HOW THE ALLIES COUNTERED THE GAS FIENDS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 75, 23 December 1918, Page 6

HOW THE ALLIES COUNTERED THE GAS FIENDS

V hen the Germans first used poison gas against the British and French troops at "ipres, in April, 1915, the com- , binod casualties of (ho British and French forces exceeded 60,000. it .that" tune the Allied troops hnd absolutely no protection against" the deadly chloride lunies with which they were assailed. lint as the war progressed steps were taken to checkmate the Germans at the gas game, and eventually, to turn then own weapons against them. Lecturing recently at a meeting of (ho Melbourne brauch of the Australian Chemical Institute, Captain Main;, an officer who served with the A.T.F in France, mentioned that for every casualty due to "as poisoning sustained by the Allies the Germans had had to pay fivefold. At first they had it all their own way, but when the Allies retaliated they gassed the Huns with a vengeance. During 1017 no less a quantity than 3000 tons of liquid gas was used against the Germans. Captain Maine drew attention to the fact that the anti-gas- apparatus in use throughout the wholo of the Allied armies was an adaptation of 'the box respirator designed by Professors Osborne, Laby and Masson, of Jfelbourno University. Professor Mnsson, who presided at the lecture, stated that at the time he and his colleagues woro working together endeavouring to produce an effective anti-gas apparatus, Mr. Fletcher, of Geelong, was similarly engaged, and it was only when he learned (bat the University staff hud evolved the same idea of a box respirator that he abandoned his efforts.