Newspaper Page Text
, ‘
1
-
ephant
Dumb,
ind Yell
i being thus exposed t
he men, the line was
;n.
Meanwhile, apparently ting till their Infantry
penetrated well bfihlty allies’ line, the Ger-
s opened a hot artillery it upon various tactical
ts north of Ypres, The nbardment was carried
with the ordinary high loslve shell and shrap
Df various calibres. Pro lies containing asphyx
ig gases also were hurli
ie withdrawal or some
lered to retire on St.
(orward
Meantime, north and a least of the town there
a confused fight takii (lace behind a wall of
>r which swept across Us and through woods.
>83 these fields, throui these woods and over
rerows came the Germa [ring line, the men with
r mouths and noses pro ted by pads soaked In a
tlon of bicarbonate.
was the fourth day of
t of the village. During lafternoon the Germans
e repeated assaults wi great strength on our
near Broodselnde. the? ittarks being backed up
tremendous artillery b ibardment and a rain of
ijrxlating bomba.’
i Canadian soldier tnlui I by the gases at Ypres,
Leslie Ryan, of Nlagan Falls. X)nt, belonging to
Forty-fourth Canadian ktt&llon, furnished this
resting account of bis tel experience after his
aval to the hospital: 1 *
Our troops got some of le poisonous stuff, but I
onally did not get enot i to make a soldier run.
he time our fellows reai tU the scene the noxious
d was pretty well dlsa tted, but what was left
bad enough. It caused y eyes to go tight shut,
I could not open them rapt for a second or so.
Iso seemed to he closir up my nose and throat,
e water poured from t! corners of my eyes. It
■>«*r
British Sottier Made Deaf,.
•• vw Dumb and
Blind by ,
• CkSt'" it ft Poison
8heU
Being
, ^ \ Tenderly
" Led by
Verestachagin’s Powerful Picture of the British Punishment of the Rebel Hindus,
® ‘Blown from the Guns,
of the large muscles of the thigh. Tickling the soles
of his feet produced no effect. The muscles of the
toes were in a state of continuous contraction.
His eyesight Improved under the Influence of vari
ous glasses that had no relation to any defects of
his eyeball. His left nostril failed to detect the odor
of ether, peppermint, eucalyptus, ammonia, carbolic
acid and iodine, but the right nostril recognized all
of them except Iodine. His ability to taste sugar,
salt and acid waa very faint.
The blindness or defective vision caused by shell
shock is defined by doctors as ‘‘traumatic amblyopia.”
It is a disease which has previously been observed
In cases of prolonged and intense stimulation of the
eye. For instance, similar blinding by direct sun
light has occurred among observers after every big
solar eclipse. In some soldiers there Is complete
“shell blindness,” without visible Injury to the eye.
The deafness noted among soldiers suffering from
shell shock Is in some cases like that produced among
boiler-makers, riveters and persons working on Tail-
ways. The terminals of the auditory nerves are over
stimulated by responding to loud sounds of a certain
pitch for days at a time and so lose their functions.
Such cases may recover with rest.
In other cases of shell shock there is interna! In
jury* to the nerves. A shell passing near the back
bone of a man in a trench has caused violent dis
persal of the cerebro spinal fluid, producing sudden
death.
A sudden Jar to nerve elements of the eye and
ear caused by the near bursting of a shell has pro
duced both blindness and deafness without visible
Injury.
Invalided English soldiers have suffered for weeks
with a continuous ringing in the ears and a feeling
that they were continually turning head over heels,
while others have felt themselves continually turning
round and round.
Soldiers suffering from shell shock are unable to
hear notes as high as formerly.
Hospital
Norse*
teen inches), and It Is now reported that they are
using seventeen Inch guns. The shells of these
weapons on striking the ground make a hole over
thirty feet deep and ninety feet In circumference,
causing death to all who come within a certain dis
tance of their crushing, devastating wind.
