The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1915. NOTES AND COMMENTS. A DEADLY INVENTION.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 117, 19 January 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1915. NOTES AND COMMENTS. A DEADLY INVENTION.

With which is inco'porated The I'nihape Post Wwimarmo News,} .. ■ ■ _ ,

Some two months ago a cablegram from London informed usi that The Times correspondent at. the front had received trustworthy confirmation regarding the deadly effects of the newly inyonted “turpinite” shells as used by the French Army. .Since that-time’ wo have heard nothing further on the subject. Now, howove.r, an article in an English - journal seems to support the claims of tnrpihite'about which The Times man apparently had convincing testimony. The cable we mention Stated that -the claims of "the inventor had not received official' confirmation. This' new explosive was discovered by M. .Turpin,-who is also the ihventor of melinite, just prior to the’ outbreak of war; and it was notified then that the French Minister for Wav ha/1, decided to use it in- this - campaign. .What .•sounded like-impossible claims -were made: by -.the inventor ’for this wonder•.fnli,.exploHiye. - M. Turpin says that it will modify all military tadtics,. .and render all-defensive measures illusory; „tjia : t .lyhole forces’would be annihilated and general disarmament bo ‘ enforced. No doubt mankind since the ’publication of the inventor ’s claims .‘has wondered : why the daily loss of life is - permitted to go on while such din agency as turpinite is available. Noty .we midorsta’nd; a‘special gun is required fortirf’pinite shells and that one, of tlie Original' Turpin guns was ns-ed - with-’ deadly effect at the battle :,-ofr. tjie Mearix; An American. Red Cross'Service man gave a description of tliA. effect of the shell, in which he said’:’ "The German trenches were filled with dead and the bodies.were in such a posture as to suggest tliat a blight from Heaven had fallen upon them. They, still stood in line, with rifles fixed tu the shoulders, and there was no expression mf horror or agony .on their silent faces. They had only oVof them a film of fine reddish powder. “They stood qv if a deep,, sudden-sleep had overtaken; them, only that their eyes were'open. ” It may be that turpinite' is not Used on account of shells whose one destructive agency is composed of poisonous gases being forbidden by The Hague Convention.

Terrible,-we are told, as the effect of turpinite shells are, they are helipad by the invention of an Englishman. The article in the journal mentioned says the trite„ old aphorism, “Necessity is the mother of invention,” has once more neon proved to ho true; the urgent need, of tlie British, French, Russian and allied nations, in their struggle- with powerful and unscmpnloim foes, has called to their assistance the brightest intellects of their people, in addition to tjie valour of their -fighting men. Hitherto unheard of forces of applied chemical science are making their power felt in a new and terrible, manner. The invention of the great French chemist AT. Turpin, has attracted considerable- mvtieb, . *md hjs ./(turpinite ” is spoken of with bated bpeath in’ the streets of ’Paris, Utilising, as he has done, a discovery, made some years ago,, of the fearful elect-of a certain compound of arsenic, his “ turpinite” shells, ori exploding, emit a gas which, if the smallest quantity,is breathed prog duces instant death, causing a 'stoppage of the heart’s t’ujicfiions; 'no living being in the vicinity of the explosion can escape. The use of! shells emitting poisonous gases is, however, forbidden by'the terms of The Hague Convention, although the. German Army..is ignoring the ’agreement, since a’ London, illustrated daily paper, at the-start .of thewar, poblihlretl’a‘picture of fhcHpob'c;! bomb” used by the Germans.. Tom " y however, as-the effect of “tnr 'A. v are, they are eclipsed by the action of the new “ annihilate” ” shells, which, {•aye-been, as the' Paris’paper Le Figaro •V» aware, placed at the, disposal, of the

French. Government by tv*clDt’tn’giiishedEtiglish chemist, whose name we are not. at liberty to ’mention at present, and which will lie in due. course adopted by the British •'War Office. This new explosive well deserves its name-“an--miniate”, as the effects produced by the bursting of these-shells'are rightly described as annihilating. In the open field of battle, against- dense masses of troops, in a fortress, or on a warship, the explosion of one of tliese, “anriilri--lato ’ 7 shells forms a. fierce- blast of flame, some two’ thousand - yards long and from one hundred to two hundred yards j.n .width, .which, passing over men, animals, or material, leaves nothing but a scorched and chared mass behind,; trenches, fortifications, ’ and other means of defence are of no avail. The atmosphere .within a--radius of its explosion is all. burnt up, owing to its chemical action, on-, the oxygen’of the air, -which is- changed into a-consuming; fire. It is, perhaps,. to much to hope that the, invention-.-or Y annihilate” will mean the stoppage, of-'all wars in the future; but it will undoubtedly help in tliat direction, and form a bulwark- of civilisation against those who would .break, the peace of-‘the world. But as regards the-present war, this fearful and powerful-weapons in the bands-cf the British and French forces will cer-tainly-.assist, them fo ivi'i'ivg it to a speedy conclusion, as- no human being can stand- against- ‘the terrible effects of “annihilate.”