398 REPORTS ON THE STATE OP SCIENCE. — 1919. 1 



wearing respirators. Owing to the economy of ammunition effected by means 

 of a persistent gas shell, results can be obtained which would be impossible 

 with any of the older types. 



The effects of gas shell are not so much limited by a rigid trajectory as those 

 of other projectiles, e.g., H.E. shell are often of little value unless direct hits 

 are obtained, while any gas shell bursting to the windward of a target will affect 

 it, if they fall within a certain distance of it, depending on the calibre of the 

 shell. 



Under suitable atmospheric conditions the results obtained with gas shell are 

 often more certain than those with other projectiles. For instance, troops 

 marching along a road shelled with shrapnel might escape with small losses if 

 they were fortunate, while if shelled with gas they would be compelled to wear 

 respirators, thereby hampering their movements, and any lack of precautions 

 would lead inevitably to casualties. 



The general impression that gas is an inhumane weapon is derived partly from 

 the German breach of faith in using it contrary to the Hague Convention, and 

 partly from the natui'e and number of casualties in the earliest cloud attacks which 

 were made against unprotected troops. Under the stress of a long war the 

 individual is apt to forget the physical and mental sufferings it involves, unless 

 he is in daily contact with them, but a dramatic occurrence such as that of the 

 first gas attack forces on the imagination the brutal significance of war — the 

 struggle for victory by killing — and the new weapon is judged as inhumane, 

 like gunpowder in the fifteenth century. If we accept war as a possibility, the 

 most humane weapon is that which leads to a decision with the smallest amount 

 of human suffering and death. Judged from this standpoint, gas compares very 

 favourably with other weapoas dui'ing the period when both sides were fully 

 equipped for offence and defence. The death-rate among gas casualties was 

 much lower than that among casualties from other causes, and not only was the 

 death-rate lower, but a much smaller proportion of the injured suffered any 

 permanent disability. There is no comparison between the permanent damage 

 caused by gas, and the .suffering caused to those who were maimed and blinded 

 by shell and rifle fire. It is now generally admitted that in the later stages of 

 the war many military objects could be attained with less suffering by using 

 gas than by other means. 



The judgment of future generations on the use of gas may well be influenced 

 by the pathetic appeal of Sargent's picture of the first ' Mustard Gas ' casualties 

 at Ypres, but it must not be forgotten in looking at that picture that 75 per cent, 

 of the blinded men he drew were fit for duty within three months, and that had 

 their dimbs and nerves been shattered by the effects of high explosive, their 

 fate would have been infinitely worse. 



Worh of British Chemists in Connection with Gas Warfare. 



Offensive Research. 



The foregoing sketch of the development of gas warfare gives some indication 

 of the urgency and importance of the problems with which British chemists were 

 confronted in 1915. Their solution on the offensive side required a research 

 organisation for studying the toxic properties of known substances and for 

 producing new ones that were likely to be more effective, for devising means 

 for their employment and for testing their value under field conditions, and for 

 working out methods of production on a large scale. 



Offensive research was carried out originally under the advice of the Scientific 

 Advisory Committee and later of the Chemical Advisory Committee of the 

 Ministry of Munitions, while defensive research was done in the Anti-Gas Depart- 

 ment of the War Office. This separation of offensive and defensive research was 

 unfortunate, as many of the problems were common to both sections. In 

 October 1917 the two organisations were united in the Chemical Warfare Depart- 

 ment of the Ministry of Munitions under the controllership of Major-General 

 H. F. Thuillier, C.B., C.M.G., who had been the first Director of Gas Services 

 in Prance. The department was expanded rapidly to meet the increasing 

 demands on it, and at the date of the Armistice it employed 189 research chemists, 



