Explosion of the myth

A myth is, of course, not a fairy story. It is the presentation of facts belonging to one category in the idioms appropriate to another. To explode a myth b accordingly not to deny the facts but to re-allocate them. And thb b what I am trying to do. 

Without considering the sources or accuracy of Prentiss data [1660], they will be examined here (initially) as received wisdom. Given this assumption, there are two possible origins for the oft-cited quote that more than 80% of the gas fatalities of World War I were caused by phosgene . Firstly there is the following statement, taken from Prentiss [1660 p. 674]  

This is a perfectly reasonable statement, given that death by phosgene poisoning occurs, if it occurs at all, within forty-eight hours of the initial exposure (see Chapter 2). However, the 

The second possible source of the quote is independent analysis of Prentiss data [1660]. Fig. 1.16 summarises the pertinent data. These data (originating with Gilchrist 

It is difficult to believe that anyone could have read Prentiss [1660] and then made the 

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