Illustration showing the severely burnt eye of a soldier exposed to mustard gas. The top image shows the eye severely burned in the acute stage and the bottom image shows the later stage of acute burning. Exposure to mustard gas, an irritant used as a chemical warfare agent, causes damage to the skin, eyes and respiratory tract. Short term effects of mustard gas include coughing and shortness of breath. Mustard gas also has long term effects such as mouth, throat and skin cancer as well as leukaemia. Published in An Atlas of Gas Poisoning, 1918.