The Brattleboro Daily Reformer

NEW SHELLS POISON TOWN
PARIS, Aug. 1. (Correspondence of The Associated Press.) -- Further details have been obtained about the new gas shells which the Germans are now using, and their effect upon the persons who breathe the fumes.

Armentieres is the first town in the annals of history to have been literally poisoned to such a degree that its civil population has had to be removed lest it should be entirely destroyed. While heavy shells were rained on the houses, forcing the people to take refuge in the cellars, a multitude of small shells, not powerful enough to smash a pavement stone, fell everywhere, in streets and courtyard and garden. These shells contain no gas nor powder, but a colorless liquid which spreads over the ground. Only very slightly volatile, the liquid leaves traces for hours after the shell has exploded. It evaporates very slowly, producing a heavy gas which filters downward and reaches the cellars where refuge has been sought.

This gas, remarkably tenacious, has made more victims among women than among men, because it penetrates the hair and remains there, while tobacco smoke has proved an unexpected protection for men. The odor is described by some as recalling acetylene, by others as resembling mignonette, but the majority say it is like hot mustard. It takes some time to produce its effects. Inhabitants of Armentieres who have breathed its emanations in the morning when walking in the town have been able to return home without feeling any effect, but five or six hours later they have been obliged to go to bed, and their condition has rapidly become serious.

The bronchial tubes are affected first, the eyelids become swollen, and little by little the sight is lost. All the mucous membranes are attacked, and the body seems on fire inside, while burns, (which doctors described as of the 'second degree.') cover all the skin. Continuous coughing sets in, with a fever temperature, the skin becomes dull and sickly, and the affliction proves fatal in many cases.

A British army medical officer, protected by a mask, exposed himself to the gas for a quarter of an hour as an experiment, and was burned all over the body, except where the mask protected his head, and on the wrist, where the strap of his watch offered protection.