NO. I AIR AND TUBERCULOSIS — HINSDALE 25 



are perfectly feasible and economical. It does not need an engineer 

 to assure us that they are hygienic. 



Prof. Charles Baskerville, of the College of the City of New York, 

 has vigorously attacked the problem of smoke and other air impuri- 

 ties. He shows ' that the sticky properties of soot are due to the tar 

 contained in it. This tar adheres so tenaciously to everything that it 

 is not easily removed by rain. In large manufacturing districts, par- 

 ticularly in those where bituminous coal is used as fuel, vegetation 

 is blackened, the leaves of trees are covered and the stomata are 

 filled up, thus inhibiting the natural processes of transpiration and 

 assimilation. In addition, the soot is frequently acid and the deposi- 

 tion of acid along with soot is probably one of the principal causes 

 of the early withering which is characteristic of the many forms of 

 town vegetation. 



SULPHUR DIOXIDE 



Aside from the solid material which pollutes the atmosphere of 

 cities, there are correspondingly enormous quantities of noxious 

 gases which are equally injurious to persons with tubercular disease 

 or other diseases of the respiratory tract. Mention has already been 

 made of the vast amounts of carbonic acid gas generated by fur- 

 naces, not to speak of the quantities exhaled by human beings. The 

 production of this carbon dioxide by the combustion of coal offers 

 a definite measure of the production of sulphur dioxide. These two 

 gases have the same origin and the measure of one is the measure 

 of the other. Recent studies by Prof. Theodore W. Schaefer, who 

 has made many observations of the air of Kansas City during fogs, 

 tend to show that the presence of sulphur dioxide has an unfavorable 

 effect on persons suffering from bronchitis, pharyngitis, pneumonia, 

 and asthma. In January, 1902, the heavy fogs occurring in St. 

 Louis, Missouri, caused serious injury to the throat and lungs of 

 prominent singers and in an action brought against the city and its 

 chief smoke inspector, it was alleged that owing to the additional 

 presence of smoke, suffocating gases, and acid, the health of the 

 complainant was injured. In a mandamus proceeding it was asked 

 that the authorities be compelled to abate the smoke nuisance. 



Prof. Schaefer has used the data mentioned previously as to the 

 output of carbonic acid in London and states that he finds that at 

 least 2,700 tons of sulphur dioxide are generated daily in that city 

 and pass into surrounding atmosphere. This gas, after uniting with 



'Medical Record, New York, November 23, 30, 1912. 



