"FULL OF GAS"

Levin Daily Chronicle, 7 September 1918, Page 1

"FULL OF GAS"

j In a cablc the other day Albert was I described as "full of gas." There is | nore in tliis phrase than moots the eye. • The gas in question, will bo the deadly j "mustard gas" of which wc hear so much in the cables. The gas is in the form of a volatile liquid, which evaporates into the form of gas, but slowly, lingering from two to four days. It is said to be so deadly that it rots the gas masks worn by the soldiers, and, if inhaled, breaks down the tissue of the pjiper, .The .liquid has a corrosive effect on anything it touches, and the gas is all the more deadly from the fact that it has only a faint and not disagreeable smell. When a town, village, or wood lias been lieavilv bombarded with gas shells, everywhere becomes soaked with the liquid, and the fumes are given off steadily for days afterwards. It is this which makes positions thus treated so difficult to occupy, and this is the inner meaning of the phrase "full of gas." Obviously such a factor cuts two ways. When the attackers heavily shell a position with mustard gas shells, they make it difficult for the defenders to hold, but they also make it difficult for themselves to occupy. Generally speaking, this difficulty is met by drenching with gas the strongest points of the enemy's position, and avoiding these points during the attack. Thousands of tons of the liquid are being used by both sides already. According to an article, in the "New York Times," the Germans used 7000 tons of the liquid in an attack lasting 48 hours—an incredible but not an impossible figure. America is said to bo preparing to turn it out in thousunds of tons, so the Germans will probably soon rno the day on "iich they introduced it.