History

THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE

UNITED STATES ARMY IN THE WORLD WAR

VOLUME XIV

MEDICAL ASPECTS OF GAS WARFARE

PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF

MAJ. GEN. M. W. IRELAND
The Surgeon General

By

COL. WILDER D. BANCROFT, C. W. S.	CAPT. E. K. MARSHALL, JR., C.W.S.
MAJ. H. C. BRADLEY, C. W. S.	MAJ. WALTER J. MEEK, C. W. S.
MAJ. J. A. E. EYSTER, M. C.	MAJ. A. A. PAPPENHEIMER, M. C.
COL. H. L. GILCHRIST, M. C.	MAJ. JAMES E. POORE, M. C.
CAPT. SAMUEL GOLDSCHMIDT, C. W. S.	TORALD SOLLMAN, M. D.
CAPT. PAUL J. HANZLIK, M. C.	SERGT. JESSE TARR, C. W. S.
CAPT. ROBERT A. LAMBERT, M.C.	LIEUT. COL. F. P. UNDERHILL, C.W.S.
A. S. LOEVENHART, M. D.	ALFRED S. WARTHIN, M. D.
CAPT. D. W. WILSON, C.W.S.

WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, 1926

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LETTER OF TRANSMISSION

I have the honor to submit herewith Volume XIV of the history of the MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY IN THE WORLD WAR. The volume submitted is entitled "MEDICAL ASPECTS OF GAS WARFARE."

M. W. IRELAND,
Major General, The Surgeon General.

The SECRETARY OF WAR.

Lieut. Col. FRANK W. WEED, M. C., Editor in Chief.
LOY MCAFEE, A. M., M. D., Assistant Editor in Chief.

EDITORIAL BOARD ^a

Col. BAILEY K. ASHFORD, M. C.
Col. FRANK BILLINGS, M. C.
Col. THOMAS R. BOGGS, M. C.
Col. GEORGE E. BREWER, M. C.
Col. W. P. CHAMBERLAIN, M. C.
Col. C. F. CRAIG, M. C.
Col. HAVEN EMERSON, M. C.
Brig. Gen. JOHN M. T. FINNEY, M. D.
Col. J. H. FORI, M. C.
Lieut. Col. FIELDING 1H. GARRISON, M. C.
Col. H. L. GILCIHRIST, M. C.
Brig. Gen. JEFFERSON R. KEAN, M. D.
Lieut. Col. A. G. LOVE, M. C.
Col. CHARLES LYNCH, M. C.
Col. JAMES F. MCKERNON, M. C.
Col. S. J. MORRIS, M. C.
Col. R. T. OLIVER, D. C.
Col. CHARLES R. REYNOLDS, M. C.
Col. THOMAS W. SALMON, M. C.
Lieut. Col. G. E. DE SCHWEINITZ, M. C.
Col. J. F. SILER, M. C.
Brig. Gen. W. S. THAYER, M. D.
Col. A. D. TUTTLE, M. C.
Col. WILLIAM H.. WELCH, M. C.
Col. E. P. WOLFE, M. C.
Lieut. Col. CASEY A. WOOD, M. C.
Col. HANS ZINSSER, M. C.
______________________________________________________________________________
^aThe highest rank held during the World War has been used in the case of each officer.
4

PREFACE. ^a

In this volume attempt is made to deal with only such problems of gas warfare as concerned the Medical Department directly, or through affiliation with the Chemical Warfare Service. The material seemed naturally to fall into three sections, involving: (1) Organization and administration of the gas service; (2) clinical features of gas poisoning, including certain statistical considerations; (3) experimental researches with respect to the physiology, pathology, and therapeutics of noxious gases.
The connection of the Medical Department with the early development of the defensive aspects of gas warfare has been briefly detailed in Volume 1, which gives the administrative history of the Surgeon General 's Office. That account is elaborated, with certain necessary repetitions, in the present volume.
Reports by the laboratory investigators concerning the progress of their experimental studies were submitted from time to time during and after the war, many of which formed the basis of contributions which appeared in professional journals or in book form. A considerable part, therefore, of the third, or experimental, section of the present volume has been published. The purpose of this section is to assemble, in one place and in convenient form the accounts of the work of our most prominent students of the various aspects of gas poisoning, as experimentally investigated. The immediate editorial supervision of this volume, in the earlier stages of its preparation, and until official orders separated him from the Historical Division, was exercised by Lieut. Col. S. J. Morris. M. C.
______________________________________________________________________________
^aFor the purposes of the History of the Medical Department of the United States Army in the World War, the period of war activities extends from Apr. 6. 1917, to Dec. 31, 1919. In the professional volumes, however. in which are recorded the medical and surgical aspects of the conflict as applied to the actual care of the sick and wounded, this period is extended, in some instances, to the time of the completion of the history of the given service. In this way only can the results of the methods employed be followed to their logical conclusion.