ASPHYXIATING GAS. This new and terrible weapon was introduced into the World War by the German military authorities. At the battle of Ypres, April 22, 1915, it was used for the first time in warfare. The idea itself was not new. Dundonald, an eminent British chemist, who was born in 1775 and died in 1860, had informed his Government that it was possible to produce asphyxiat ing gas of such a character and in such Germans had been able to use a greater amount than their supplies permitted or if they had sensed to the full the effect it was producing in their enemies' quantities as to make it a formidable weapon of offense. That Government, however, had rejected the idea as being too inhuman. The Hague Convention of 1899 had expressly condemned its use. The conception therefore was by no means novel to military chiefs. It re mained for Germany to initiate its use in battle.
The first gas attack produced almost a panic. The soldiers who gazed wander ingly at the clouds of chlorine gas creep ing toward them suddenly found them selves gasping for breath or convulsed with terrible agony. There is but little doubt but that at that time, if the ranks, they could have broken through and reached the Channel. As it was, the quantity was limited, and all the resources of the Allied scientific world were employed at once to neutralize the effects of this new and deadly weapon. It was speedily discovered that the only defense was the use of gas masks, in which charcoal and other chemicals were able to absorb the gas or render it in nocuous.
Later on, wincing under the charges of inhumanity and anxious to forestall the reprobation of the neutral world, the Germans charged that the gas had been previously used by the British and the French on March 1, 1915. This was demonstrated to be a pure invention. It is certain that long before the end of the war, the German authorities regretted having brought asphyxiating gas into general use, for it was turned on them with deadly effect by the Allies, who, being forced to "fight fire with fire," adopted it as a necessary retaliation.
Allied energy and ingenuity developed the gas in far greater quantities than was possible for the Germans, and used it with much effect. Moreover the meteoro logical conditions in the zone of warfare favorea the Entente, because the winds for 75 per cent. of the time set toward the German lines. At the time the armi stice was signed, America was produc ing the gas in such enormous quantities that it could have brought about the annihilation of whole armies. Giant con tainers were being prepared that would By far the most atrocious was mustard gas, that ate through clothes and into flesh like vitriol. Chlorine gas produced suffocation and the lungs of the sufferer hold a ton of gas, which could be carried over fortresses by airplanes and released with a time fuse that would operate at a given distance above the forts. Being heavier than air, the mustard gas would have settled over the doomed fortress, sometimes burst in the effort to breathe. Sneezing powder was also used, which percolated through the gas respirators and brought on sneezing spells, which led the men to take off their masks and thus be easily killed by phosgene and making it impossible for any living thing within its radius to survive.
Various gases differing in character istics were employed. The less virulent put the soldier hors de combat without causing death. Such was the lachry matory gas, that caused tears to flow so freely that the soldier could not use his weapon nor the gunner see his sights.
diphosgene gases, which were timed to reach the spot while the masks were re moved. The Germans did not depend wholly on a favorable wind for the dis semination of gas. Hand grenades and long range artillery shells filled with gas carried it into the trenches of their enemies. Not content with single guns, they often used twelve or more mortars.