44 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 60 



growth the depressive effect of darkness. In our cities the dullness 

 of sunless days and fogs of winter are intensified by the smoky air. 

 The smoke discourages cleanliness and opening of windows, damages 

 plant life, destroys buildings, clothes, etc., is wasteful of energy, 

 entails the needless production of artificial light, intensifies the dirt 

 and blackness of the streets, depresses the spirits of the inhabitants, 

 and is generally economically unsound. We counterbalance the 

 absence of sun by the illumination of our places of business and 

 entertainment; the shop lights, the twinkling reflections in the wet 

 pavements, the green and red signals of the railways, the moving 

 lamps of the vehicles, the cinema shows, etc., make up a kaleidoscopic 

 effect which stimulates fancy and dispels the monotony and gloom 

 of the atmosphere. The warmth and brightness of our houses impels 

 us to stay within doors, and we suffer in winter from loss of open- 

 air exercise. How much sun the Londoner has lost is shown by 

 figures recorded by Russell : In four years there were 3,925 hours 

 of sunshine in London, 5,713 at Kew and 6,880 at St. Leonards. Be- 

 tween November and February in one year, there were 62 hours of 

 sunshine in London, 222 at Kew and 300 at Eastbourne. For the 

 years 1902- 1906 the yearly average of hours of sunshine in London 

 was 1,257; and for the years 1907-1911, 1,341. Twenty per cent of 

 the fogs in London are wholly due to smoke. 1 The great manufactur- 

 ing districts suffer no less from the plague of darkness. The age of 

 the gas-engine is now upon us, and the displacement of steam as a 

 source of power, with its wasteful consumption of coal, and 

 of open coal fires by smokeless methods of heating, will bring back 

 the days of clean skies. The present dark age of coal, steam, 

 and slums will emerge into one of garden cities and clean living. 

 We must see to it that the method of house warming is contrived 

 on the same lines as the open fire, otherwise we may lose in health 

 from the want of cool moving air more than we gain from 

 light. Gas fires fitted as open fires with flues, or sources of radiant 

 heat combined with impulsion of cool air, are the kind of methods 

 which require development. The method so widely employed of 

 heating rooms by heating the air, is the one which particularly lends 

 itself to the production of ill effects. 2 



1 Dr. Norman Shaw. Cited in Report of Smoke Abatement Conference, 

 1912, p. 68. 



2 The expenses of the foregoing part of this research were defrayed by a 

 grant from the Science Committee of the British Medical Association. 



