Hastings-on-Hudson, N. Y., plant. Project—the manufacture of mustard gas.
Kingsport, Tenn., plant. Project—the manufacture of brombenzylcyanide.
Croyland, Pa., plant. Project—the manufacture of diphenylchlorarsine.
In constructing and equipping the Edgewood Arsenal we laid 21 miles of standard-gauge railway and 15 miles of narrow-gauge railway, built nearly 15 miles of improved roadway, and set up two water systems, one with a capacity of 1,500,000 gallons per day for the manufacturing purposes of the chemical plants, and the other providing a fresh-water supply pumped 4 miles with a daily capacity of 2,000,000 gallons. In all 558 buildings were put up on the grounds of the arsenal. There were 86 cantonment buildings, with a capacity of 8,400 men, as well as adequate quarters for officers and civilian employees. Three field hospitals, a complete base hospital, and separate buildings for Y. M. C. A. and K. of C. activities indicated the extent of the building equipment. Three power houses were provided, with a total capacity of 26,500 kilowatts.
In the construction of buildings every precaution was taken to avoid accidents from the handling of toxic gas, the ventilating systems being as near perfection as human science could make them. It is notable that out of the thousands of men employed only four met their death by gas poisoning. Three of these casualties were due to phosgene and one to mustard gas.
To show that all of the danger of the war was not confined to the front, the following table of casualties in 1918 at the Edgewood Arsenal proper is here given:
| Toxic agent. | June. | July. | Aug. | Sept. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mustard gas | 14 | 41 | 190 | 153 | 227 | 47 | 2 | 674 |
| Stannic chloride | 3 | 8 | 15 | 21 | 3 | 50 | ||
| Phosgene | 3 | 7 | 2 | 17 | 1 | 50 | ||
| Chlorpicrin | 14 | 18 | 9 | 3 | 44 | |||
| Bleach chlorine | 2 | 39 | 2 | 1 | 44 | |||
| Liquid chlorine | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 18 | ||
| Sulphur chloride | 2 | 1 | 6 | 9 | ||||
| Phosphorus | 2 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 15 | |||
| Caustic soda | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | ||||
| Sulphuric acid | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 | ||||
| Picric acid | 2 | 2 | ||||||
| Carbon monoxide | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Totals | 14 | 63 | 279 | 197 | 293 | 76 | 3 | 925 |
As has been noted, chlorine was the only war gas produced on a commercial scale in America prior to the war. At the ordinary temperatures chlorine is a greenish-yellow gas of strong, suffocating odor. Through the combined effects of cold and pressure it is readily condensed to a liquid and is ordinarily shipped in this form, stored in strong cylinders.
Chlorine is prepared commercially by the electrolytic process. A current of electricity is passed through a solution of common salt. The greenish gas at once arises, leaving behind it a residue of caustic soda. The apparatus in which the salt is decomposed by the electric current is known as a cell. The Government plant used Nelson cells, each with a capacity of 60 pounds of chlorine and 65 pounds of caustic soda per 24 hours.