Bennett II 
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 
by 
Granville A, Bennett 
Sur ge on (R), USPHS 
Acting Medical Gas Officer, OCD, Washington, D. C. 
My remarks this morning should be brief because I have been 
assigned time later on in the course to explain the purpose of 
this school and to discuss the problem of setting up subsequent 
courses of instruction for physicians in your local communities. 
First of all, I would like to use this opportunity to make a 
few acknowledgements. 
I bring from Dr. Baehr, the Medical Director of the Office 
of Civilian Defense, his thanks to all of you for taking these 
three days to attend this instructor's course for physicians. 
We all appreciate your willingness to participate in this 
undertaking. 
I would also like to express the appreciation of the Washing- 
ton office to Dr. Coulter, Regional Medical Officer of the 
Sixth Region and to Dr, Hunt, Regional Medical Officer of the 
Seventh Region, for their invaluable aid in getting this school 
together, and to Mr. Cary, your Regional Sanitary Engineer for 
both of these regions, who has had so much to do with the local 
arrangements. A further word of appreciation is due Dr. 
Franklin McLean of the University of Chicago. He has arranged 
for your faculty covering the scientific part of the program. 
Dr . McLean has provided us with a group of teachers, most, if 
not all of whom, have been doing research work in the field of 
chemical agents of warfare, and I am sure that that part of 
the program is going to be very interesting and very instructive. 
Some of you may have wondered why the Office of Civilian Defense 
is interested in putting on such a program as the one beginning 
this morning. No one knows whether or not chemical warfare 
agents will be used in this war , However, we may feel reason- 
ably sure that the best way to invite the use of such agents 
upon our civilian population is to do nothing toward an adequate 
defense against them. 
In Great Britain, as many of you know, preparations for a 
chemical warfare attack wore made long in advance of the actual 
beginning of war , They had carried out a great deal of in- 
struction. Gas Masks had been issued. They had set up a certain 
number of decontamination stations. As you know, gas has not 
been used against them. It is entirely possible that the prepa- 
ration they had made may have been one of the reasons why gas was 
not used. In any case, the threat of the use of chemical warfare 
1^5084 Bennett II 
agents is believed to be very real. If an effective defense 
is to be set up it should be accomplished in advance of an 
emergency. Otherwise, there will be confusion and a waste of 
time and effort. The need of providing training long in ad- 
vance of any impending danger was clearly indicated last spring 
when it became known that the Japanese were moving in the direc- 
tion of our Western coast. At that time there had been but 
little preparation for defense against chemical warfare attack 
upon our civilian population in the western states. A consid- 
erable number of army gas masks were made available to civilians 
and an intensive training program was provided as rapidly as 
possible for the protection of the civilian population. It is 
hoped that through the present type of schools we can more 
logically and effectively train our people in civil gas defense. 
Tomorrow afternoon I am scheduled to talk to you at some length 
about the type of instruction that we hope you men will give to 
physicians in your respective states. 
At this time I would like merely to point out that the in- 
struction which is being carried on throughout our covin try is 
of two major types: 
(l) the medical instruction such as you are 
receiving here and such as you will provide 
for other physicians in courses in your own 
state communities! 
(2) courses in the War Department Civilian Pro- 
tection Schools for the training of non- 
medical gas officers. 
Much of the teaching in this and your own subsequent courses 
will be based on the information from the last war. However, 
it should be possible to use this same channel of instruction 
to pass on new information regarding the effects of gases and 
the up-to-date management of gas casualties. 
As an example, I might call attention to the recent release 
on the nitrogen mustards which is contained in this Training 
Circular #86. It is possible to rapidly pass this information 
on to the local physicians through the channels established in 
our previous schools even though the nitrogen mustards wore not 
mentioned in the courses of instruction previously given. There 
will, no doubt, be new and important releases as time goes on, 
especially if gas warfare should at any time be under taken in 
the present conflict. 
Wo are distributing for your use a number of booklets, operations 
letters and mimoographed sheets which should aid you in following 
the present course and in your subsequent teaching assignments. 
M-5084 Bennett II 
One booklet, namely, First Aid in the Prevention and Treat- 
ment of Chemical Casualties, that is being given out will soon 
be replaced by a new and improved edition. This new booklet 
will be sent to you as soon as the printing has been completed 
There are three errors in the present pamphlet that should be 
noted. One of them, on cage 16. has to do with the use of 
hydrogen peroxide in the eyes. Hydrogen peroxide should never 
be used in the eyes because it is itself injurious. On rags 17 
you will, find that the use of sodium hydroxide in glycerin is 
recommended. This should be deleted. On nano .13 you will find 
somet-hing about the use of solvents (kerosene and gasoline, etc. ) 
for the removal of vesicant agents. The use of such solvents is 
not recommended in the newest literature of the O.G.D. 
In the manuals "Decontamination Squads" and "Protection Against 
Gas" you will find a diagram representing a floor plan of a de- 
contamination station, a structure we now call a cleansing station. 
Owing to the fact that our thinking with reference to cleansing 
stations has been radically changed in recent months., T would 
cau Lion you against paying ihuch attention to this diagi am., Mr. 
Cary will talk to you in some detail about our present views 
regarding the purpose, arrangement and structure of cleansing 
stations. At a later period I will discuss the problems related 
to the training of cleansing station personnel and the actual 
operation of the stations. 
M-508A