Poison Gas The remarks made by Dr. F. A. Freeth,
of Imperial Chemicals, on the subject of a gas attack from the air are in the highest degree controversial. His contention that the dangers of poison gas have been much exaggerated is, no doubt, a comforting doctrine ; but unfortunately authorities who _carry equal weight insist that such dangers cannot be exaggerated. Major Victor Lefebure, who was a member of the Directorate of Gas Services on the Western front, reasserts the horrors of such warfare. He points out that mustard gas is not the only practicable weapon of this sort, as Dr. Freeth had suggested. Phosgene, as every ex-soldier who served long on the Western front knows, was employed extensively during the War ; and the mortality among its victims sometimes reached the appalling figure of 50 per cent. Mustard gas, on the other hand, was not primarily intended for lethal purposes, although by the end of the War it had been modified into something almost as deadly as phosgene. But it is dangerous to minimize such perils. The risk of panic is more remote than that -of a false security and the use of gas will- be a ghastly business at the best. * *
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