GERMANS USE NEW POISON.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 11 October 1917, Page 3

GERMANS USE NEW POISON.

British medical officers arc trying to determine the nature of the new poison used, it is believed, for the first time, by the Germans on the French town of Armcntipres, near the Belgian frontier, says a despatch from Hazebrouck, Franco. The poison bears a certain resemblance to the gas which temporarily blinded a large number of British troops a fortnight previously, but its effects arc infinitely more serious.

A number of persons taken from Armentieres are in a grave condition. Many have died in hospitals at Hazebroucq, Aire-on-thc-Lys, and particularly at St. Pol-on-thc-Terndise, where most of the victims were taken.

The first time the new poison was observed it coincided with the firing into the town of a hail of small shells of a calibre insufficient to break the paving. These contain neither powder nor gas, but a colourless liquid which spreads over the soil. In the streets, courtyards, and gardens, where tho shells burst, traces of the noxious liquids may be found hours afterwards.

As the liquid evaporates it produces a heavy gas which penetrates from room to room and descends into cellars. It is tenacious in character and seems to make more victims among women than men, clinging about the hair. The fumes of tobacco seein to act as an antidote in the case of men.

The odour is variously described as resembling that of acetylene, mignonette, or pungent mustard. Its effects are not immediate. Some inhabitants of Armentieres who inhaled the emanations in the forenoon returned homo without experiencing any ill effects, and took luncheon, but five or six hours later they tvere obliged to take to bed and their condition became rapidly worse.

The victims at first were affected in the bronchial tubes, then their eyes swelled, and eventually tliey lost their sight. These symptoms wore accompanied by a feeling of burning inside and an incessant cough and fever. The skin turned an earthy colour, and in soveral cases death followed rapidly. Occasionally, the victims wore affectod by terrible hallucinations and delirious laughter.