Tear gas, formally known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (from lacrima meaning "tear" in Latin), is a possibly lethal chemical weapon that stimulates the corneal nerves in the eyes to cause tears, pain, and even blindness. Common lachrymators include OC, CS, CR, CN (phenacyl chloride), nonivamide, bromoacetone, xylyl bromide and syn-propanethial-S-oxide (from onions).
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Famous quotes containing the words tear and/or gas:
“The brown waves of fog toss up to me
Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,
And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts
An aimless smile that hovers in the air
And vanishes along the level of the roofs.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“... when I awake in the middle of the night, since I knew not where I was, I did not even know at first who I was; I only had in the first simplicity the feeling of existing as it must quiver in an animal.... I spent one second above the centuries of civilization, and the confused glimpse of the gas lamps, then of the shirts with turned-down collars, recomposed, little by little, the original lines of my self.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)