SCIENCE IN WAR.

Taihape Daily Times, 11 July 1919, Page 5

SCIENCE IN WAR.

. - "“"’°).—---* ’ ._ I BRITISH CCRIUMPHS. ; DEADLY P”O_ISONiGAS. ‘ Bit by bit the story isbeing told of I. how, Working Secretly, -Britisli men of. science beat Gerniany as xeflectivelyi in their laboratories as the. British soldiers did in the field. ’ ‘ Ever)’ branch of industry must even- . tually benefit by their Work, whichl extended from munitions to the clothes we wear and thefood we eat. Poison gas, for which aeommercial use will no doubt be found, was the subject? of a. long series —of experiments undertaken by Professor Brerel ton Baker, and his colleagues at the British Imperial College of Science, They were asked first (the Daily Mail says) to combat German gas, and then to produce a gas even more deadly. V { Professor Baker, sent to France to! find out the secret of the gas used in 3 the first German attack. received his best aid from a dying Canadian sol‘dier. With his-' leggblown ofi‘,'a.nd Eknowing himself to be on the point of death, the man yet told his story with calmness and invincible heroism. DYING CAN-UCK’S REVELA'I‘IO'N. After describing the e-tEec'£ of the gas wave, he added: “Cut ofi my tunic -buttons and take my bayonet--'yiou’Will then be able to tell how the gas is made."" The Professor acted on the suggestion, and his investigation into ‘thecorrosive action of the gas led to the discovery of the first means used to protect our men, ‘ ' Later word came that the Germans had in preparation a deadlier gas. The ‘character of it was discovered, Ex‘periment after experiment was tried before a defence could be found‘. After twenty-six trials success came. Out 'of' 35,000 men drenched with the new gas; oniylt-wo died, and they. were men W’ ‘iad filsfiie‘-€l33‘-Q“‘7‘?i?9l‘l.reH§¥§t§.l9:?¥?sk. A bitter A b:, terr 6l.r'”q Hun fives{£Bisébvered='?-‘-%l§y7'§fiatiénl§f§_l:9;7Qi orator? Wo.n_k.s,._and‘the new and ter-‘N rible f;British g?x§‘s'f§hgll sent in overwhefinirfgg;‘Eilian.titiesJsfa Francs}.

V Thai" chemists also made great ad~l vanceffiin "explosives; " '?;Amato1;" ‘ di's«" ‘ coveréfl‘ ' by‘ the‘ ‘Réseaireh "‘Dépé;i-tm’én‘€” at fWoolwich,”,pro_ve,d V-so c}_;_e:;;.p, and ?effective a high explosive that before thg. end of the war it havd _b_eex}__ adoptéd b\y' the Aineriqans ahd‘ 'als6 ‘Was u§é_d largely Wby the'_Frénch. ' In m'ué't2irdA g_as‘ the ‘British chemistg coimpleteiyé ‘beajc’ the %'Germans, obtaining a yield of _99 per cent, as compared" with the VGerman yield of 40 to 60 per cent. from the same material. '

the 's=:.~ne material.

Professor R. A_ Gregory, chairman of,the orga2.lis_in.g committee of';.‘Britisl{ Scientific ‘49-s.oducts" Exhibition, stated recently that many of;th_e {na.rvels invented by Pritish ’scien’t.ists ana kept secret during thé”ivé.r will _=,h’.|-s. year be showu tn‘ the publ.i‘c",ith'i'ls Add ing to the‘ sta.'ry;_ of British triul_npll_s_.=

NON-I’.‘= FLAMMABLE GAS

Among t‘~e vgreat"séi’éliifié"foniances of the war _to be illustr_a't_ed, at _the .exhibi£i’6n win he ‘thre <é;omfme‘r'c:al pie; paratfon ‘of "helium,._thé 'n‘on-‘il'l'jflam-nlabl<_§ gas. w‘t.-sc‘}’l, Ir:lil}ie(T§_vith"":h'ydljogen, is used for "th’e "inflaLt.i'on: qfgiaint airships. Af the beginiiig ofthe war

one might as well have thought of paving a street with diamonds as using helium for airship inflation. But the British cliomists wo_rkecl out the problem and succeeded_ Similarly the chemists came to the 1-eccue of the margarine makcl's,showing them how to ‘apply a French scientific discovery to the problem of turning a liquid vegetable oil into a solid fat by the use of finely dividei metal as :1. “matrimonial agent.’-’