Omaha daily bee., 1916-04-19
Deep Sea
.PolsonS
" WOODS HUTCHINSON, NJ. D.

| Confirmed landlubbers as we have be-
come. We have never been able TO get
very far inland after all AT most wo
havo only become sort OF horse-nln-
rines. and our blood stlll tastes salty. To
paraphrsse Woodsworth
! tho inland far we be,
In seasons OF fair weather
our cells have sight Of that great sea
That brought Us hlther.'
That is why the first glimpse Of the
blue and silvery CLEAN OF the open sea
over the far hills or the first sniff OF
its salt spray thrills US so
But our memories Of the deep sea arc
not all friendly and pleasant Deadly
perlls Turk there MS well and some Of
these we have conIured w from ~
waters and brought on shore with ~
Sea water was from the beginning ou1
principal source or table salt, and IL was
early found that in the process Of It's
crude manufacture there was produced
curious residue, or mother-llquor Of 4
dark brown color and even darker brown
taste and smell bitter pungent and nau-
seous 10 the last degree
N this bitter sea broth we're allowed
70 stick 10 the bottom Of the kettle and
burn. fiercely choking and irritating VA
pors would be given Off which would set
everybody N Tho neiEhborhood sneezlng
ana coughing NJ once,
One day an inqplsItlve forefather Of
chemistry GANG nosing about the salt
hotties took some of this brown liquor,
put Il In retort and proceeded 10 take
q sWAg - A.. IA ~
or rather smell
lie found that the gas Of such evil
odor WAS made ~ two parts ~one OF
brown color with purplish lights arount
the cdgoa, the other a light, yclloai h
green yapor-tth of them equally sur
locating md poisonous Tho dark brown
gas, apparently bccausc II vas nearest
the color Of sin and his satanic majesty
he loaded with the whole blame for The
offensive odor and called II bromnc.
The other, witch was Just as aboni-
Unable TO smc and as poisonous 70
breathe got on easy on account of rs
lighter color and had no worse cplthet
Wished on IL than the rather musical
and picturesque name Of chlorine, which
IN Greek merely means yellow, or yellow
lsh green,
Neither Of these Spirits from the Vastly =
deep" needs further Introduction TO
modern audience other Than to say that
from the magic combinations OF the dark
slstcr with silver platinum ard other
metals have come most OF the triumphs
OF photography, bromide prints; tho
wen known nerve scdativa bromide oF
potassium. and Mr. Gelott Burgess IA
nous cpithct, Dent be bromide
While from the light green gas hayo
come chloride Of lime, chloroform,
choral, chlorodyne chloretone, hydro
chloric acid In fact, almost everything
with "chlo" IN It's nari1e--cxcept, chloro-
phyll the green coloring matter Of the
vegetable world which derives It's name
from the same Greek root.
For some time after their discovery the !
services Of these sea kepies went more
or less a-begglng. they were so irritating
and poisonous In pure form that here
appeared no useful work TO which they
could be put
A few attempts we're made 70 utllllo
them as disinfectants and insect killers
and yermin destroyers In houses and
ships and warehouses. but their choking
aple and chung about buildings or fabrics
so long alterward that they never won
much practical favor. In fact. as pure
gases they femained little more than
abstract facts OF science chemical Curl
osltles
But one shameful day a coid-blooded
scientific war began to be planned andA
casting about In the infernos OF the lab =
oratory for some new way OF numbering
men wholesale tIese two gases were tum-
bied upon They were nearly ideal for
the purpose so ficrcey torturing and
choking as to disable an enemy almost
at the first Whit and so deadly poison./
Gus as to almost insure his death afteE
ward in lingering agony.
But what Ia even more important from
the point OF view OF economic butchery |
and wholesale slaughter, they were OK
tremely cheap and accessible, AZ they
could he made out of either sea water or
common salt, -..
The principal element In the now
world.famous poison gas OF the trenches
is chlorine because this gas Ia present in
and can be extracted from sea water IN
large amounts or made directly from
common salt Chloride OF sodium,
But az the darker gas, bromide. il
even more irritating and poisonous.
though more expensive and scarcer II
has apparently been combined with tina
chlorine In some instances. so far as
Of expense will admit THIS
is what is believed 10 have given 20 thu
fumes ~ the poison gas the deep orange
yellow color described BY many obsery.
ers, As chlorine alone u Of light green.
Ish- yellow, scarcely darker and not much
denser than Mood smoke But As tho
precise composition ~ this DEVILS brew
Is kept military secret, II ia not posi-.
bic 20 say exactly What combination of
these two Or ut other poisonous gases "a