The Washington times., 1935-11-29
ak Relates True Love Story of Neglected Younger Sister
Health
Poison Gases
OVerrated?
By LOGAN CLENDENTNG, M. ]

BY LOGAN CLENDENTNG, M. d.
In talking with an officer high
up in the councils of the general
staff Of the American Army the
other day, was interested to find
how scornful he was Of the effect
Of poison gas in modern warfare.
II that is all that Italy is de-
| pending upon to win the Ethio-
plan war, according to this officer,
the Ethiopians have pretty good
chance.
There was q great scare last
year in European countries about
attacks on the civilian population
from the air and from gas raids.
During the height of the hyS-
terra an English army officer gave
the very sensible advice to the
civilian population that all you
have to do in order to protect
yourself from an enemy gas raid
is to go into the second story Of
any building and close the win
dowS.
Investigation
You don't need a gas mask and
you don't need gas mask drill.
None Of the gases diffuSe above
the ground higher than the sec
ond story Of a building, and none
Of them penetrates. through closed
windows.
Even for troops, a gas bomb
which Is laid down in a certain
spot is not dangerous, provided
they can withdraw q matter of
100 yards from the place it falls,
because the gas will be dissipated
and diluted so as to be innocuous
before it gets that far.
I remember hearing about an
investigation Of form of chemical
which was supposed to be so pow
erful that two drops would wipe
out city Of the size of Boston or
Philadelphia. The committee was
taken into room where there was
half-gallon lar of this deadly
substance. They were told that
that was all there was in existence
because it was very difficult to
manufacture. How many men
had been killed during the manu-
facture Of this small amount of
poison?" There had been no IA
talitieS. "Why were they not able
to manufacture more of it?" It ex-
ploded so readily and diSSipated so
rapidly that it could not be con-
served. IF it exploded so often,
why had it not killed some me-
chanics, in the process of manufac-
turing, especially since two drops
would wipe out the entire popula-
ton of Boston or Philadelphia"
No answer.
Organic Changes
The officer then demonstrated
how deadly this drug was. He
took guinea pig and shaved its
abdomen and put two drops Of
this fluid on the shaved abdomen,
wrapped the abdomen of the
guinea pig in cotton and band
ages and put the guinea pig in a
cage. In 20 minutes" he said,
that guinea pig will be dead" In
other words, if an army is going
to destroy the civilian population
Of Berlin with this, all they would
have to do would be to take each
Berliner, shave his abdomen, put
two drops of the fluid there, wrap
him up in cotton wool, leave him
for twenty minutes. 1t seems to
me, if this be true, there isn't very
much to fear from the use of
these highly over-a dvertiSe e d
modern methods of warfare.
My own experience in examin-
ing the service men who were
gassed in the late war was that
few Of them suffered any organic
changes in the lungs.
EDITORS NOTE: Six pamph-
lets by DR.. Clendening can now
be obtained by sending 10 cents
in coin, for each, and a Self-ad-
dressed envelope stamped with a
three-cent stamp, to DR.. Logan
Clendening, in care of this paper.
The pamphlets are: Indigestion
and Constipation" Reducing and
Gaining" Infant Feeding" Tn
structions for the Treatment of
Diabetes" Feminine Hygiene" and
The Care of the Hair and Skin. ="