off. Many cases have proved
fatal and many more suffer cruelly for weeks in hospital. With the men
we attended a lecture on the nature of the various gases used by the
enemy and the proper methods of meeting them. The lecture throughout
was unconsciously couched almost in theological language. The
instructor first disposed of what he called superstitious "heresies"
concerning the gas, in order to prevent the men from having panic and
"getting the wind up." There is a foolish rumor which says, "One
breath and you are ruptured for life, or you fall dead the next
morning," etc., etc., but he warns the men of its deadly nature and
tells them they are to be saved from its fatal effects by knowing the
truth.

The instructor explains that if they take four deep breaths it will
prove fatal: "One breath and you catch the first spasm, two and you are
mad, three and you are unconscious, four and you are dead. If you keep
your presence of mind and hold your breath you will have six seconds to
get on your gas helmet or respirator." The attack, remember, is a
surprise in the dark; brain-splitting gas shells are dropping on all
sides, and it is hard to keep cool and hold one's breath in the moment
of sudden surprise and panic. We are told that there are fifteen
mistakes which are easily possible in getting on this complicated
helmet, or if there is one big blunder in the sudden surprise the man
is done for.

Before going through the death chamber, helmets are inspected, to see
that they are sound and unpunctured, and the men are drilled in the
open to practice putting them on quickly. Suddenly the warning whistle
of an imaginary gas attack sounds. One backward fling of the head and
the steel helmet falls off, for there is no time to lift it off. A
dive into the bag carried on the chest and the respirator is grasped
and with one skilful swoop it is drawn over the face. Your nose is
pinched shut by a clamp, your teeth grip the rubber mouthpiece, and,
like a diver, you must now get your one safe stream of pure air through
the respirator. You draw in the air from a tube which rises from a tin
of chemical on your chest. Then you can breathe in the dense, deadly,
greenish chlorine vapor, for as it passes through the respirator filled
with chemicals, it is absorbed, neutralized, oxidized, and purified
into a stream of pure air. All about you may be choking fumes of death
which would kill you in four seconds, yet you will be