PEACE TIME USES OF GAS
“Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war.” Thus runs the
old proverb. In ancient times war profited by peace far more than
peace profited by war if indeed the latter ever actually occurred. The
implements developed for the chase in peace became the weapons of war.
This was true of David’s sling-shot, of the spear and of the bow. Even
powder itself was probably intended and used for scores of years for
celebrations and other peaceful events.
The World War reversed this story, especially in its later phases.
The greater part of the war was fought with implements and machines
prepared in peace either for war or for peaceful purposes. Such
implements were the aeroplane, submarine, truck, automobile and
gasoline motors in general. The first gas attack, which was simply an
adaptation of the peacetime use of the chemical chlorine, inaugurated
the change. Gas was so new and instantly recognized as so powerful that
the best brains in research among all the first class powers were put
to work to develop other gases and other means of projecting them upon
the enemy. The result was that in the short space of three and one-half
years a number of substances were discovered, or experimented with
anew, that are aiding today and will continue to aid in the future in
the peaceful life of every nation.
Chlorine is even more valuable than ever as a disinfectant and water
purifier. It is the greatest bleaching material in the world, and
has innumerable other uses in the laboratory. Chloropicrin, cyanogen
chloride and cyanogen bromide are found to be very well adapted to
the killing of weevil and other similar insect destroyers of grain.
Hydrocyanic acid gas is the greatest destroyer today of insect pests
that otherwise would ruin the beautiful orange and lemon groves of
California and the South.
[Illustration: FIG. 120.]
Phosgene, so extensively used in the war both in cloud gas and in
shell, is finding an ever increasing use in the making of brilliant
dyes—pinks, greens, blues and violets. On account of its cheapness
and simplicity of manufacture, it has great possibilities in the
destruction of rodents such as rats around wharves, warehouses and
similar places that are inaccessible to any other means of reaching
those pests. Since phosgene is highly corrosive of steel, iron, copper
and brass, it cannot be used successfully in places where those metals
are present.
Instead of phosgene for killing rodents and the like in storehouses and
warehouses, cyanogen bromide has been developed. This is a solid and
can be burned like an ordinary sulphur candle. It is much safer for
the purpose of fumigating rooms and buildings than is hydrocyanic acid
gas when so used. This is for the reason that cyanogen bromide is an
excellent lachrymator in quantities too minute to cause any injury to
the lungs. It will thus give warning to anyone attempting to enter a
place where some of the gas may still linger.
Among tear gases, the new chloracetophenone, a solid, is perhaps the
greatest of all. When driven off by heat it first appears as a light
bluish colored cloud. This cloud is instantly so irritating to the eyes
that within a second anyone in the path of the cloud is temporarily
blinded. It causes considerable smarting and very profuse tears
which even in the smallest amount continue for two to five minutes.
In greater quantities it would continue longer. So far as can be
ascertained, it is absolutely harmless so far as any permanent injuries
are concerned.
Considering that it is instantly effective, that minute quantities
are unbearable to the eyes, that it can be put in hand grenades or
other small containers and driven off by a heating mixture which will
not ignite even a pile of papers, and that it needs no explosion to
burst the grenade (all that is used is a light cap, set off by the
action of the spring, sufficient to ignite the burning charge), the
future will see every police department in the land outfitted with
chloracetophenone or other similar grenades. Every sheriff’s office,
every jail and every penitentiary will have a supply of them. No jail
breaking, no lynching, no rioting can succeed where these grenades are
available. Huge crowds can be set to weeping instantly so that no man
can see and no mob will continue once it is blinded with irritating
tears. More than that, it is an extremely difficult gas to keep out of
masks, ordinary masks of the World War being entirely useless against
it.
The same is true of diphenylaminechlorarsine. This is not a tear
gas but it is extraordinarily irritating to the lungs, throat and
nose, where it causes pains and burning sensations, and in higher
concentrations vomiting. It is hardly poisonous at all so that it
is extremely difficult to get enough to cause danger to life. This
is mentioned because of its possible use for the protection of bank
vaults, safes, and strong rooms generally.
There are many other gases that can be used for this same purpose. It
is presumed that gases that are not powerful enough to kill are the
ones desired, and there are half a dozen at least that can be so used.
If desired deadly gases can just as readily be used. Already a number
of inventors are at work on the problem, with some plans practically
completely worked out and models made.
It has been suggested that one of these gases could be used by trappers
in trapping wild animals. Hydrocyanic acid gas may be so used. It acts
quickly and is very rapidly dissipated. An animal exposed to the fumes
would die quickly and the trap be safe to approach within two minutes
after it was sprung. It is said that the loss from animals working
their way out of traps by one means or another is nearly 20 per cent.
More than this, it would meet the objections of the S. P. C. A. in that
the animal would not suffer from having its limbs torn and lacerated by
the trap.
