The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-31
GERMANS NEW WAR WEAPON.
An Anesthetic Bomb That Puts the
Opposing Army to Sleep Instantly.

Opposing Army to Sleep Instantly.
New York, Oct 29.-The action of King
MeneIk in sending an ambassador to Rus
STA, bearing gifts of fruit and gold, and
messages of love and esteem, has set the
French and Turkish powers at rest re-
garding the future movements of that
monarch. But it has made Germany feel
uncertain.
The Germans are always first in war
and last in peace. Their record, glori-
Gus one, is that of cleverness in warfare
and undying enmity. They are fine friends
and firm foes. In no country has warfare
reached quite the high stage of develop
ment which it has attained in Germany.
The most powerful battleships and the
greatest guns ever built have gone into
the kaiser's realm.
Not content with all these, Germany has
now called in her medical force to assist
her in the devices of war. Germany, the
home of medicine, has become the origl-
nator of war weapon, which, working
as it does, upon the human system, will
prove the most formidable ever projected
upon a field of battle.
If this new weapon proves as success
full as the German chemist who invented
it says it will, it may convert warfare
into peace To be more plain, 1t may do
away with all wars and unite nations by
methods that are wholly pacific.
This weapon is a bomb which can be
fired from any large projectile. The bomb
is of thin material only strong enough
to hold the light fluid contained in it. On
being fired from the gun, it files into the
air until it reaches a considerable hight,
where it explodes and sends its contents
down upon the enemy.
Inside the bomb there is a strong an
aesthetic mixture, which acts upon the
senses like chloroform. 1t puts the enemy
to sleep, and the soldiers over whom the
spray falls drop to the ground as though
under the influence of a hypnotic spell.
The strongest can only stagger a moment
under the influence of its odor.
The anaesthetic does not KILL 1t simply
stupefies. The soldier falls to the ground
and lies there unconscious for period va
rying from five to fifteen minutes. Then
he rises feebly and staggers around death
| " sick but alive and awake. The strong
est man cannot recover his equilibrium
under an hour after partaking of the gas
| and the average soldier, weakened by
| for a day; his nerve gone and his power
| lost.
The bomb mixture is a secret, but it
| is probable that it contains either chic
reform or ether and possibly both. 1t
| may also have a dash of cocaine. These
| are compressed to the greatest extent,
| and the bombs are filled with them. The
largest size bombs are used, and they
are fired as close to the enemy as pos
sible. They explode an instant after fir
ing, and the air is filed with heavy
| anaesthetic vapor
The possibilities of this mode of war
fare are too bewildering to contemplate.
| If the German army were able to put
| the army of England to sleep, it could
| walk over the Frustrated bodies of the
| unfortunate soldiers and capture city
| after city and stronghold after stronghold.
| They could project bombs into England S
| warships, and, while captain and crew
were lying senseless, could board them
! and place the English sailors in chains.
1t would offer infinite possibilities for
the capturing of prisoners, and would
| enable the army to take the entire regi-
ment and walk into the enemy's quar-
| tiers.
It is an admitted fact that most wars
would be avoided could the heads of the
governments discuss the situation without
heat. With this big and powerful weapon
in the background, governments knowing
the fate in store for them, might be
brought to terms without the aid of arms,
| and so the anaesthetic arms would be a
/ missile of peace.
The progress of anesthetics is one of
the most interesting studies of medical
| history 1t is only within the memory
of the Oldest living generation that people
were made drunk before being operated
! upon. There was no known drug that
would put the senses to sleep without in
juring the body. Then came laughing
gas that comedy of anesthetics After
wards followed ether, and then came the
adaptation of chloroform and ether TO the
cone Anesthesla is now the conmonest
of medical phenomena, and is in such
constant use that even the layman does
not hesitate to employ it. The idea OF
adapting it to he army is not a difficult