Evening star., 1926-12-11

T,,o d;scussion by the Senate OF
cbemicaI warfare brings into light
the vast increase of the importance vi
science in all affairs OF modern
nropress. whether in the matter oil
DESTROYING or preserving human me-
Public opirion. a few years ago;
was assumed to he practically unlted
in horror against the tolerdtAoi! vi
poison Gas as means OF va
but within recent time at ieast part
of the public has come to look upon
Tho subject with greater equaninity
since it is proved that only per
cent Of the victims put out of action
by gas die from their injuries. while
Of the men wounded in battle by
shell or gunfire. "a per cent die, az
a direct result of the wounds.
In the debate i'll the Senate SEN
ator Wadsworth gave StatistlcS dlS-
proving the allega tions often neard
that gassed victims developed
tuberculosis. Official statistics showed
that there was less tuberculosis
among gassed men than among those
who had never been gassed AT all.
Senator Reed of pennsylvania
added that "in the investigation OF the
Veterans Bureau. Dr. Franclne, VINO
is one of the leading experts on tuber-
I
that in his Judgment the inhalation
of chlorine led to a thickening of the
surface of the membrane of the lungs.
when made 1t more resistant against
the lodgment and spread of the Dacii-
lus of tuberculosis, and he gave II AS
his opinion that gasSlng dld, lor 1hd'
reason tend to prevent II.
That led to the conclusion OF Sena-
tor Shipstead educated in Incidence
! that the Senator Reed evidently
does not believe that killing people III
war with bayonets and shrapnei Is an!
nicer way than killing them with gas.
The Senator's remarks are
very painful. because they 'debunk u
| lot OF this stuff about making war
humane.
, The most significant development OF
the debate is the fact that it proved
that no less u 'tyro at war than
Gen. Pershing was quoted on both
sides of the subject, though 1t only
proved that his latter Judgment re-
| versed his first commitment. TESTIFY
ing before a House committee. the
general declared that our chemlcal
warfare department should be MAIN
tanned by all means"
Every organization of veterans mas
gone on record against the Geneva
citation Of Military Surgeons at Phila-
delphia. at its national annual meet
ing, adopted strong resolutions to the
same effect Three years ago the
American Legion had adopted resoiu-
tions against chemical defense, Whlch
they have now rescinded.
Whatever may be the final con-
clusion of the debate in the Senate,
it has demonstrated that men change
their minds as they delve more
deeply into facts, and that the de-
velopment of chemistry is changing
many phases of modern lite. not only
in warfare but still more broadly i'll
peace. ...,
II would be a very fine distinction
j, 10 draw the dividing line between the
known facts of chemistry ana OF
ba acteriology, except that IN chem
istry all elements are dead and III
bacteriology all are living. Both sci
ences might almost be ascribed 10
the discoveries of the present gem
era ation, and both sciences nave given
us miracles within the last TWO
decades or so. Also. both sciences
have nroduced achievements within
the periods of the great wars OF
our days which were of SUFFICIENT
value to pay the entire cost OF each
war. (This statement is not TO be
construed as justifying or measuring
the horrors of war, but is a simple
statement of financial factO
n X X X
One Of the leading authorities OF the
Surgeon Generals Office Of the Public
Health Service, being asked yesterday
to name the 10 most important discov-
cries in medicine and it's allied sci
ences, in modern times, did so as fol-
lows:
1. Jenner's discovery in 1896 of
vaccination for prevention Of small
pox, which in the century and quar-
ter has saved millions of lives.
.. Pasteur's discoveries in the 1Os
! and S0s, showing that all communi-
cable or infective diseases come from
germs, each disease having it's own
! particular microbe. ON Pasteurs
work Is based all modern development
| i'm preventive sanitation and medicine
against communicable diseases. Jcn-
ner found vaccination by observation:
| Pasteur developed IL by science. Gre
ating serum by injecting the horse or
goat with the disease germ, which
created the resistant serum. with
| which the human being inoculated
hscomaA immune against the disease.