El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-10-26

WASHINGTON, D. C., Oct 26--Un-
w Gle sans army Of scientists! It
is already numbered by tens Of thou
sands, and the government has Just
taken over the colleges 10 educate
thousands more. I talked today with
a group Of university men who have
been at work for months preparing a
text book Of military geology TO be
used by the boys OF the draft, and
other text books viii be made. deal
ing with physics and chemistry as
applied TO the war
Cen Pershing has his regiments Of
foresters, who handle all problems Of
lumber and care for the timber from
the French woods. He has his corps
of biologists who tell him where
trenches can be located, so that the
water viii drain away from rather
into them
Cen. Pershing has his camouflage
division, experts in the science OF op-
tics as wei as in art. He has his in
dividual topographers and map max
ers who survey and plat out the
ground showing the best places for
railroads to carry men and supples
TO the front and bring PACK the
wounded From such maps the ar
tfllery officers determine the heights
and the holloWs where the big guns
are to be placed They snow Wnere
the rivers can be 1Orded or Dr1dged,
and the best routes for motor car
roads. Many OF these topographers
are men from our geological survey.
They have been plating the United
States for years and showing its
drainage
IS the chemical service selected from
the ablest men Of that branch OF
science from all over the union. and
allied to it is the vast number OF
chemists who are working upon war
problems at home. We have. IN fact,
as a part of the bureau Of ordnance at
Washington a division of chemical
warfare which deals with poisonous
gases as a means OF human destruc-
ton.
And then there is the army OF sci
entists connected with the health Of
the soldier. have not the latest sta
tistics. but not long ago we had 1S.-
900 doctors actually working, and It
was then estimated that We would
need $4,000 nurses to help them
There are also thousands Of doctors
doing war work at home, both here
1t Washington and in hospitals all
Dver the country Some are engaged
making plans whereby they may be
taught trades and still do their work
in the world
We have a large number OF medi-
10 test aTiators and others and TO
show how TO build up the minds Of
the men affected by shock. and we
have opticians and specialists Of eT-
cry description Among the doctors
are the MayOs, who have left their
enormous practice to work for the
war, and others who have been max
ing tens OF thousands OF dollars
year and who now work Tor Uncle
Sam on the salaries OF captains ma
- laI-inrn al
Army Of Dentists.
We have enough dentists already
enlisted to take care OF an army Of
100000 men. The total number of
such officers when the war began was
only IS. It now aQproZlmates 5000,
and there is a large number OF such
men in the ranks. During the draft
something like 5000 dentists agreed
TO give gratuitous service in examin-
ing the teeth Of the enlisted soldiers.
and several hundred thousand opera
tons have been performed by them.
II is not improbable that We snail
have 10000 dentists IN the army It
self before. the war closes
Science in Munitions.
IS TO the scientific work done at
home. this embraces every branch Of
the war preparations and almost ev-
cry industry which is now going on
very munitions plant has its chemical
and physical laboratories where the
shells and explosives are tested. and
where the action and reaction Of ev-
cry element is actually gagged before
IL is used Many OF the parts must
be fitted TO the one ten-thousandth Of
an inch. and the weights must be so
exact that a baby's hair would turn
the scale. Il is the same in the air
plane factory, where a half dozen diff
ferent woods are joined together to
make the prOpellers and where every
bit OF metal is tested to the breaking
point before it goes into the machine.
The liberty motor used in the air
planes was produced by two engi-
ueers. who are now officers IN the
aviation service. They were told Just
what Uncle sam wanted and they
took a staff Of craftsmen and locked
themselves into q suite Of rooms,
where for five days they worked on
the drawings for the liberty motor.
When they came out they had the
plans ready for building This mo-
tor viii send an airplane through the
sky at more than 100 miles an hour.