Fumij'iigiiim; bi/ John Evelyn, 166 1. SSS 



entirely deposited in the chambers of the flue. The chimneys of 

 the Grand junction engine at Paddington, and of the West Mid- 

 dlesex Water-works at Hammersmith, are more illustrative in- 

 stances ; when these machines are at work, the former produces 

 'ittle smoke; the latter inundates the neighbouring gardens 

 with perpetual showers of the solid soot, and is the greatest 

 of all conceivable nuisances; yet the only difference is in the 

 height of the two chimneys, the boilers being in all respects set 

 and constructed alike. Besides, if a high chimney does void 

 smoke, it is generally wafted away and dissipated, except under 

 particular circumstances of wind and weather. 



As to the requisite height of a chimney for the diminution of 

 nuisance from smoke, we are not prepared to give an opinion ; 

 it will depend very much on the circumstances of the case ; 

 from 150 to 200 feet would, we presume, in most instances, 

 prove efTectual ; the expense of such a structure may certainly 

 be urged against the proposal, but we are to recollect that one 

 shaft might receive all the tributary fumes of many flues, and 

 that a great saving would be effected in reducing the number 

 of chimneys of medium height. The intolerable nuisance of 

 brewers' chimneys, to whose coppers we fear neither Parkes's 

 nor Brunton's inventions are applicable, would in this way be 

 greatly diminished, if not altogether remedied. 



Among other probable causes of the diminution of smoke, 

 we look to the employment of steam as a substitute for fires ; 

 in Whitbread's brewery high pressure steam is thus very ex- 

 tensively employed, and, although they make quite smoke 

 enough, it certainly has lately sustained a very perceptible 

 dimiiiution. 



Lastly, we come to the most absurd portion of the specula- 

 tions of theoretical smoke-burners, namely, the improvement of 

 the atmosphere of the metropolis. Though some are sceptical 

 upon the subject, we will admit that, if no smoke were made 

 in London for a t\yelvemonth, or if wood-fuel were substituted 

 for coals, there might be some amelioration of the atmosphere, 

 although our locality and climate always render it turbid and 

 misty, independent of adventitious effluvia ; it is, however, folly 

 to ascribe any sensible influence upon the great mass of Lon- 

 don smoke to some few steam-engine chimneys, while every 

 house is busy in the work of contamination, and every street 

 yielding a proportion of filth far exceeding that of any sinole 

 furnace, though less observed, because administered by sepa- 

 rate vents, and in divided doses 



When the builders of ordinary houses shall find it worth 

 while to turn their attention to the consumption of smoke, and 

 to display a little more common sense, as well as science, in 

 the mode of warming and ventilating our <lwolling.«i ; when 

 architects, instead of confining their studies lo the dimcnsitms 



