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WHEN the Germans introduced noxious and poisonous gases as a weapon of attack they evidently thought they had a monopoly which they could employ when it suited them, and that the allies could not retaliate in the same way, so, when the French and the British in their turn smothered their trenches with similar suffocating clouds they were fully as unprepared as the allies had been. Credit must be given to the Huns for the ingenuity of the scheme, but apparently they did not appreciate the tremendous possibilities of the new method of attack, for if they had they would have made their preparations on a much greater scale, and introduced it along the entire front at the same time; but they made the mistake of trying the experiment on only a small section, and although they succeeded in making a clean breach through the English lines at that point, it was so small in extent that it was possible to close it again before any material results had been gained. And before the Germans realized their advantage the allies had adopted the new weapon, which is now very extensively employed by both contending forces. The subject is much more extensive than has been generally realized from the occasional references that have been made in the reports. At least twenty different substances have been used by the Germans (for obvious reasons the Allies have made no public statements as to what they are using), and these are described in an article in the current issue of the SCIENTIFIC AMHBICAN SUPPLEMENT, NO. 2200, together with an account of the methods employed to scatter them by gas clouds, shells and hand grenades, and how these attacks are met by various kinds of masks. It is the most complete description of every feature of gas warfare that has yet appeared. AN article on The Technical History of the Airplane, in the current issue of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT, NO. 2200, for March 2d, will be welcomed by the general reader, as it explains simply and clearly many of the essential features of flying machines which everyone wishes to know about, but which are usually only to be found in highly technical papers. Drying Vegetables a New Conservation Move calls attention to a process that has heretofore been but little used in this country. It is illustrated by several photographs. Are Concrete Ships Desirable? calls attention to some of the objections to, and practical difficulties to be encountered in the construction of these much advertised vessels. Modern Margarine Technology deals with matters pertaining to a widely used substitute for butter. The Evolution of Time-Marking Devices describes and illustrates a umber of ancient methods employed before clocks were invented. The Divininq Rod, which tells interestingly the history of water witching is concluded in this issue. The, Development by X-Rags of Two New Fields tells how the radiographer has been able to throw light in unexpected places, and is accompanied by explanatory diagrams. Gas Warfare describes very thoroughly the methods employed in this new method of warfare, and the materials employed. There are a number of other articles of general interest. FRANCE is not as dependent on other nations for breadstuff as is England, for instance. Before the war, the French wheat production was about the same as the wheat consumption, athough French people are great bread eaters. However, on account of the shortage of farm hands, the crops of the war years decreased notably. As the importations are very: difficult, it was necessary to save a part of the wheat consumption. First, the making of fancy bread was prohibited: the Parisians had to give up; the "croissants" they were so fond of for breakfast. Then the millers had to issued only common grade of bolted flour, in order to produce more flour and less bran with a certain amount of wheat. The bakers were ordered not to sell new bread, but only bread baked the day before, another hardship for the Parisians, accustomed to have each morning bread made during the night. All these measures did not sufficiently reduce the price and consumption, consequently, in several places the] baking process has been changed. j In Cherbourg, the military bakery now uses sea water instead of soft water: in this way, they save the salt usually added to the water when kneading, and produce a bread which can be kept a longer time without getting hard. In many other places, they use lime water instead of; ordinary water to wet the flour: that enables them to utilize a large proportion of j "rebulet," "recoupe," or other mill products intermediate between flour and bran. These materials, being acid, would disturb the process of fermentation if part of their acidity was not neutralized by the lime. (In France, yeast is exclusively used, baking powders being unknown). As lime is very little soluble in water, the use of lime water cannot possibly harm the health of the consumer. Instead of lime, it was suggested to use saccharate of calcium, an excess of which will be harmless; but that was not adopted because of its supplementary cost. ! In some parts of central France, where they make a specialty of cultivating potatoes, the bakers revived old methods j devised a century ago by the famous j Parmentier, to prepare potato bread. The | Parmentier process, established after nu-: merous experiments, does not require the ! use of potato flour, but allows the utilization of potatoes simply cooked in water. j The tubers being peeled and mashed, the . "puree"so formed is kneaded with an equal I weight of regular dough, made in the common way with wheat flour, water, salt and I yeast. This proportion is practically a. maximum, as bread made with more than fifty-nine per cent potatoes loses its consistency. It is even better to add only i ; to the wheat dough not more than half : . of its weight of mashed potatoes. j When the dough has raised, the loaves I are placed in the oven, which must not be so hot as for ordinary bread. The time of cooking must be a little longer; cooked as ordinary bread is, the potato wheat loaves of bread would have the crust too hard'and the soft part too wet. Potato bread may be baked in the same way with barley flour or rye flour instead of wheat. All varieties have good taste, with a special little hazel nut flavor, and they can be kept a longer time than the cereal bread. Red beets are utilized too, in the making of bread, the roots being grated after having been cooked in water. The grated stuff is kneaded with its weight of flour, the mixture being treated with salt and yeast as ordinary dough, and cooked in the same way. The bread so prepared has an unusual flavor quite agreeable to the taste, and is better after two or three days of conservation. Instead of beets, apples or pears may be used, but the bread produced is not so cheap as the beet bread. A Japanese bread is manufactured by the quartermaster bakeries with wheat and rice flours, sugar and fat, but the French soldiers did not care for it. Some trials were made to suppress the making of flour: in this way, the expenses of the mill would be saved, and all wheat products used in the human alimentation. To manufacture the whole grain bread, after being washed in water, the wheat is placed in a large shallow pond with just enough water to soak it, and is left for 48 hours, at the end of which time it begins to germinate. Then the mass is immediately crushed and the dough molded into cakes, The bread is finally placed in the oven and baked in the usual way. But this method did not prove to be practicable because when bran and other like mill by-products are not used to feed animals, the farmers must cultivate forage instead of cereals. Besides, the bread made in this way did | not please the French.
