MILLS AND OTHER BUILDINGS 55 
when inhaled lessens the possibility of accident, and 
(10) it affords insurance companies and others all the 
protection possible under such conditions. 
First use of hydrocyanic acid gas tn mills, etc.—The 
use of hydrocyanic acid gas for the distruction 
of inse¢ts in mills, elevators and other large enclosures 
where grain is stored and manufactured was first 
suggested by the writer in an article in the American 
Miller for March, 1898. Up to that time, we believe, 
no attempt had been made to fumigate large buildings 
with this gas for the destruction of vermin. In this 
article attention was called to a large mill in North 
Carolina, overrun with cockroaches, and the following 
statement was made: ‘‘ We are going to try a new 
remedy. It has never been used, to my knowledge, for 
destroying insects in mills. It is simple and easy to 
apply, but a very dangerous and deadly poison, and 
must, like dynamite, gunpowder, kerosene, or carbon 
bisulphide, be handled cautiously and by expert 
hands. Our new remedy is hydrocyanic acid gas, one 
of the most deadly poisons known. I have used this 
gas in my experimental work the past two years 
for killing insects upon young fruit trees, nursery 
stock and in bearing orchards, and in buildings for 
destroying rats, with marked success. I will now 
apply it to the modern mill and storehouse, and my 
candid belief is that it will be one of the coming 
remedies for all vermin, including rats and mice, within 
such enclosures.’’ 
The opportunity did not offer itself at the time for 
the experiment and we were obliged to let the matter 
drop. The spring of 1899, however, offered us a 
