The first heating of cocoanut shells to make charcoal reduces their weight 75 per cent. It was evident, therefore, that we could more economically ship our oriental supply in the form of charcoal produced on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. A charcoal plant was established in the Philippine Islands and agents were sent to all parts of the Oriental countries to purchase enormous supplies of shells. While the work was only gaining momentum when the Armistice was signed, the plant actually shipped 300 tons of cocoanut shell carbon to the United States and had over 1000 tons on hand November 11, 1918. In the search for other tropical nuts, it was found that the cohune or corozo nut was the best. These nuts are the fruit of the manaca palm tree. They grow in clusters, like bananas or dates, one to four clusters to a tree, each cluster yielding from 60 to 75 pounds of nuts. They grow principally on the west coast of Central America in low, swampy regions from Mexico to Panama but are also found along the Caribbean coast. The chief virtue of the cohune nut from the charcoal point of view was its extreme thickness of shell; this nut is 3 inches or more in length and nearly 2 inches in diameter but the kernel is very small. Four thousand tons per month were being imported at the time of the Armistice. A disadvantage in the use of cohune nuts was that their husks contained a considerable amount of acid which rotted the jute bags and also caused the heaps of nuts to heat in storage. A third source of tropical material was in the ivory nuts used in considerable quantities in this country by the makers of buttons. There is a waste of 400-500 tons per month of this material, which was used after screening out the dust. This material is rather expensive, because it is normally used in the manufacture of lactic acid. Another great branch of activity in securing carbon supplies was concerned with the apricot, peach and cherry pits and walnut shells of the Pacific Coast. A nation-wide campaign on the part of the American Red Cross was started on September 13, 1918. Between this time and the Armistice some 4,000 tons of material were collected. Thus the slogan “Help us to give him the best gas mask” made its appeal to every person in the United States. A THEORY OF CHARCOAL ACTION