1937-09-10 — Page 10

THE CHINA MAIL-FRIDAY SUPPLEM

EPTEMBER

POISON GAS: SCARE STORIES

FACT AND FICTION

H. Whitridge Davies)

Professor of Physiology, Sydney University.

the article on [In this use of poison gas in time of war, Professor Davies expresses the view that "with adequate know- ledge and preparedness, gas loses most of its terrors and be- comes for the most part merely a tiresome inconvenience"]

in

ASHIONS change, even

horrors, so, in these matter- of-fact days, revivals of the melo- dramas which terrified our grand- mothers are occasions of trained hilarity, and the stories" of Edgar Allan Poe are treasured mainly for their literary excel-. lence.

unres-

It has, however, been the busi- ness or interest of nobody to cor- rect the exaggerations of inten- tionally misleading wartime pro- paganda. Thus, in spite of the fact that actually it is the least terrible of weapons, there re- meins a widespread horror poison gas.

Evidence of this was forthcom- ing in a factory in Sydney, when the mere appearance of a man in a gas-mask led to a remarkable exhibition of mass hysteria by 80 examples of Australia's fine. healthy young womanhood. Num- bers of them required ambulance treatment; one was admitted to hospital, and work was suspended for three hours.

Some poison gases produce only temporary discomfort and help lessness. Others, if sufficiently concentrated and if the victim be unprotected, may produce ef- fects which are unspeakably ghastly. It must be noted, how- ever, that there are two “ifs."- Also that, except in a few in- stances, the ghastliness exists only in the mind of the scaremon- ger, its degree depending upon the power of his

Scare Exaggerations

Let us consider possibilities. Suppose all poison

to be gase

equally terrible and effective. the most minute concentrations, Ignore all means of prote suggest their inadequacy. quote a few

duce some thorities." Intro-

suggestions or

lungs." Invent

untruths such as "dew of death," "coughing up an efficient

planes necessary to deposit such a concentration in Central Lon- don would depend upon the size of the planes and the distance from their bases There are no gases very much more lethal than mustard gas, so these considera- tions enable us to dispose of ab-

Velessly de surd but oft-quoted statements,

termined upon the extermination of every man, woman, and child. By such means it is possible to wring the bowels of compassion in the toughest cynic, and to in- fluence any but the most critical- ly intelligent in favour of the par- ticularism whith the scaremon- ger happens to advocate.

Instances of the above may be found in "Cry Havoc," by Bever- ley Nichols. From the Official History of the War' we find that from March 10 to 14, 1918, the Germans bombarded the Cambrai salient with approximately 150,- 000 mustard gas shells. There were about 4500 casualties, most- ly mild, and of these a little over 1 per cent. (say 50 in all) were fatal J. B. S. Haldane in "Cal- linicus" (London, 1925) quotes these figures and discusses the possible effects of such a bom~ bardment with mustard gas i

in Central London. If the popula tion had had gas-masks the casualties would have been per haps ten times greater"

Mr. Nichols quotes Haldane, but in some unexplained way con- jures up 450 more dead soldiers

an increase of 900 per cent. Instead of the mild casualties, he despatches 45,000 to the hospitals with blisters resembling cancer.

Such errors and exaggerations would probably - pass unnoticed by the majority of readers. But when the avowed intention of an author is "to make your flesh creep," accuracy in mere matters of fact is doubtless unnecessary.

Absurd Statements

be The important lesson to learned from the Cambrai bom- bardment is that about 100 tons of mustard gas spread over an area of about 20 square miles did not compel the abandonment of the area and produced only about 50 fatalities. The number of

STATIONERY

that is DIFFERENT

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such as One single bomb filled with modern asphyxiant gas drop- ped, say, on Piccadilly Circus would kill everybody in an area from Regent's Park to the Thames, and, "Millions of hu- man lives would be lost in a few hours by a gas bombing attack.”

Owing to the provision of res- pirators by the ARPD, Mr.: Nichols's fears on that score are

This fina

ent is an

rtainly

Germany has stored such enorm- ous quantities of arsenical poison gases she could surround her land frontiers with

a belt of poisoned territory ten miles wide which would be table for years,

with difficulty

and passable: for periods varying from a few weeks, according to climatic con- ditions.

summarise what have written it can be stated most emphatically that the horrors of poison gas have been grossly exaggerated. The res- pirators and the instructions of the ARP.D. in England afford

measures are constantly being developed both for active and pas- sive defence against hostile air- craft In New South Wales active steps have been taken in anti-gas training, and committees been engaged in consid aspects of the problem and creat ing an organisation capable of dealing with any situation likely to arise.

no longer relevant, but his des ample protection, and further cription of his visit to the factory of Messrs. Siebe, Gorman, and Co., in Westminster Bridge Road, is a remarkable piece of self-re- velation. He becomes quite hy- sterical, especially in his account of the gas-chamber test. Thous- sands of people, sailors, soldiers, police, and civilians, have been through similar tests in Sydney during the last few years, and have found it not terrifying, but rather an interesting and not un- pleasant experience

The mysterious substance "Lewisite" has frequently figured in alarmist stories. One of the commonest of these is that three drops placed on the skin are fatal in twenty minutes. This is per- fectly true for a mouse. The fatal dose, similarly applied, for 3 1127-18 not known. The most conservative estimate is at least thirty drops. Lewisite might be a choking gas, but a respirator affords perfect protection for the eyes and lungs, so that since the provision of respirators the state ment of the late T. A. Edison- "with the aid of Lewisite, the most deadly poison gas yet pro- duced, London's population could be choked to death in t three bours is no longer relevant.

Germany And Arsenic

Probably the most lurid of all the publications of scaremongers is "Death From the Skies," by Heinz Liepmann, which has just been published in London. The author is an exile from Germany, who is convinced that the Nazis are busily engaged

ting the destraction of the rest of Europ with ruthless efficiency-

is faced by the prospect of war more cruel even than that of 1914- 18-war in which poison gas will be the chief weapon. In pre- paration for that war Germany is Storing arsenic

Liepmann's statements regard ing arsenic, if

tht well be regarded with alarm The nor

of arsenic

world requir

are between 15,000 and 25,000 tons per year,

ch. between

3.000 tons went

"HORROR TALES" DENIED

By way of footnote to Profes Davies's article there may be noted the conclusions reached by Lieutenant-Colonel Augustin M. Prentiss, of the Chemical War Service, United States Army, in a book just published, "Chemicals in War."

It is described as "the only up- to-date, complete, and authorita- tive book on the subject now in print in the English language.” Colonel Prentiss's conclusions are thus summarised-

While no warfare is humane, chemical warfare is relatively more: humane than any other method of war,

Soldiers wounded by gas in the Great War had 12 times the chances of recovery compared -soldiers wounded by other

With all the chemists in the world concentrated on the - dis- covery of new way chemicals, not a single new chemical warfare agent was produced and used in the Great War. The mathemati- cal probabilities, therefore, against the discovery of and powerful destructive

agent