8
relief by using oiled, flannel rifle rags. It was not until May that the official respirators
were issued.
By the middle of May the troops were receiving the "Veil" Respirator,* made
of black cotton gauze and fitted with a veil of the same material for protection for
the eyes.
Later on, owing to the increased use of lachrymal shellf which only affected the
eyes, goggles were issued.
The first improvement on the respirator was known as the "Smoke" or Hypo
Helmet.:}: This designa flannel bag, pulled on over the head and the skirt tucked
in the collar of the tunicwas fitted with a one-piece mica window. The breath
was exhaled into the bag and the window rapidly became "smoked," hence the name.
A few of these helmets were being issued by 20th May to machine gunners and
other selected personnelthe practice followed with all later patterns. In the gas
attack of 24th May, a large number of the mica windows became cracked and broken,
rendering the helmets valueless. Further supply was, therefore, suspended till
unbreakable cellulose acetate windows could be procured. By 6th July, all British
troops in the field had been equipped with this modified patternthe first to completely
cover the head.
In August, the "P" or Tube Helmet was introduced, designed of the same shape
as the Smoke Helmet. Two glass eye-pieces replaced the single c.a. window and
the helmet was impregnated with phenates to protect against phosgene gas. In
January, 1916, by the further addition of hyomine, to ensure protection against
prussic acid, it was called the P.H. Helmet. And later, when fitted with metal-rimmed
glass goggleslined inside with a fine rubber sponge which ensured closer fitting and
greater comfortthe name was again changed to P.H.G. The P, P.H. and P.H.G.
helmets were fitted with an expiratory valvea metal tube rubber-lined, held in the
mouth by the teeth.
Shortly after the Canadian Division had arrived in the Ploegsteert areaon
moving north from Givenchy in June, 1915a new idea as a protective measure
against gas was developed. The troops in the trenches were supplied with wooden
boxes containing coarse wood shavings and a small glass bottle of gasoline. These
boxes were distributed one to each bay and strict instructions were given as to their
care and use.
In the event of the enemy releasing gas, the boxes were to be placed on the
parapet and the gasoline containerconcealed amongst the shavingssmashed with
the butt of the rifle, and, after setting fire with a match, the lighted boxes were to
be poked over the parapet with the bayonet fixed to the rifle.
These were made by a well-known firm of manufacturing chemists of Bermondsey, London,
who for over a year were responsible for the entire output of respirators and anti-gas helmets.
May 6th, the first day of manufacture of the veil respirator, 8,000 were produced. By 31st
December, 1916, the same firmemploying between four and five thousand handshad turned
out over twenty million of the helmet pattern.
t The Germans experimented with this type of projectile on January 10th, 1915, at Lodz,
Poland.
f Devised in April by Captain Cluny Macpherson (later Lieut.-Col., M.D., C.M., J.P., C.M.G.
—Principal Medical Officer of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment). Captain Macphersona
native of Terra Nova and a graduate of McGill University, Montrealarrived in England with
the Third Newfoundland Contingent in March, 1915. He was appointed to the Anti-Gas Committee
under the Chairmanship of Colonel (later Sir) William H. Horrocks, K.H.S., R.A.M.C. Writing
from the War Office20th June, 1915to His Excellency the Governor of' Newfoundland, he
stated in part"A formal order has now been issued that the helmet of my pattern is to
supersede the respirators which were issued. The order is that every man in all ranks is
to have two on his person, one at his regimental depót, and one at the ordnance base. Four
for each man."
