About August, 1918, Lieut. Col. James F. Norris opened an office in London. His duties were to establish cordial and intimate relations not only with the various agencies of the British Government which were connected with gas warfare, but also with the various laboratories where experiments were being conducted, that important changes might be transmitted to America with the least possible delay. The English made Colonel Norris a member of the British Chemical Warfare Committee. Here again the signing of the Armistice prevented a full realization of the importance of this work. CHAPTER IV THE CHEMICAL WARFARE SERVICE IN FRANCE It is worth noting here that the Chemical Warfare Service was organized as a separate service in the American Expeditionary Forces nearly ten months before it was organized in the United States, and that the organization in the United States as heretofore described was patterned closely on that found so successful in France. Very soon after the United States declared war against the Central Powers, a commission was sent abroad to study the various phases of warfare as carried on by the Allies, and as far as possible by the enemy. Certain members of this commission gave attention to chemical warfare. One of those who did this was Professor Hulett of Princeton University. He, with certain General Staff officers, gathered what information they could in England and France concerning the gases used and methods of manufacturing them, and to a very slight extent the methods of projecting those gases upon the enemy. Some attention was paid to gas masks, but there being nobody on the General Staff, or anywhere else in the Regular Army, whose duty it was to look out particularly for chemical warfare materials, these studies produced no results. As has already been stated, the Medical Department started the manufacture of masks, and the Bureau of Mines, under the leadership of the Director, Mr. Manning, began studies upon poisonous gases and the methods of manufacturing them just before or shortly after war was declared. Nevertheless, although American troops left for France in May, 1917, it was not until the end of August—the 17th to be exact—that definite action was taken toward establishing a Chemical Warfare Service, or, as it was then known, a Gas Service in the American Expeditionary Forces. On that date a cablegram was sent to the United States to the effect that it was desired to make Lieut. Col. Amos A. Fries, Corps of Engineers, Chief of the Gas Service, and requesting that no assignments to the regiment of gas troops authorized in the United States be made which would conflict with this appointment. On August 22d, Lieut. Col. Fries entered upon his duties as Chief of the Gas Service.