Deliver Us from Evil

It was indeed fortunate that phosgene undergoes rapid hydrolysis, and hence complete destruction (see Section 9.10.3.1), in the presence of base, or in the presence of moist charcoal  

This is the fundamental principle behind all phosgene gas masks, from the most primitive (a moist rag) to the most advanced. 

The first protection was the moist flannel rag, held to the face for an extremely limited protection (see Fig. 1.5). However, without being basic, this was largely ineffectual the rags had to be made basic - either with baking soda or urine. The following extracts from Canadian author Timothy Findley s powerful novel The Wars (Penguin Books Canada, 1978) illustrate the fear and helplessness perfectly, as well as reinforcing the supply problem  

The rest of the men were waiting numbly, holding tom pieces of cloth in their hands - staring at Robert with their mouths open. What are we s posed to do one of them asked. These won t save us. Not if it s chlorine.  

He prayed dear Jesus, let me piss. But he couldn t. Neither could one of the other men and this other man began to weep, till Robert shouted at him Damn you Damn youi Give it to mel and he ripped the shirt tail away from the man and urinated on it himself. Then, with it dipping like a dishcloth, he thrust it back at the other man and said to him Put it over your face. But the poor daft crazy was so afraid and so confused that he put the cloth on top of his head and Robert had to grab it again and slap it on the man s face so that it covered him from eyes to chin.  

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But, deliver us from evil. The greatest evil is our own lower Nature, the evil within us, that we should overcome through the Power of God. 

Deliver Us from Evil Produced by Amy Berg, Hermas Lassalle, and Frank Donner directed and written by Amy Berg edited by Matthew Cooke. 

Richard L. Greaves, Deliver Us from Evil (New York Oxford University Press, 198 6), pp. 207-25 and Enemies under His Feet (Stanford University Press, 1990), pp. 167-90 Keeble, Literary Culture, pp. 120-6. 

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