Deadly Turpinite

Horowhenua Chronicle, 30 August 1915, Page 2

Deadly Turpinite

Tho minor in circuJation since the beginning of the war to the effect that the French were in possession of a secret explosive ■ capable of destroying life on a scale not heretofore dreamed of, by the production of deadly asphyxiating gases, has been confirmed by the l<ieneh military authorities. This explosive is called turpinite, and is the discovery of Air Eugene Turpin, the inventor of melinite, it has already been used in a limited way, and the statement is now niade that preparations have been completed for using it on a largo scale in the coming operations against tho Germans.

At the opening of the war tho effects of exploding turpinite were familiar to the experimenters working with it in the laboratory. it could only be exploded by vibration, and at that time there sccm.d no hale way of firing it from a -;hi ior the reason that the vibration r/aiised by the discharge of the projectile was likely to explode it before it got dear of tlie gun. With a new field piece invented in December it is possible to fire shells charged with turpinite without danger to the firing party, and it is reported that the French and Uritish arsenals have been busy clay and night since then making the shells and guns for firing them.

When the shell explodes the gases caused by the explosion spread over the ground in a circle having a diameter of about 100 yards. The gases produce paralysis ot some of the vital organs of the body with the result that every living thing within the circle is killed instantly and painlessly, and so far as in now known there is no defence a.gainst nor antidote for the action of these gases. If the turpinite does all that is claimed for it, trenches will furnish practically no defence against it. The gases from a shell exploding within 50 yards of the trench will simply settle into the trench and kill the men sheltered ji it. Shrapnel-proof and bomb-proof covers will be of little use, for tho gases in their deadly work will find their way through the smallest open-iug.-From the June number of Topular Mechanics Magazine.'