Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-03-02

sure, and when a leak occurred II
was formerly impossible for anyone
to enter the room and shut Off the
valves. The Chemical Warfare Ser
vice discovered that silica gel, used
in the canister of a a mask, was
adequate protection against am
monia gas. This has proven a great
boon to industry, and made an am
monia leak an easily controlled n
minor event.
The research work of this service
has developed tremendously the
knowledge about the production n
, uses of high grade charcoal. Rela-
lively little had been known o 1t.
| One of the uses of this high grade
charcoal is in obtaining gasoline
from natural gas. Experiments are
now under way with the idea of pro-
ducing charcoal direct from coal,
something of immense industrial
importance which has never yet
been done.
In cooperation with the Depart
ment of Agricultural chemical eN-
periments are being conducted for
development of new means of de-
stroying animal and bird pests in
this country. Tentative projects
have been outlined for killing go
piers. ground squirrels, blackbirds,
and other pests which do millions
of dollars of damage to crops every
year. Chlorine gas, first used by the
Germans at Ypres-haS been found
ef1cacious in exterminating gophers'
Cooperative projects are under
way to determine what chemical
agents are useful for DISCRIMINATING
insect pests and to hit upon the best
means for employing them. Severa'
of the most important war gases
have given great promise of useful
ness in this direction. Partial sue
cess has been obtained in finding
lchemical ear of fighting the cot
ton boil weevil. Experiments will
gas bombs to control forest fires il
their initial stages Were tried, ant
THE information gained has been o
Ibeneft to the Forest Service.
Fighting Potato Bugs
One use to which chemicals arr
= being put is in the eradication o
the blister beetle, commonly Gale,
. 1.-THE potato bug. These insects max
their appearance suddenly, and
s reliable insecticide is necessary il
t order to control them. There ar
: and have been insecticides on tn
t market for years, but the Chemica
Warfare Service has experiments,
Ialong this line with the idea If oh
r taining an even more reliable mean
: of combating this pest and on
: which could be sold at a lower pric
: than usually obtains. 1t is officiall
,tata1 fl,ot two 1,,a hln ,.ayp1tS Iox
been obtained to date from the &C
S tual test of these chemicals o
Q plants
d For the Bureau of Standards. tn
sIChemical Warfare Service is co-or
n Grating to aid in determining tn
e flow of gas from natural gas field
: through the medium of great me
e tiers. The apparatus of the Chem
: ical Warfare Service will be use
S for this purpose.
d Chemical means are being>used G
t experimented with to destroy locust
in the Philippine Islands, rats in tn
g sugar cane fields of Hawaii. in tn
: matter of spraying, fruit trees frol
airplanes, and in the improvement
d of the oxygen breathing apparatu
in use in mines the world over. Or
: difficulty with this apparatus hi
5 been to find something imperviot
to gasoline vapors, and it is believe
: THAT this difficulty oon will be ovei
come through the perfection of
chemically treated cloth.
n Another important development
looming out of the necessity of dc
vising clothing and materials in
lpervious to mustard gas. has bee
n to obtain much material of value
determining methods of waite
f proofing cloth and leather.
This does not pretend to he a SUI
vey of all of the commercial and il
dustrial uses to which war chem
= lcals are being put. 1t is merely a
@ outline, necessarily incomplete.