black smoke

The black smoke, or black powder, is a fictitious poisonous gas in H. G. Wells' 1898 science fiction novel The War of the Worlds, used by the Martians to eliminate groups of humans, especially artillery crews, and conveyed by shells fired from a gun-like "black tube" carried by the Tripods whip-like tentacles. Any animal inhaling this deadly smoke is killed almost instantly; but the smoke becomes harmless on contact with water, and the Martians would dispel it after each use with jets of steam, leaving only a residual, "cindery" black powder, which reminds the narrator of what he "read of the destruction of Pompeii". The smoke is very dense, and can be avoided by climbing to higher places. Although Wells never explains the smoke's mechanism in the novel, he mentions that it may bind with argon to become toxic. In reality, argon cannot combine with other elements, with the marginal exception of fluorine; but chemical weapons were widely used in human warfare after Wells' novel was written, especially in World War I.