22 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 63 



Dr. William Charles White and Paul Shuey, of Pittsburgh, have 

 recently made a study of the influence of smoke on acute and chronic 

 lung infections, selecting pneumonia and tuberculosis as a cause of 

 death in Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Portland, Oregon, St. Paul, Cincin- 

 nati, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, New Orleans, Richmond, 

 Cleveland, San Francisco, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Memphis, Bos- 

 ton, Mobile, and Los Angeles. They plotted the number of smoky 

 days per year, 1907 to 1912, with the smokiest cities first and so on 

 to the least in the order indicated above. The mortality for white 

 population and total population and other data are noted on the ac- 

 companying chart. This study is in some respects unsatisfactory, 

 because of the difficulty of getting data as to smoky days. The con- 

 clusion was that if we except Portland and St. Paul there is a 

 general tendency of the tuberculosis death rate to rise as the number 

 of smoky days in the city decreases. On the other hand, it will be 

 seen that there is a general tendency for the number of deaths from 

 pneumonia to fall as the number of smoky days in the city decreases. 

 In this instance, also, Portland, St. Paul, and Boston must be ex- 

 cepted. All this needs confirmation. 



It is a matter of common knowledge that coal miners are liable 

 to a disease called fibrosis, anthracosis, or miners' consumption, in 

 which the lungs receive and retain coal dust, which penetrates every 

 nook and cranny of the lungs and adds one more element of danger 

 to a most hazardous occupation. But we have it on the authority of 

 Sir Frederick Treves that he had seen the lungs of many persons, 

 who had lived in London, which were black from their surface to 

 their innermost recesses. Such a condition, in his opinion, not only 

 made it more difficult to resist disease, but started disease, and it was 

 entirely due to dirt and soot inhaled. The black fog of London owes 

 its color to coal smoke, which gives it its filthy, choking constituents, 

 and kills people by thousands. Experiments showed that during 

 a bad fog six tons of soot were deposited to the square mile.' 



^ Some six hundred years ago, the citizens of London petitioned King Ed- 

 ward I to prohibit the use of " sea coal." He replied by making its use 

 punishable by death. This stringent measure was repealed, however, but 

 there was again considerable complaint in Queen Elizabeth's reign, and the 

 nuisance created by coal smoke seems to have been definitely recognized 

 at this period. Since this time there has been continual agitation, together 

 with much legislation, both abroad and in this country. In the seventeenth 

 century, King Charles II adopted repressive measures in London, and in the 

 present century anti-smoke crusades have been frequent. In fact, the smoke 

 problem will undoubtedly continue to demand attention until it is either 



