322 



SMITHFIELD 



SMOKE 



that many of the long line of martyrs from 140 

 to ltil'2 siilfcted in the flames or on the ncnffold 

 With tin 1 growth f the city the cattle marke 

 became an intolerahle nuisance (described in 

 Olirrr Tirint), and was finally closed in 1855 (see 

 M.AtiiiriKK HOUSES). The hay-market goes on, 

 but the centre of the space is laid out as a garden 

 with fountains. Tin- Smithtield Club ( 1798) holds 

 its annual cattle shows in the Agricultural Hall. 



Smitllfielfl, a village (pop. 800) of Virginia, 

 on a navigable creek 24 miles WNW. of Norfolk, 

 contains in St Luke's Episcopal Church ( 1632 ; 

 Imilt of Imported brick) the oldest Protestant 

 building in America, and after the adobe cathe- 

 dral at Santa Fc the oldest surviving Christian 

 edifice in the United States. 



Smithsonian Institution, at Washington, 

 D.C., wan organised by act of congress in 1846 in 

 accordance with the will of Jiimes Macie Smithson 

 < 1765-1829), who, in a fit of pique at the Koyal 

 Society's rejection of a paper which he had sub- 

 mitted in 1826, bequeathed the reversion of an 

 estate of 105,000 to the United States of America 

 to found ' at Washington an establishment for the 

 increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.' 

 He was an Englishman, a natural son of Sir Hugh 

 Smithson, first Duke of Northumberland, and Mrs 

 Elizabeth Macie, a niece of Charles, Duke of 

 Somerset. He devoted his life to scientific pur- 

 suits, especially to chemistry and mineralogy, was 

 a Fellow of the Koyal Society from 1787, and for 

 long a member of the French Institute, and died in 

 Genoa,. The Institution is a Imdy of which the 

 presiding officer <ar qflirio is the president of the 

 United States, and the Chief-justice of the United 

 States customarily the chancellor. It is governed 

 by a board of regents appointed by the Federal 

 government, its direction under them lieing con- 

 fided to a chief officer styled the Secretary. It has 

 A spacious and beautiful building, forming one of 

 the chief architectural adornments of the capital, 

 which is occupied by offices and workrooms, but 

 mainly by the collections of the government, which 

 ftlso fill a separate adjoining edifice covering nearly 

 2J acres. In these buildings under its ownership 

 or direction are the results of the exploring, survey- 

 ing, geological, ethnological, and other expeditions 

 of the Smithsonian and the government, known 

 as the United States National Museum. The 

 work of the institution is to promote original 

 research ; to publish the results of investigations, 

 and distribute them freely to libraries in every 

 land ; to facilitate the interchange of scientific 

 thought and laliour, by sending and receiving free 

 of cost the publications of all learned societies. It 

 lias a library of 100,000 volumes. Ita publications 

 consist of a quarto series, Smithsonian Contributions 

 to Kiuiirlnliif, an octavo series, .Wisi-i'lluni-mis ('<>/ 

 AvV/v/Hv, Uutli published at the expense of the fund, 

 and an annual Report printed by congress. The 

 Smithsonian fund now consists of $703,000, on 

 which and on all sums not to exceed a million 

 dollar* congress pays It per cent, interest. This 

 is ci.tin-ly disinter from (he ums annually appro- 

 printed by government for the following 'hincaiis 

 of the Institution: ( | ) the National Museum, (2) 

 tin- BareM of Ethnology, Cil (lie Hnreail of Inter- 

 national Exchanges. i|) ||,,. National Zoological 

 Park, (5) the Astro physical Observatory. These 

 nnnis (about $300,000) are under the direction of 

 the institution. See \nt,irr, xl. 340, liri. 257-261; 

 Khees, Smitlixnii tniil I, in lii-ijin-st (1880); E. B. 

 4:oodc. Thr Sinitli.vtni<in fn.ititiition ( 1897). 



