POISON FROM THE AIR

Hokitika Guardian, 8 May 1929, Page 7

POISON FROM THE AIR

SEARCHING FOR A DEATHLY SECRET. PROBLEMS OF PROTECTION BERLIN, March 20. No poisons superior to those already used by civilised nations to kill their enemies have been discovered since the end of the Great War. That is the opinion of the great German authority, Dr. Rudolf Hanslian, and if lie is right we must face the fact that, while progress hais been made in most departments of science the researches ot tbe patient workers n the la'on tones df Fur pe and America have failed to bring the greater oerfe-tien the art of poisoning.

These workers have not lacked encouragement. It is seven years ago that an expert, speaking to the American Chemical So-letv.dwelt on the di-

bility of finding an exclusive poison for destroying me enemies of that great country, and pointed out that the authorities at "Washington and at Westpoint were of the same opinion. His ifellow-countryman Colonel Vedder luiSj moreover, asserted that the nation that has the advantage of possessing a poisonous gas that will penetrate the masks of the enemy will be victorious in war.

1,000 POISON CASES.

Here in Europe similar encouragement to scientific research has been given. Thus a Frenchman, General Feuvillje, has written; “The dominion of the world wilj belong to him who can give a thrust with the chemical weapon that the adversary cannot parry.” And if that is true, there is reason why a small nation should not become more powerful and more dangerous than a great nation. At the beginning of the Great War some thirty poison gases were known, ft is high testimony to the industry of those who are engaged in this branch of science that six years ago the number of poison gases was estimated at more than a thousand. Nevertheless it has to be frankly acknowledged that the, production of none o 7 these gases marked any real progress; they all belong to one of the four cardinal groups of poisons employed during the Great War: tear gases, lung-destroying gases, mustard ;as, arsenic gases.

it would be wrong to assume that we have not to reckon with new poisons; on the contrary the possibility must be faced that the secret of a more deadly poison is being kept by the initiated in our own or m another country. It is however, in the opinion of Dr. Hanslian more probable that when the need arises, more effective gases of the groups 'already known will be employed. Scientists feel confident that in time a mustard gas will be produced which will surpass those already known in skin-cauterising properties.

GAS-rROOF HOMES

During the Great*. War there seems to have been a tacit understanding that, while the civilian population might under certain circumstances be killed by explosives, they might not be poisoned. Military experts make clear that such mildness is not to lie expected in the future. Aero-che-mical attack will be the distinguishing feature of warfare, and Dr. Hanslian a particularly cool observer, writes: •‘The protection of the civilian popuation m great cities and industrial cen tres from gas is a problem of the very greatest significance, which must be taken most seriously.” It is, indeed, being taken so seriously that a Russian, M. Koshivnikov, lias contributed fo Voina i Technika (War and Technique) several papers on town-planning with special reference to aero-chemical warfare. Another Russian has designed a gas-proof chamber for dwelling-houses, and attention is being given to bis ideas in Germany. Colonel Villfers-Stuart, speaking more than two years ago at the Royal united Service Institution, insisted on the necessity of providing for the protection of the population of London ;rom air-attack. The Ministry of the Interior in France has issued instructions for the protection of the French population against air-attacks, and in Roland the children in the schools are taught the use of gas-masks.

3,uuo TONS TO POISON CITY

There is, however, no cause for undue alarm Persons who consider that it is wrong to poison an enemy or who shrink from partially destroying his or her lungs or skin show a tendency to exaggerate the harm which may he done to a city by an aero-chemical attack. Professor Haldane, on the other hand, expresses in his interesting work “cmllinicus, a Defence of chemical Warfare” the opinion that a chemical attack on a great city which is properly prepared for it will do comparatively little harm, and it has been calculated that to poison the population of Berlin it would be neesesary to use 3,000 ton of gas, conveyed by 3,000 powerful aeroplanes, and distributed under ideal conditions. It must, however, be borne in min i that improvement of the gas employed and of the methods used may upset these calculations. In a future war we shall all be poisoners. and the combatant who introduces attack by plague or other germs will be denounced as lacking in chivalry until this novel form of warfare becomes the common property of civilised peoples. Sentiment cannot stop progress.