25 SEPTEMBER 1915, Page 1

On the Western front the week has been marked by

very heavy artillery duels ill which the French and British 4uns appear to have had the mastery. In the French official COMnnEMiqtL8 published in Wednesday's papers it is stated that the Germans bombarded some of the French positions in Champagne with "lachrymetory projectiles "—that is, with projectiles filled with chemicals which cause an instant rush of tears to the eyes so great that a man is temporarily blinded and quite unable to act as a combatant. Such practices, of course, cause inconvenience as well as suffering, but it must not be supposed that their military value is very great, except when, as in the first attack by poison-gas, the troops suffer a surprise.