THE FIRST GAS MASKS.

Taihape Daily Times, 17 January 1918, Page 5

THE FIRST GAS MASKS.

The earliest gas masks which were hurriedly prepared' and rushed to tne front as soon as the chemists had been able to determine by rough field testa what was -the main composition of this new horror which Prussia was unleashing on civilisation, were simply thickish pads of gauze, or cheesecloth, dipped in strong solution of soda, roughly shaped to cover the mouth and nostrils, and provided with strings or tapes to tie on with, says Dr Woods Hutchinson, in a recent article.

One of the quickest popular responses on record was the nation-wide reply in both England and France to the telegraphed appeal of the War Office for agas mask for every soldier, to save him from a horrible death by the new inhumanity. Every mother, wife, and'sister in the land set instantly to work, and within fortyeight hours in England alone over three million -home-made gas masks, were not merely made, hut delivered at the aWr Office, and new mesages had to-be sent out to stop the deluge, c which threatened to literally swamp them.