Smith's Sound. See BAFFIN BAY; also 

 POI.AI: EXPUHUTIOV, and map there, 



Smock-frock, an outer garment of coarse 

 white linen worn by agricultural labourers over their 



other clothes, especially in the south of England. 

 It is like the French blouse, but longer; and the 

 should. -is are often somewhat elaborately orna- 

 mented with neatly sewn folds and puckers. 



Smoke, a common term to signify the volatile 

 products of the impelled combustion of such 

 organic substances as wood or coal. The smoke 

 fiom burning wood is almost colourless, consisting 

 principally of carbonic acid and water, whilst that 

 produced by burning coal is generally laden with 

 oily and tarry \aponr and finely divided caibon 

 (or soot). The different effects resulting from the 

 use of these varieties of fuel is exemplified in the 

 brightness of Paris as compared with the (too 

 generally) gloomy atmosphere of London. In 

 London the smoke nuisance is an old grievance ; 

 Evelyn the diarist wrote his Fmnifugium in 1661 ; 

 and in his diary explains the unpleasantness of the 

 great fog of the winter of 1684 (when a fair was 

 held on the Thames), and justly ascribes it to the 

 ' fuliginous steam of the sea-coale.' 



The smoke nuisance may justly claim pre-emin- 

 ence for itself in Great Britain, where coal is gener- 

 ally cheap, and where it users either from ignorance 

 or prejudice refuse to adopt means for its proper 

 combustion. In bright warm windy weather the 

 smoke so produced is carried away from towns 

 and factories, and becomes lost to view by mixing 

 with the air; but in cold calm weather with an 

 atmosphere saturated with moisture (or what is a 

 true white fog) the smoke is arrested, and mixing 

 with it gradually accumulates, and forming as it 

 were a vast aerial emulsion of water vapour, tarry 

 matter, and soot, gives rise to the black or brown 

 fogs now so common in the large cities. With a 

 view to the prevention of such a disagreeable and 

 dangerous condition of the atmosphere much has 

 been attempted, more especially by the Society for 

 the Abatement of the Smoke Kuisance (see its 

 Mi iimirs), but so far without beneficial results. 



In this article there falls to be explained, first, 

 the causation of such dark-coloured fogs ; secondly, 

 what has been done and what may yet bti 

 effected in the direction of their prevention. 

 (1) When a microscopic slide is passed quickly 

 over a smoky flame, a thin, semi transparent film 

 is left on the glass, which when examined under 

 a powerful microscope presents the appeaiance of 

 numerous particles of amorphous carlion in a finely 

 divided condition, each particle being surrounded 

 by an areola or coating of oily or tarry matter. 

 This explains why a black fog may be mid will 

 remain persistent, even while rain is falling, each 

 particle of cnrlioii lieing, so to speak, surround. .! 

 by a waterproof coating which re[>els moisture. 

 Aitken has conclusively proved that the cause of 

 the separation of liquid wafer from a moisture- 

 laden atmosphere or white fog is due to particles 

 of fine dust present in the air (see !'<;, Vol. IV. 

 |). 706). We should therefore expect that (he, 

 roduction of solid pailicles of carbon into such 

 ... atmosphere would have the same effect, which 

 loubtlesK would lx> the cas-e did not each particle 

 repel the vajnirons particles of water in its imnie- 

 liale neighlMiurhood ; at the same time their 

 lensity is insufficient to cause them to fall through 

 ,he turgid atmosphere as smuts. 



In a smoky town when a breeze prevails the 

 smoke in its hori/.ontnl passage through the air 

 rradually parts with its greasy-coated carbon to 

 inything which ini|>cdes its piogress. such it- bindi- 

 ngs, trees, tVc. ; S( , much so that only a few miles 

 away it loses its dolorous aspect ami assumes the 

 ofl, dreamy hnzc so dear to the painter, but which 

 after all is only an air emulsion of finely attenuated 

 articles of grease. 



The densest fog of this kind on being agitated 

 will deposit all it* carlion as sinuta, and become 



