Science: Horrible Prospects

The general contents of a report prepared by a group of experts for the League of Nations Assembly in Geneva were published. The committee consisted of experts from the College of France, the Royal Institute of Florence, the University of Breslau, the Pasteur Institute, and Harvard, Copenhagen, Rome and Columbia Universities. It was appointed to investigate the possibilities of the use of poison gases and of bacteria in future wars.

Its report was well calculated to arouse the fears of the closely-packed nations of Europe; indeed, its portent is grave. It pointed out that in the last war some 30 poison gases were used, gases which caused burns, destroyed the mucous membranes, produced temporary blindness, brought about violent sneezing.

But these are a mere bagatelle compared to the new and more efficient gases which are now available. There are more than 1,000 gases which may be used in future wars. Moreover, most of these may be easily manufactured in ordinary chemical factories. So any nation with a large chemical industry is in the position of being superlatively armed. The use of airplanes will make possible the spreading of these gases in industrial centres and among the civil population, with a terribly fatal effect. It will be practically impossible to provide protection on a nation-wide scale against some of these gases.

There is a painless gas which produces a fatal effect on the heart, of which the victim would have no knowledge before — or after — he dropped dead. There are gases which upset the digestive functions and prevent the taking of food. Other gases poison the blood and prevent it from carrying oxygen to the several parts of the body. Gases may be used which have a gradual effect, not noticed at first, or which—like mustard gas—seep into solid objects and infest a neighborhood for weeks.

It would be virtually impossible to equip an entire nation with gas masks, and against certain gases even gas masks would prove ineffectual. Any nation might discover an especially deadly gas and at the outbreak of war deluge its enemies with it, practically annihilating an entire country before adequate protection could be discovered.

Fortunately, there will probably develop various practical obstacles to the execution of any such horrible schemes. Since, in the main, for an attack on civil populations, aeronautical means must be relied on, an adequate aerial defense against airplanes and dirigibles would be an effective countermeasure. The carrying-loads of air vessels and their radius of action are also limited. But among the smaller nations of Europe these limitations are not as important as in a great area such as the U. S.

As to the possibility of the use of bacteria, and the waging of a war of disease, this is fortunately less than the possibility of serious gas attacks. Water supplies can usually be fairly well guarded and protective measures taken to prevent the spread of disease, even if these sources are infected. There are filtering, chemical purification and vaccination as countermeasures. Bacteria, likewise, can not be distributed in shells as can gases, because the explosion would destroy them. They would have to dropped in glass tubes by airplanes. Everything considered, the danger, as compared to the use of gases, is small.