n. The
mixture of aluminum and iron burns like so much tinder--though such a
way of putting it is absurdly feeble.

The present war has been conspicuously marked by reversions to ancient
methods of fighting. In this line the incendiary bomb offers an
excellent illustration. It is in effect merely an adaptation of an idea
utilized by the Saracens--we should call them Turks nowadays--in their
warfare with the Crusaders of the Middle Ages.

DREAD INSTRUMENT OF WAR.

The instrument of war most dreaded by the Crusaders, as they found it in
the hands of the Turks, was the incendiary bomb--a projectile that flew
through the air "like a fiery dragon" as they described it, and set fire
to whatever it touched. Sometimes it was provided with iron barbs, by
which it clung to buildings.

This was one of the ways in which the Saracens employed the celebrated
"Greek fire"--an inflammable compound that is understood to have been a
mixture of petroleum, saltpeter and pitch. The chief horror of it, from
the Crusaders' point of view, was that it was unquenchable. Mere water
had no effect upon it. Hence they were sure that it must be of
diabolical origin.

But the up-to-date incendiary bomb is a great improvement on its
original of the Middle Ages. The modern contrivance is thoroughly
scientific, and it does its destructive business with certainty and
dispatch.

No less effective are the gas bombs which were introduced by the German
soldiers at Rheims, and which when exploding near the trenches occupied
by the French and English threw off vapors and poisonous gases which
killed or overwhelmed thousands of brave men. These devices used in
violation of all rules of civilized warfare sent hundreds to the
hospitals. Seventy-five victims were taken at one time from the trenches
to the hospital at Zuydcoote, north of Dunkirk, where it was found that
some of those who had inhaled the fumes turned a violet tinge.

Altogether it was estimated that from 3000 to 5000 men were affected by
the gas fumes in this first onslaught and at least 10 per cent of those
who were overcome succumbed to the deadly fumes. Many of those who
inhaled the poisons expectorated blood and for days afterward were
racked by terrible coughing. In many cases fever developed in a few days
ending with pneumonia. When the men were not sufficiently poisoned to
cause death they were so affected that their usefulness as soldiers was
ended for all time. The poison made the