COAL-TAR 69 



suggested shows that a single coal-tar compound might 

 have a value that would make it a factor of importance 

 in international relations. 



It is unnecessary to expand upon their war-time im- 

 portance, but I must call attention to two revolutionary 

 changes that chemical warfare has made in the balance 

 of power. First, it has already increased the superiority 

 of the civilized man over the savage and of the scientific 

 and industrial nation over the ignorant and primitive. 

 There is no longer any danger that civilized nations will 

 be overwhelmed by barbarians, as has often happened 

 in the past, unless indeed we hatch our own barbarians 

 in our midst. In ancient times, when martial prowess 

 meant merely the muscular ability to wield a sword or 

 spear and a fondness for fighting, the barbarian was 

 likely to be more than a match for the civilian. But 

 with the introduction of chemical warfare by the 

 use of gunpowder in the I4th century, the balance 

 turned in favour of the scientist against the savage, 

 and the odds have increased ever since. Second, 

 the recent development of chemical warfare in the way 

 of high explosives and toxic gases has given the defence 

 an advantage against the offensive and has made num- 

 bers less important than intelligence. 



I picked out coal-tar as a topic because it is such un- 

 promising material; black, smelly, sticky stuff, neither 

 liquid nor solid but variably between, depending on the 

 temperature, hard to handle because it could be neither 

 poured like oil nor picked up like coal, combustible but 

 not convenient for fuel, poisonous to fish if run into the 

 water and offensive to folks if left on the land. It was 



