Evening star., 1924-06-05
GAS CHAMBER At EDGEWOOD
PERFORMS MARVELLOUS CURES
Numerous Bronchial Ailments Yield to Chlorine and
Invention OF Death Becomes Agent OF
Healing at Hands of Army Doctors.

looking panel, the first thing the
latest visitor noticed was group of
men sitting around the unvarnished
| walls, either reading newspapers or
I staring blankly into space and trying
| to look natural"
1t was easy 10 pick the initiated.
They had every appearance OF man
| who has done something that he
| wishes he had never started 10 do. but
| IS game1y wondering when the shock
| is coming. Then, when one hnally
summoned UP enough courage to look
| one corner of the chamber. In II
| were two motheaten looking bird
| dogs suffering from mange--uoes ana
| men common companions IN olstress
noise outside and the patients be-
| came conscious of a strong current OF
air circulating around the chamber.
At least one felt decidedly panlcky,
but some who were sGdns Sans were an,e'ss as s
! much at ease as though they were
| sitting in a barber shop, aGaltins
| their turns. The first real effect OF
| the gas is a cooling sensation IN th.. ,he
| haci of the throat. That is all: But
there is decided feeling OF re-
| Taxation when the whirrinG stops, an
officer opens the door ana sfniilnsi!
says: That viii be enough ior 'oo"s' ;
| gentlemen"
| Kills Taste for Tobacco.
r ,,,,ir,ine noise is nothing in
ths world hut an electrically driven
fan THAT forces tremendous quanti-
/ ties of pure air, mixed with com
| naratiyeiy minute quantity OF gas
| into the chamber. The gas hS
rather pleasant odor and leaves no
IL has TEMPORARILY, but thoroughly
| destroyed ones taste for tobacco.
Iciearette taken Immediately after the
| casing tastes like a dose OIL oi''ef
medicine. ..a of
an accident in the gas chamber as
there is of a doctor poisoning q
patient with an ounce OF castor on;
| Special apparatus has been perIecte4 u
| for measuring accurately the ratio " "
gas to air, and to make assura nee
doubly sure, medical officers take
| FREQUENT samples OF air from the
| chamber through small glass TUBES
and analyze them while the parents
are inside. They can aeterfh,ne nassine Ine
| through the chamber to the most
minute fraction.
Write for Directions.
Already hospitals, schools and in
dustrial plants are writing TO the
arsenal for directions as to the con-
struction of similar gas chambers,
and in the not far distant future a
| man almost anywhere in the United
| States who thinks he is getting a
cold may be able to run up to the
nearest chamber, spend a comfortable
| hour in its fumes and walk out en-
| tirely cured. The treatment OF other
| bronchial disturbances is said TO be
| equally as simple.
A commercial house in New York
| Is experimenting with smaller
| apparatus that physician may carry
| around in his automobile. If II proves
| successful the administration of the
: gas will be possible right in the sick
persons bedroom. Even though it
| however, officers at the arsenal
pointed out that il will be quite
simple to establish the gas chambers
in schools. hospitals and industrial
plants and supply them with tanks
of safely diluted chlorine
Chlorine gas is just as effective on
horses and other animals as il is on
human beings. Last winter an cpl
demic of influenza broke out in the
sta ables at Fort Hoyle, where regi-
ment of artillery is stationed. Almost
before the officers knew it, forty
seven horses were infected. and ordi-
| narily 700 of the 500 stabbed there
would have been stricken The death
>.
| But right there the medical officers
| of the chemical warfare service
! stepped in.
stopped Epidemic.
| Without waiting to build a special
| gas chamber, the forty-seven horses
were gassed as they stood in their
| stalls. Thirty-six were cured by the
! first dose, eight required only two
! doses and the other one four. And
what is still more remarkable, the
! epidemic was stopped in its tracks.
Not another horse in the regiment
| was infected and not horse was lost.
| Now there is a tar paper gas chamber
| for the special use of horses who are
stricken with colds or bronchial infec-
| tons
Chlorine has long been used as a
disinfectant. Its usefulness as a sure
cure for colds. however, was first sus-
pected shortly after that fateful day
| in 1915. when the Germans virtually
decimated a British division on the
Ypres front with chlorine gas The
Germans noticed that not only were
| the men who handled it cured of
colds, but those who were known to
carry cultures of meningitis in their
throats were rid of the germs en-
tireiy.
| Immune From Influenza.
| The Germans were too busy fight
ing the French and British to more
| than look casually into the discovery,
| but when Edgewood arsenal was
| working at top speed supplying the
American troops with defensive gases.
the influenza epidemic swept the
country. Although most of the arse
nal was fiat on its back with the
dreaded epidemic, not a man in the
chlorine department was affected
Then the Army began to look care
fully into the use of the gas for the
, treatment of influenza
Brig. Gen. Amos A. Fries. head of
| the chemical warfare service, has de-
voted much Of his time to researches
into the effect OF chlorine gas on
germs common to he bronchial or
gans.. Its development along that
line has been largely due to the work
Of Col. II. l.. Gilchrist. Lieut.. Col. Z.
B. vedder and Capt. H. p. Sawyer,
who are in charge of the medical re-
search laboratories at Edgewood ar
senaL
Frequently they subjected them
selves to experiments early in the re-
searches and the use Of the gas for
medical purposes was first perfected
at Edgewood. The cost of manufac-
turing the gas is negligible and a
tank worth less than SIS has already
treated more than a thousand persons
at Edgewood arsenal and is still do
ing heroic service. Thus, the cost of
curing one patient is too small to be
figured and therefore the officers at
the arsenal accommodate their pa
tients without charge.