Abundant evidence has been received of the
strange and unusual diseases caused by the novel and
devilish weapons of this war. Dr. Charles S. Myers,
of the British Army Medical Corps, attached to the
Duchess of Westminster's Hospital at Le Touquet,
France, has published a study of the remarkable ef
fects produced by “shell shock” on soldiers under his
care. His report has excited much discussion among
doctors.
One of Dr. Myers’s patients, a private, aged twenty,
told him that he had “rather been enjoying it" and
was in the best of spirits up to the moment the shells
burst about him.
In order to get away he had to crawl under wire
entanglements, and In doing so he became hooked. At
this moment one shell burst Just In front of him and
another behind him. Finally he managed to get Into
a trench. He found It hurt him to open hia eyes and
they burned when closed. He was seized with shiv
ering and cold sweat broke out, especially around the
loins. He says the shell behind him was "like a punch
on the bead without any pain after It."
He kept crying and shivering at the hospital and
worrying whether he was going blind. He had been In
the field two months before this accident and had
slept badly, having toothache and pains In the back.
Under treatment his general physical condition rapid
ly Improved, but all the nervous peculiarities of shell
shock persisted. He could hardly see with his left
eye, although he had good sight before the accident.
He reported that a strong solution of salt gave no
taste on his tongue and that a very strong solution of
sugar was only slightly sweet Carbolic acid, ether,
strong peppermint and Iodine gave no smell to him
At the end of four months of treatment his nervous
symptoms bad nearly disappeared.
Another patient, a corporal, aged twenty-five, waa
to a trench when a shell burst within two yards of
him without causing any wound. The first thing he
noticed was that he could hardly see. It should be
noted that this man had led a "fast life" before his
French Grenadiers in Napoleon’s Time Exe
cuting Russian Peasants in a Church.
t the Barbarian Invaders of Carthage by the Use of Trained Elephants in 233 B. 0,
From the Painting by G. Sarand.
half a mile. They produce agonizing suffocation.
The Patent Office records show that the Krupps
patented a gun for throwing a poisonous gas bomb
some years before the war. The specifications state
that It will throw 160 pounds of explosive a distance of
400 yards. Experts say that the explosion will cause
death to everybody within a radius of 400 feet.
The explosive bomb Is placed outside the muzzle
of the gun. It is driven by a steel rod which occupies
the bore of the gun and whlcfii separates automatically
from the bomb after the necessary Impetus has been
given to the latter.
The allies, after the Ypres battle, Immediately «et
to work to find means to neutralize or, at least, min
imize, the poisonous gases of the Germans. The
British troops were supplied with respirators, which
enable a man to live for a time in an atmosphere
charged with the heavy gas and also give him a chance
to escape, when necessary, to some higher ground.
The most effective chemical method of combating
the poisonous gas, bromine chloride, Is said to have
been devised by a French chemist, who Bprays am
monia into the air, which combines with the gas t»
form a non-fnjurious ammonium bromide.
The use of poisonous gases and of shells of Incom
parably greater power thaD any ever used before have
produced a vast number of extraordinary nervous In
juries among British and French soldier* of a kind
of the allies also wrought bavoc among the
is who were ordered to charge Into and occupy
ousted territory whlle ( tfi- air was still heavily
sated. Their own wounded fell In this almos-
and many removed to the rear of the lines
ed a terrible spectacle, their faces having
black and green.
official Belgian committee, appointed to lnves-
the poisonous gases on the ground that they
violation of "The Hague Convention,” reported
seous clouds extending 300 feet Into the air
irried away from the German lines by the wind,
tuds were green In color at the base, gradually
; to light yellow toward the top. Several kinds
s appear to have been used, including chlorine,
•ous vapors of sulphurous anhydride, and others,
ure of which has not yet been determined,
r methods were cmplo^gd, the report says, tn
ting these gases. The first was to light fires
first line of trenches and permit the wind to
te gas formed toward the lines of the Germans’
aists. The three other methods involved In-
the gas in some kind of missile. These In-
cans thrown plther by hand or mine howitzers,
rs of compressed gas and shells containing com-
, which were transformed into gas when they
effects of the fumes were felt * distance of
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