Chemistry in Warfare

The late fantastic T. E. Lawrence (Seven Pillars of Wisdom) once observed: "The invention of bully-beef has modified land-war more profoundly than the invention of gunpowder . . . because . . . range is more to strategy than force."

Beef preserved in glass or tins is a chemical achievement. When the U. S. entered World War I, the problem of getting food across the Atlantic was as important as shipping men and arms. Meats were smoked, beef was boned, vegetables were dehydrated, vinegar was concentrated, fruits were dried, coffee was condensed into soluble cubes. A billion tin cans paved the way to France for the A. E. F. The job was done so well that U. S. soldiers gained in weight an average 12 lb. a man. These and many more facts are pointed out in Chemistry in Warfare, to be published this month by Research Chemist Frederick A. Hessel, Mary S. Hinrichs Hessel and Wellford Martin.*

Chemistry's most spectacular contribution to World War I, apparently not yet used in World War II--chlorine, phosgene, diphosgene, chlorpicrin, diphenylchlorarsine, mustard--were all discovered in peace time by non-military scientists.

If chemistry has given gas to the generals, it has given gas masks to soldiers and civilians. In other ways it has added much to a soldier's comfort. It keeps him dry with waterproof clothes, lightens his pack with aluminum utensils and condensed food rations. Napoleon's legionnaires, weighed down by bread and flour, carried packs that weighed 58 lb. The modern U. S. foot-slogger's pack weighs 31 lb. His emergency ration consists of nucleo-casein, malted milk, egg albumen, powdered cane sugar, cocoa butter--proteins, amino-bodies, fat and carbohydrates in 8 oz.

Crucially dependent on chemistry is quantity production of high explosives. When World War I broke out, Britain's standard propellant for shells was cordite, a nitroglycerin-nitrocellulose compound whose manufacture requires acetone. Best-known way of making acetone was to distill wood--a costly, low-yield process. When British cordite production hopped up to 4,000,000 lb. a week, all the wood in the world began to look meagre and the War Office was desperate. Acetone was skimped in making cordite, with the result that, in a naval engagement off South Africa, British shells glumphed dismally into the water a few yards from the guns. Then it was learned that Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the great Zionist, had obtained acetone as a fermentation product in corn mash. After that with huge corn supplies in the U. S. and Canada, British cordite makers got along better.

* Hastings House ($2).

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.