May 4, 1916] 



NATURE 



203 



fact is nothing is really known concerning the 

 nature of the combination in which the sulphur is 

 present. It is evidently very firmly held, for the 

 compound or compounds will stand the most 

 drastic treatment without being broken down. 

 There is here a fine field of investigation for any 

 chemist who will grapple with the problem. What 

 seems to be wanted in the first place is that these 

 sulphur compounds should be satisfactorily 

 isolated, and their properties studied. When we 

 know more about them it may be possible to learn 

 how to deal with them. W^e would invite atten- 

 tion to what is really a yery promising subject for 

 inquiry. There can be little doubt that it would 

 yield to systematic attack by modern experimental 

 methods familiar to organic chemists, and there 

 are the possibilities of great material benefits to 

 him who will satisfactorily solve the problem. 



THE WASTAGE OF COAL. 



THE Committee for the Investigation of At- 

 mospheric Pollution has just issued its first 

 report, from which it is evident that it has carried 

 out its self-appointed task in a thoroughly scien- 

 tific and (if the terms are not incompatible) busi- 

 ness-like manner. Nineteen towns have under- 

 taken a periodical analysis of the impurities 

 ■carried down by rain falling on different stations, 

 and also of the constituents of the dust deposited 

 on a specially designed dust gauge of standard 

 •dimensions. These results have been tabulated 

 in metric tons per sq. kilo, per month under 

 the headings of insoluble matter (including tar, 

 non-tarry carbonaceous matter, ash), soluble 

 matter (including volatile, combustible, and non- 

 volatile solids), and sulphuric acid (as sulphate), 

 chlorine (as chloride), and ammonia. 



The summary at the end of the report gives a 

 comparative survey of the data from the different 

 localities. These data naturally vary with the 

 1 nature of the environment, whether industrial, 

 residential, or rural. With the exception of some 

 rather interesting and curious local variations, the 

 i^eneral results are such as might be anticipated. 

 jln industrial centres, such as Oldham, Bolton, 

 land the Ancoats district of Manchester, the im- 



1 • • • 



purities reach a maximum, and yield 25 tons or 



jnore of total solids per month, and proportionate 



liuantities of sulphuric acid (3-5 tons), chlorine 



l°*9~i*5 tons), and ammonia (o- 15-0-25 ton), 



vhilst Malvern, situated in an agricultural area, 



jhows a minimum record of less than 5 tons of 



jotal solids per month, the monthly mean being 



•13, with 0-50, o;24, and 0-02 ton of sulphate, 



Ihlcrine, and ammonia respectively. 



This large amount and wide distribution of at- 



lospheric pollution from burning coal (for the 



npurities are practically all derived from coal) 



lises two issues : the one a question of injury 



animal and plant life, the other one of eco- 



■my. 



Leaving on one side the health question, and 

 mfining our attention to the economic problem, 

 hich is a pressing one in these days, we look 

 '; our coal supply, not onlv for fuel, but for the 

 I NO. 2427, VOL. 07! 



raw material for explosives, dyes, synthetic 

 drugs, terrocyanides, ammonium salts, and, to 

 some extent, sulphuric acid, in every one of which 

 there is a more or less serious shortage. Yet of 

 the two hundred million tons of coal consumed 

 annually, less than forty million tons are burnt 

 economically, that is to say, gasified in gas 

 retorts and by-product coke ovens, whilst the 

 remainder, or 80 per cent., is used, not only as 

 raw fuel in which all the valuable by-products are 

 lost, but through incomplete, and therefore waste- 

 ful, combustion contaminate the atmosphere and 

 the soil over an area which may be reckoned in 

 hundreds of square miles. 



Is theie no way of compassing this absurdly 

 wasteful system of utilising coal? Prof. H. E. 

 Armstrong, in a recent address to the Society of 

 Chemical Industry, suggested that the society 

 should advocate an enactment forbidding the use 

 of raw coal for domestic purposes. We are con- 

 fident that such an enactment, even if it were 

 made more comprehensive in its scope, would 

 instantly solve the problem of the by-product 

 wastage, and simultaneously clear the atmosphere 

 of smoke without injury or discomfort to home 

 or commercial life. 



Faced as we are with the shortage of by-pro- 

 ducts as well as with the immediate and pressing 

 necessity of restricting expenditure, the subject 

 of fuel economy is one which, along with the 

 wastage on drink, demands more than any other 

 form of economy, on account of the prodigious 

 sums involved, an instant and drastic change in 

 our traditional method of laissez faire. 



In the circumstances it is somewhat unfortun- 

 ate that the Local Government Board, which in- 

 stituted an inquiry into smoke abatement in the 

 spring of 1914, should have suspended its sittings 

 just at a time when the result of its deliberations 

 might have borne some fruit; and it is to be 

 hoped that a similar committee having wider 

 powers may shortly be appointed to deal with, in 

 addition to smoke abatement, the larger question 

 of the wastage of coal. J. B. C. 



NOTES. 



The tercentenary of Shakespeare's death is being 

 commemorated this week, and tributes to his genius 

 are being paid in many other parts of the civilised 

 world. The event may not be regarded as of particu- 

 lar scientific significance, yet to let it pass unnoticed 

 in these columns would be to show a want of pride 

 for the memory of the greatest master of our literature. 

 In the Elizabethan age, the cockatrice, the mermaid, 

 the phoenix, the unicorn, and like legendary creatures 

 .vere realities to the general public, and as such were 

 referred to in the works of the great dramatist and 

 other contemporary writers. We have, for example, 

 in "The Winter's Tale," the line, "Make me not 

 sighted like the basilisk," and in "The Tempest," 

 "Now I will believe that there are unicorns." Not 

 only was more or less credulity given to the existence 

 of these and other fabulous creatures, but a web of 

 mystic lore encircled the most common and best 

 known of beasts, birds, and fishes. But though 

 Shakespeare gave credence to many of the legends he 

 quoted, especially in regard to the animals and plants 

 of distant lands, he had a greater knowledge of natural 