Attempts are being made to attack the locust of the Philippines and the
far west and the boll weevil of the cotton states of the South. So far
these tests have not proven more successful than other methods, but
inasmuch as the number of gases available for trial are so great and
the value of success of so much importance, this research should be
continued on a large scale to definitely determine whether poisonous
gas can be used to eradicate these pests—especially the boll weevil.
As an interesting application of war materials to peaceful uses,
we may consider the case of cellulose-acetate, known during the
war as “aeroplane dope,” the material used to coat the linen
covering aeroplane wings. With a little further manipulation, this
cellulose-acetate, or aeroplane dope, becomes artificial silk—a silk
that today is generally equal to the best natural silk—and which
promises in the future to become a standard product better in every way
than that from the silk worm.
[Illustration: FIG. 121.]
These few examples of the peacetime value of gas are worthy of thought
from another standpoint. Being so valuable, their use in peace will
not be stopped. If they are thus manufactured and used in peace, they
will always be available for use in war, and as the experience of the
World War proved, they certainly will be so used even should anybody be
foolish enough to try to abolish their use. As for this latter idea,
the world might as well recognize at once that half-way measures in war
simply invite disaster.
This chapter would not be complete without a brief statement of the
necessity of a thoroughly developed chemical industry in the United
States as a vital national necessity if the United States is to have
real preparedness for a future struggle. As will be indicated a
little later, no one branch of the chemical industry can be allowed
to go out of existence without endangering some part of the scheme of
preparedness.
Let us consider first the coal tar industry. Coal tar is a by-product
of coke ovens or the manufacture of artificial gas from coal. The coal
tar industry is of the utmost importance because in the coal tars
are the bases of nearly all of the modern dyes, a large percentage
of the modern medicines, most of the modern high explosives, a large
proportion of poisonous gases, modern perfumes, and photographic
materials.
A consideration of these titles alone shows how vital the coal tar
industry is. The coal tar as it comes to us as a by-product is
distilled, giving off at different temperatures a series of compounds
called crudes. Ten of these are of very great importance. The first
five are benzene, toluene, naphthalene, anthracene and phenol (carbolic
acid). The second group comprises xylene, methylanthracene, cresol,
carbazol and phenanthrene.
These, when treated with other chemicals, produce a series of compounds
called intermediates, of which there are some 300 now known. From
these intermediates by different steps are produced either dyes, high
explosives, poisonous gases, pharmaceuticals, perfumes or photographic
materials.
We have all heard that Germany controlled the dye industry of the world
prior to the World War. A little study of the above brief statement of
what is contained in the coal tar industry along with dyes will show in
a measure one of the reasons why Germany felt that she could win a war
against the world. That she came so desperately close to winning that
war is proof of the soundness of her view.
In many of the processes are needed the heavy chemicals such as
chlorine, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid and the like.
The alcohol industry is also of very great importance. Grain alcohol
is used extensively in nearly all research problems and in very great
quantities in many commercial processes such as the manufacture of
artificial silk and for gasoline engines in addition to its use in
compounding medicines. It is of very great importance to the Chemical
Warfare Service in that from grain alcohol is obtained ethylene gas,
one of the three essentials in the manufacture of mustard gas. While
this ethylene may be obtained from many sources, the most available
source, considering ease of transportation and keeping qualities, is in
the form of grain alcohol.
Allied to the chemical industries just mentioned is the nitrate
industry for making nitric acid from the nitrogen of the air. Nitrates
are used in many processes of chemical manufacture and particularly
in those for the production of smokeless powders. The fertilizer
industry is of large importance because it deals with phosphorus, white
phosphorus being not only one of the best smoke producing materials
but a material that is, as stated elsewhere, of great use against men
through its powerful burning qualities.
Another point not mentioned above in connection with these industries
is the training of chemists, chemical engineers and the building up of
plants for the manufacture of chemicals, all of which are necessary
sources of supply for wartime needs. Chemists are needed in the field,
in the laboratory and in manufacturing plants. The greater their
number, the more efficiently can these materials be handled, and since
chemicals as such will probably cause more than 50 per cent of all
casualties in future wars, their value is almost unlimited.
Instead of trying to ameliorate the ravages of war, let us turn
every endeavor towards abolishing all war, remembering that the most
scientific nations should be the most highly civilized, and the
ones most desirous of abolishing war. If those nations will push
every scientific development to the point where by the aid of their
scientific achievements they can overcome any lesser scientific
peoples, the end of war should be in sight.
However, we can never be certain that war is abolished until we
convince at least a majority of the world that war is disastrous to
the conqueror as well as to the conquered, and that any dispute can be
settled peacefully if both parties will meet on the common ground of
justice and a square deal.