WAR SECRETARY SUBMITS TO TEST OF GAS DEVICE PERFECTED TO CURE COLDS
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On January 26, 1924, "callers with overseas experience...admitted to Secretary (John W.) Weeks's* office...instinctively reached for gas masks" when they smelled "the taint of chlorine gas."
According to the Evening Star, the Secretary of War had submitted "to a test of the gas service device recently perfected to cure colds."
The device, developed by the chemical warfare service of Edgewood Arsenal**, had proved successful in previous tests with the U.S. Army in which 75% of cases of cold were completely cured.
*John W. Weeks (1860-1926) was born in Lancaster, New Hampshire & served in U.S. Senate (R-Massachusetts) 1913-1919 & as Secretary of War 1921-1925, JWW is buried near Weeks Drive at Arlington National Cemetery.
**From 1948 to 1975, the US Army Chemical Corps conducted classified human subject research at the Edgewood Arsenal facility located in Maryland.
SOURCE
"War Secretary Tests Gas Device For Curing Colds," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., January 26, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
