HOW HUNS GET POISON GAS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 203, 25 August 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

HOW HUNS GET POISON GAS.

IT IS CHEAP AND EASILY OBTAINABLE. Out of the sea two of the most deadly gases known to scientists —bromine and helorine. In the early days table salt was chiefly made from sea-water. It was boiled down, and a dark-brown residue was left, which, ;if allowed to stick to the bottom of the utensil, gave up a suffocating smell. Now, sea gas is made up of two parts —one a brown colour tinged with purple, the other yellowish %reev. —and there you have bronrne and chlorine respectively. Photographers will know that the former is responsible, with other metals, for " bromide" prints; while it is also the basis for bromide of potassium. The yellowish-green gas goes to make up chloride of lune, chloral and chloroform. So, you see, bromine and chlorine make a pretty fair show when mixed with other chemicals. By themselves, though, they have never been much used o\vling to the wicked strength ot their fumes. The Germans long ago got the idea of usmg these two gases as a means of warfare on acocunt of their bem* cheap, easily obtainable, and as deadlv as even they could wish. The result has been evident in the present war. WHAT DOCTORS HAVE DISCOVERED. Chlorine soon became the more popular of the two, because lit can be taken in large quantities from ordinary seawater or common salt. But you have to go to some expense to get bromine, as there are some scientific operations necessary before it can be separated from its' yellow twin. So when you hear of povison gas being used in the trenches you can safely take it to mean chlorine. Fortunately, that very eagerness to prey upon living matter which makes chlorine so deadly, provides us with a weapon against it, since it nrxes readily with some common alkali, such as soda, and in so doing becomes salt pure and simple. Therefore, the soldiers n\ the trenches arc riven respirators soaked m a wet solution of borax, and the poison gas coming into contact with this is immediately changed into salt. Only the mask must be kept wet, as the chlor'ne cannot mix with a dry matter. Chlorine is also used as a disinfectant R'hen combined with soda, and makes a good ant : septic dressing for the foul and poisonous wounds resulting from shrapnel. So that the same war whrch has seen the first devilish use of sea gas as a means of destruction has also brought about its adoption by medical men as a valuable germ-killer that prevents gangrene and changes a vir.ous sore into a clean wound. POISON FROM SEEDS. The Germans have been making an increasing use of asphyxiating and tear-producing shells and gases, especially in theii fierce attacks on Verdun. It has just come, to rght, from the report of the American Consul to Venezuela, tliat the gases used in these shells are made from a plnnt called tlie sabaddla, a kind of lily that only grows in South AmciVca. The seeds of tiiis plant, which are extremely poisonous, have long heen used in medicine in small quantities as a heart tonic, but it took the Germ into find out that they could bo put iirco sheik. So poisonous are the seeds and >o : i- - ritating is the line dust which comes from the sabadilla plant that labourers who gather the plant are compelled '0 wear special masks to protect their eyes, noses, and mouths. ' Naturally, s'nee the discovery ol the way tne Huns are making teiir-produc-ing shells, sabaddla seecK end al! preparations made from them have been declared contraband.