SENDING ARMIES TO SLEEP.

Matamata Record, Volume II, Issue 96, 22 August 1918, Page 3

SENDING ARMIES TO SLEEP.

If a discovery by a German woman chemisit fulfils expectations the victors in the battles of ,'the future will be those armies that manage to stay awake. She has mvented a narcotic powder which, on /exploding, produces a gas that will render l,arge hezim troops unconscious. Those near the spot where the powder explodes will not recover consciousness for eight or ten hours. Those on 'the outer ring of its quarter-milei zont, oi aeiion wiU be so dazed for an hour or so as to be practically useless The powder will he riped fr-cm shrapnel shells which foe air. It is being tested fty the Prussian War Ministry, and it is.rumoured that several other Powers,, including Britain, have tried to acquire the',invention. Shells of this soqt havo* been sought after by gunnery experts for years. The only other war secret of the sort in actual use is the smoke shell adopted last year by Japan. When a smoke shell bursts it emits a va>st cloud of oily black vapour V|-hich takes a long time to rise clear of the eanth. Under good conditions, when the air is still, it will render half a regiment helpless for ten minutes or a quavrtor of aa hour.