent and much more destructive effects.
If any objection to what I suggest be
raised on the score Of humanity, it may
be answered by the fact, that, in pro-
portion as the destructive power of
warlike agents has been augmented the
proportion of life lost in war has de-
creased. The invention of gunpowder
has been the means Of saving thousands,
even millions Of lives.
Compounds are known in chemistry
which, when exposed to the air, spon-
taneously ignite, difusing through the
surrounding atmosphere gases or va
pors of odors so insuferable that men
forced to respire them would be rem
dered utterly incapable of eAectual
action. Shells charged with such COM
pounds exploding in the gun-room of
vessel, or anywhere between decks,
would, without destroying life or limb,
disable the enemy. Compounds having
such properties are very numerous.
But there are others of much more
formidable character chemistry can
readily supply. There are certain
compounds called in chemistry by the
not very euphonious name Of "kaho-
dyles," Of which arsenic is one of the
constituents, which, on exploding, not
only difuse exhalations which render
the surrounding atmosphere insufera-
bic in respiration, but impart to it also
qualities which are poisonous in the
most deadly degree. These compounds
being eminently volatile, explode
spontaneously when exposed to the air.
In burning, the metallic arsenic, one of
their constituents combining with the
oxygen Of the air forms fumes of white
arsenic, which, being difused through
the surrounding air, kills all who
breathe it. What the effect of shells
charged with such compounds would be,
bursting in ship, or within a besieg-
ed fort, or in the midst Of closely
packed ranks, need not be described.
| The chemist can supply many COM
pounds, having these properties in diff
ferent degrees. But the laboratory can
furnish agents still more destructive.
There are compounds into which the
gas called cyanogen enters into COM
bination with arsenic. A shell charg-
ed with such compound, upon explod-
ing, would produce terrific effects. The
humidity with which the surrounding
air is always more or less charged
would be decomposed f.; its oxygen COM
bining with the arsenic would form the
vapor Of arsenous acid, which is the
substance commonly called arsenic and
known as deadly poison, while the n.y.
drogen, the other constituent of the
decomposed moisture, combined with
the cyanogen, would form the still
more fearful poison called by chemists
hydrocianic acid, but more Familiarity
known to the public as prussic acid.
By the explosion of such shell the
surrounding air would be instantly i'm
pregnated with the vapors Of two Of
the most fearful poisons known.
1t is easy to perceive what formida-
bic mischief might be produced by
such shells thrown into towns or among
crowded bodies of men from distances
of six or eight miles by the artillery
recently invented. Before such agents
gunpowder would "pale its Intellectual
fires"
q