Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-03
Protection From Poison Gases Used by Germans France

ly come the burns on the skin, which
can be bad (going to burns of the Sec
ond degree), but are oftener ligh., ap-
pearing late, which is the queerest and
most treacherous of all. The mustard"
attack is over. You are o. K. Then,
suddenly you find you are not-just,
perhaps, the moment when you need
yourself.
These mustard" burns look like red
splotches. They may be painful, even
frightful. but never mortal, except
when Every seldom) a great surface of
skin minimum, quarter of the body
is affected. This can occur to men stay
ing in the gas. thick, for long time,
safe in their masks, while their pores
are sweating over a large surface.
You see, the mustard" gas affects
damp surfaces, and here is the proven
tive remedy-a certain special powder
when used together with his mask. but
the poor little tots in the Children's
Hospital at Armentieres had not been
powdered. Yet they felt safe, with their
masks.
And here is another vile part of it.
You smell the "mustard as soon as it
comes. You clap on your mask and
your skin is powdered. all o. K. But
mixed with the bombardment are shells
of diphenulchorarsine-a body which
expands to a damp gas containing ar
senic, invisible, odorless and very sub
tie, which (unless stopped by proper
methods) penetrates through the filters
of the mask and gives you terrific de-
sire to sneeze. Men have torn off their
masks-they had to sneeze! Alas! in
that short time. they breathed chlorine
and other hateful poisons.
Fortunately, there is an excellent pre-
ventive against diphenulchor. But the
moral of it all is in what follows.
Clear days, clear weeks of sweet, clean
air pass, in a sector. Thousands of men
will not see the canary droop or hear
the bell toll. Yet they must watch the
good condition of their masks religious
ly, and submit them to continual in
spection, not to mention other proven
tives. GA boy named Jim would not
powder his skin. One day they got him.
I put this all wrong expressly not to
inform the enemy) 1t is all of life-and-
death Importance, because suddenly the
gas wave comes, the gas shells fall!
Which shows that masks, although
magnificent, are not enough.
Nor the most potent individual pre-
ventive stuff.
Human nature is human nature
Ask a soldier to fight. but not to be
a doctor.
Every lad don't work to plan, like a
machine.
Which means that we might lose
many on the American front (both
french ana udNS Hdu peiu
affairs from gas) unless aided by the
considerable works which I have men
toned, concerning whose nature 1t is
not permitted to tell a single word. yet
whose considerable expense will have
to be borne by the American public
on faith.
So, you will know.
It is lives against dollars.
Knowing what is known. how would
a war department be excusable for not
preparing. regardless of expense? AS
the German idea of warfare is scien-
tifically cruel. they will try to subject
our boys to every subtle trickery which
their fertile brains can suggest. And
a S French losses are equivalently our
French front.
We must even act on the principle
that many boys will get Whit of gas
and be promptly saved. If a shell can
tear down a house, it can pull off
mask. Masks have been pulled of by
air commotion, which bursts windows
and overthrows tables. In moments of
their masks. Wounded men lie in the
trenches and their masks get saturated
They must be saved very promptly.
The remedies abound, but their
prompt application means the saving
of a combatant, loss of time. clogging
of hospitals and perhaps untold suffer-
ing. Take a detail. In an advance
is always possible. yet the men, in their
excitement of victory and with their
lungs pumping from heavy exercise
and craving free air. may be caught
with their masks off far from their
base. You see? When boy has had
He can continue next day fighting in
his sector. STERT INr<s y1E'TT re 81