The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1918-11-19
CINDERS THAT SAVE LIVES
BY FREDERICK J. HAsKIN

The nutshell hgH become TO tho
United states as Important % war ma
teriul as steel. or nitrate. or T. n. 7,
Tho filter Of hard. hrittlc carbon,
which is all that stands between the
American soldier uud death by gas.
can be secured only from the cindcrs
of burned u~ut-shclls
Peach stones Chr 1879 seeds. pruuo
pits and olive sOods .l.t., ils8 horomO
important for though tine carbon
Yielded bN them ta not sufticicntly
hard for use by Itself, b. can. by miX-
turc with tho D,tbon from uut-shclls,
'he made into Sutfsf1Ctory litter. II "A
the plan OF the w1r department TO Sc
cure, " possible, every BIT ul nut-Hhcll
IN the Tinted States.
Huns Use Ca.
\ short time after tho first battle
of \ pres, when % Mortified American
Public was forced to acCcpt the al
most Incredible TACT that a supposedly
civilized nation had rcsorted to tho
use OF poisonous "A IN warfare, whom
IL read the tpTrihle and revolving
story of how the pct battalions Of Eng
land and Canada, caught u%nawarcs,
coughed out thylr lives IN wraCking
agony. certain ,homists of tho Depart
mcnt of agriculture and other branch
os OF the government service won set
at work TO devise q means of protec-
ton against TINS uondish form of at
tack. OF course, America. ~ that
time, seemed ALTOGETHER detached from
the world wur. lad the experiments
OF these chouu.ts were surrounded
with the greatcst secrecy
Gradually. tho CHEMISTS Of the al
lied unit were able 10 make ac-
curatc analysis Cd. the gas clouds floAt-
ed across the German lines. Bit by
E4N slA.r IaaNa-# #HLINln.la To- F.aUl no
them. Crude these methods were at
First, but were E1Tkcd bS stages to
ward perfection Hnd CSentually the
gaH lost most uI Iis terroTs Tor tie al.
lied soldier Tn, allies. themselves.
were compollci to adopt tho gas at
tack against th, Germans. Doubticss
they expected such a retaliation and
were PREPARED fog y. Tho American
chemists followed all these develop
mcnts with th, gfoatost attention.
Invent Gas Mash.
rs the time the United states en-.
tered tho wal tine mask had reached a
state of comparative perfection. the
experimentation was sttll gOing on,
and and is continuing row on a wider
scale than C,cr when the gas de-
Tense branch ut The chemical warfare
scrVice WAS created, the government
chemists who bad been WORKING ON
III ~ , fNNN|NN 80 wv - 81 ~
OF Yprcs. turned over To the atumy the
results OF their N%pcrimcnts In add
ton, British and French gas exports
supplied ms win a vast deal of inVnlu-
able gas data,
One thing WHICH had been learned
was hat q surface OF hard, firm car.
o was necessary us "A neutralizinp
agent. OrdiarilN charcoal would not
do. for IL has a tendency to "samb'' or
pack, and allow gas 10 cscape. II was
found that from the shells OF tho 70,
Connut and the COhunc Tint carbon
sufficiently hard for the purpose could
he obtained. Fruit as pinms, cherries
olives. nuts were imported a. yer,
great expense from tropical America
and elsewhere.
As the American war program cx.
banded, and successive drafts called
mon to the colors by the hundreds OF
thousands, the need for Gas masks eN.
banded with A. II soon became owl.
dent that the supply OF oan and
cohnne nut-shells could not meet the
demands. That rs one OF the prob.
lens which confronts the chemical
warfare service today. There la an
To provide each OF these mon with a
gas mask Will require aS.00O.O OC
pounds OF nut-shclls.
II was the experts OF the depart
ment OF agriculture, continuing Their
experiments independently. who dis,
covered that carbon Of sufficient hard
ness tor a mask purposes might he
derived from other things Thc>
tOunH that the bony shells OF blncl
wnlnnts, hickorios. English walnuts
butt, rnuts would answer lust as wei
as %cocoanuts or cohunes. They found
too. that the seeds OF such fruits az
plums, cherries. olives apr.cots
reachts aud prunes could he mad" 1,
yield a satisfactory carbon. This dis
coNery was made in the height VI The