58 



DISCOVERY 



engineers. He was trained in Chemistry at Manchester, 

 and worked subsequently under Professor Haber at 

 Karlsruhe in Germany. During the war he was on the 

 research staff of the Ministry of Munitions, and his 

 chief work for this body was in connection with the 

 production of ammonia from the elements nitrogen 

 and hydrogen which compose it. This is the basis of a 

 process of great importance, and it is largely due to his 

 technical and executive ability that a sure foundation 

 for the future development of this industry in this 

 country has been laid. 



This is a book which everyone interested in the 

 technology of industrial gases should hasten to procure, 

 and indeed it is a book worthy of a place on the shelf 

 of any who are earning, or intend to earn, their liveli- 

 hood in the profession of Chemistry. Much of the 

 book is of interest to the general reader who is not 

 averse to skipping at times, for it deals with many 

 matters that one should know about, and which will 

 repay study. 



In the first part of the book the gases of the atmo- 

 sphere are described in detail. Naturally enough the 

 important things receive the most attention, but the 

 rarer gases of the atmosphere, which to many are of 

 greater interest than the commoner ones, are also well 

 described. There is one " small fact " to which, al- 

 though it is not new, we may call attention — namely, 

 that the presence of ozone can have nothing to do with 

 the bracing effect of seaside towns. The amount of 

 ozone in the air at the surface of the earth is only 

 about one part in ten million ! 



In the second part of the book an account is given of 

 important gases like hydrogen, carbon monoxide, car- 

 bon dioxide, and the poison gases used in warfare. 

 The third part deals with gases which are used industri- 

 ally as fuels. 



Before the war the knowledge of the average man 

 with regard to poison gases was not an extensive one. 

 Poisons were associated in his mind with the chemist's 

 shop, the extermination of rats, a post-mortem at 

 Hoxton, or with a murder case at the Old Bailey; 

 Prussic acid was the best known. The young man 

 blighted in love raised the phial of this accursed drug 

 to his lips, and so deadly was its vapour that he passed 

 over, as the Spiritualists say, ere his lips came in con- 

 tact with the liquid. East-end practitioners, bothered 

 by bibulous charwomen in their surgeries, kept their 

 whisky in large green bottles labelled " Prussic 

 Acid." (Such I is a practical use of scientific 

 knowledge !) 



The only poison gas commonly known was the 



domestic sort, which certainly had a detrimental effect 

 on the system when (in absence of a lighted taper) it 

 was turned full on in a badly ventilated room. 



But the war has changed all this. The Germans 

 made use of poison gases as a wcajjon of war, the 

 Allies retaliated, and a new art of warfare, the science of 

 gassing, came into bei r-. To Dr. Haber, whose work 

 on gases gained for him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 

 of last year, much of the development of this art is to 

 be ascribed. 



The first use of poison-gas in warfare was made in 

 April 1915. The gas used was chlorine. This gas was 

 liquefied behind the line in large heavy cylinders. These 

 were carried into position by perspiring Teutons, and 

 disposed at regular intervals along the line. At a given 

 signal, on a day of favourable wind, the gas was 

 released among our men. The result we knew. There 

 was great indignation at home, because this act was 

 clearly and blatantly at variance with the terms of the 

 Hague Convention, but in France among our men there 

 was even greater anger. Emergency respirators of a 

 kind were rapidly improvised, but many thousands of 

 our men w-ere killed by the gas, and many of the sur- 

 \avors suffered most terrible agonies. These first 

 respirators were merely pads of material tied round the 

 mouth, not unlike what a Dickensian character might 

 wear if he were suffering from a sore throat or a 

 badly stopped tooth on a cold daj'. They were more 

 effective when moistened, but they were not a striking 

 success. 



We ourselves began to use gas in September 1915. 

 It was a great secret, and it was so well kept that the 

 first intimation many of us had of our intention to 

 use gas came from those at home who were serving 

 their country by making it. About this time many 

 artillery units found themselves digging numerous small 

 dug-outs in the front line, just sufficiently large to 

 accommodate " a general and one staff officer." Most 

 units set to work without putting any but a literal 

 interpretation on this somewhat extraordinary order. 

 These dug-outs were for the accommodation of our 

 cylinders of chlorine. 



At the same time there appeared a new brand of 

 brothers in the Corps of Royal Engineers. They were 

 nicknamed the Coloured Corporals, partly because 

 of the armlet of many colours which they wore, and 

 partly because the lowest rank in the company was 

 that of Corporal. These men were for the most part 

 excellent chemists in private life, but in war their duty 

 was to handle the heavy cylinders of chlorine (familiarly 

 termed Roger), and to release the gas at the required 

 moment. Many an infantryman or gunner, watching 

 these men, felt glad that at school chemistry had not 

 been in the curriculum. 



But the use of cylinders of poison gas wasopen to many 



