Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-03-02
DEADLY CHEMICALS MADE
U,EFUL AND HARMLESS
Daily Letter BY Frederic j. Haskin

AS1tlN1 YIN Cp'
conference for the Limitation OF
Armaments. recently concluded mere
agreed upon a treaty ending the
use of the a in warfare and upon
chemical warfare generally. UntlI
the senate ratifes this treaty it will
not be binding upon the United
states. of course, and there is strong
opposition to ratification from o
who contend that troops and ships
could be rendered ineffective easily
and with fewer deaths and perma-
nent injuries through the use OF
chemicals than with older weapons
of war.
At this time, though, the chemi-
cal warfare service is turning its at
itention to peace time uses OF tne
combinations of chemicals worked
out during the war.
Before the war Germany had
practically q world monopoly IN
Imany chemical lines. So far as the
United States is concerned, its new
lchemieal industry, while growing
tremendously, is classed as an infant
Industry. An industrial war between
the German chemical houses ana
American manufacturers is in prog
ress now. This fact has helped to
stimulate the army to finding peace
uses for war gases.
~Phosgene gas. described as the
most effective weapon of this sort
devised during the war, is now beng
used in the manufacture of per
fume. 1t is being converted into a
delicate, penetrating and lasting VIC
LOT ,Narf,,n,n which is aNnpCted 10
gain considerable popularity.
In the work of converting chemi-
Gals to the uses of peace and indus
try, the chemical warfare service Is
: cooperating with the Treasury De
partment. the Department of the In
i. terror, the Department of Agricul
ture, and the Department of Com
merce, as we'll as the Bureau o
standards. One or more co-opera
> tive projects with each of these o
| ernmental agencies has been under
taken.
Shin Fumigation Experiments
: With the Treasury Department
3 there has been taken up the ques
ltion of fumigating ships, with tn
] idea of making this fumigation NOR
efficient and at the same inns safei
At present, h~ydrocyanic acid gas i
J used for this purpose. The grea
trouble with it is that after fumi
cation it is difficult to determine tina
= this highly poisonous gas has bee
lremoved from all parts of the shil
5 1t is not readily detected by odor o
, otherwise. Deaths now and then oc
. cur from some one entering a com
Ipartment from which all of the fun
l.-.. .,. hoo ,,af hann ranlnVnd
Then occurred the idea of CON
bining tear gas with the poisonou
lhydrocyanic acid gas. Co-operativ
= ~experiments are being conducte
with this end in view. Difficultie
: have arisen, as is usually the case i
I this experimental work, but thes
: idifficulties are being ironed out raj
| idly, and there is promise that I'll
I Public Health Service of the Treas
! ury Department soon will have at II
command a ship fumigation metho
much safer to human life than tina
I which has been used.
Phosgene gas to kill rats is bein
; experimental with, too. In one eA
. lperiment undertaken with h Put
lie Health Service this gas was use
: AGAINST the rats in the seawall
/, lSan Juan, Porto Rico. The eNperl
Il FNRf
ment was pronounced officially Q
: "of value as the determination {
rats in seaports is of the prr
cipal means of guarding the countr
( against the entry of plague.
In the experiments undertake
0 with the Department of the InterioI
1.-THE use of the "a mask for indus
trial purposes is being developed
Close cooperation exists betwee
the Bureau of Mines and the Chen
5 Iical Warfare Service. Many IDEAS
great value in the use of the So
mask in industry haze been develop
4 ed. notably the discovery of "hor
9 Ecalite,f which when put in the car
| lister of a a mask, changes tn
!, ideally carbon monoxide gas er
|countered in mines and about bla:
] furnaces into harmless Carlo
n dioNide.
Making Ice Plants Safe
a The use of ammonia in hotel
restaurants. ice plants, and the liz
for ~refrigerating purposes has be
leone extensive. Ammonia gas