THE LOGANBURN SMOKE CASE. 1 5 



3. The Loganburn Smoke Case. 



By Alex. Lauder, D.Sc, Consulting Chemist to the Society. 



The action brought by Lord Inglis of Glencorse in 1877, 

 against the Shotts Iron Company, to interdict them from 

 burning ironstone near his estate, the fumes from which, he 

 alleged, were seriously damaging his plantations, is one of the 

 most famous, if not the most famous, of the many cases in 

 which damage to trees is said to have resulted from manu- 

 facturing or chemical operations. The importance of the 

 action is due not merely to the extent of the interests involved 

 on both sides, but to the large amount of evidence, both pro- 

 fessional and scientific, brought by pursuer and defenders, and 

 to the great amount of scientific work of an accurate kind 

 carried out in connection with the case. The action was first 

 tried before the Lord Ordinary, who granted interdict; an 

 appeal was taken by the Iron Company to the Second Division 

 of the Court of Session, and refused ; finally, the House of 

 Lords confirmed the interdict, and the calcination of iron ore 

 in open heaps at distances less than one mile from pursuer's 

 boundaries was prohibited. 



It should be noted at first that the question involved was 

 one of fact and not of law. The plantations in question on the 

 Glencorse estate were replanted, mostly by Lord Inglis, in 

 1856, '57, '58, and '59, and consisted chiefly of oak, ash, beech, 

 birch, lime, elm, horse-chestnut, and, as regarded the fir tribe, 

 the usual firs of that time, viz., Scots pine, larch, Norway 

 spruce, and silver fir. A considerable number of the newer 

 varieties of coniferae were also planted. 



According to the evidence of the pursuer himself, as well as 

 that of his head forester and other independent witnesses, the 

 plantations, up to the year 1877, were generally in a very 

 flourishing condition. 



In the spring of 1877 the Shotts Iron Company commenced 

 calcining or burning ironstone at their pits, close to the 

 boundary of the pursuer's estate. In the summer of the same 

 year the first signs of injury to the plantations began to appear, 

 and the appearance of injury went on increasing rapidly up 

 to the date of the action. 



It may not be out of place to give here a short account of 



