﻿18 THE AIR OF TOWNS. 



passed awaj^ people will look back upou the hideous heap of black stones 

 stowed away in an ornamental box in every dwelling room as we now 

 contemplate the tinder box or the tallow candle. But if domestic chim- 

 neys are responsible for half, or even more than half the smoke, it is no 

 reason why we should suffer from the other half if it can be removed. 

 Let me now direct your attention to the legal aspect of the question. 

 It may be said that this lies beyond the province of the scientific man, 

 but my conscience would not be satisfied if I did not link to a subject, 

 which I regard as of serious importance, the knowledge of how the 

 evil may be compassed. Legislation in regard to smoke abatement is 

 to my mind as simple as it is just. 



The Public Health Act, 1875, part 1, subsection 7, states: 



**For the purposes of this act, anj firei)lace or furnace which does 

 not, as far as practicable, consume the smoke arising from the com- 

 bustible used therein, and which is used for working engines by steam, 

 or in any mill, tactory, dyehouse, brewery, bakehouse, or gas work, or 

 in any manufacturing or trade process whatever, shall be deemed to 

 be a nuisance, and liable to be dealt with summarily in the manner 

 provided by this act." 



This is in regard to furnaces. In respect of chimneys, the second part 

 of subsection 7 of section 91 says : 



^'For the purposes of this act any chimney, not being the chimney of 

 a private dwelling house, which emits black smoke in such quantities 

 as to be a nuisance, shall be deemed a nuisance, and liable," etc. 



Put briefly, the law is this: Every factory-chimney owner who is 

 not using the best practicaible means for preventing smoke, whether the 

 quantity is large or small, is acting contrary to the law. 



Before the alkali act existed, wherever alkali makers erected their 

 plant they were like plague spots; vegetation died for miles around, 

 making the neighborhood of the works a bare wilderness like the dis- 

 trict of St. Helens is to this day. The alkali act did not stop these 

 works. It simi)ly prescribed that the best practicable means should 

 be adopted to prevent the escape of acid, and inspectors were appointed 

 to see how far this could be carried out. What happened? Before 

 long a most efficient method was found to condense the acid fumes. 

 The acid turned out to be a profitable commercial article, and now 

 the amount of acid escaping into the air is invariably under the 

 minimum quantity — a very minute amount — prescribed by the present 

 act of Parliament. 



Government has acted with equal wisdom in regard to factory chim- 

 neys. No particular form of furnace is prescribed, but only the best 

 practicable means for preventing smoke. 



If, then, a manufacturer is sending out not black smoke, but one par- 

 ticle of soot — 



'^Be it so miicli 

 As makes it light or heavy in the substance 

 As the division of the twentieth part 

 Of one poor scruple; nay, if the scale do turn 

 But in the estimation of a hair/' 



