The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-25
From the Washington Times.

From the Washington Times.
 @ OR many years anesthetics have TO been hailed as among humanity greatest boons. Untold suffering hoth in peace and war, has been alleviat- ed by these agencies of blessing.
 But now comes a bold explorer in the field of experiment-a Massachusetts man-who proposes that anesthetcs shall assume an aggressive activity Tn warfare of the future, that they shall supplant the death-dealing powder ana shell upon which civilized men now de- nend to wipe each other from the face of the earth.
 It is really from the high plane or humanitarianism that the inventor pro- poses to supplant modern methods of war with the anesthetic device.
 Instead of killing the enemy, of tear ing great gaps in their ranks with shot and shell, of rendlng them limb from limb and strewing horrible trophies of battle over a gory field, he would sim ply put them to sleep.
 The idea is to load the shells used by the army and navy with a prepara- ton that has the properties of chloro- form It is said that this preparation is carbon tetrachloride.
 When these shells burst over the heads of the enemy, the inventors claims, the gases released would at once take effect upon all persons in the vicinity producing a profound stupor and in many instances causing suffocation.
 Suppose, for instance. the willy Jar had used this unique method instead ot bullets and shell upon the bloody fields of Manchuria, half or more of the dreadful carnage of those battles would have been avoided.
 Battalons and regiments of Russians would have sunk upon the ground in peaceful slumber, instead of furnishing thousands of ghastly victims for the hospitals and death trenches.
 Then. coolly walking over to their prostrate foes, the Japs would have had only to disarm them and make them prisoners. Of course, many of the enemy might have been suffoeated by the fumes. but their death would have been painless.
 It is intended by the discoverer or in- ventor of this novel system of warfare to supply it to only one nation. bat tie in which both sides were shooting sleeping potions would be likely to result in a draw, with no decisive results.
 Wishing his country to have the first chance to equip its army and navy with sleep-producins sheels, he offers the device to the United States govern ment.
 Ordnance experts as rule do not take much stock in such devices. The idea is not a new one; it comes before the board of ordnance and fortification nearly every year in some form.
 The invention of the Massachusetts man, however, was taken up In, a serious way. and experiments were recently made at the Sandy Hook proving ground by direction of the Secretary of War.
 At first the experiment was made upon lower animals, there being two rabbits and a like number of guinea pigs. Aft erward the experiment was made upon a man. The officials of the war depart ment worked upon the theory advanced by medical men that the action of cer- tain drugs and chemical compositions has a somewhat similar effect upon hu- man beings as upon the lower animals.
 Several gallons of the anesthv.ic was furnished for the experiment The fluid was contained in force pump with a spray nozzle attached Trials were made in the open air. with the animals and the man placed at varying distances It cannot be said thar the first experi-