NA TURE 



269 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

 The New Smoke Abatement Bill. By Prof. J. B. 



Cohen, F.R.S 269 



The Earth's Structure and its Evolution . . 270 



Textile Technology ....... 272 



Highway Engineering 272 



Radio-Communication 273 



Plant Morphology and Physiology .... 274 



The Development of Vertebrates .... 275 



Our Bookshelf . . 275 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Influence of Science. — Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S. 277 

 Action of Cutting Tools. (Illustrated.)— A. Mallock, 



F.R.S 277 



Rudbeckia and Aquilegia. (Illustrated.) — Prof. T. 



D. A. Cockerell . .... 278 



The Rat and its Repression. — The Earl of Denbigh 27S 

 The Spectrum of Helium in the Extreme Ultra-Violet, 



— Prof. Theodore Lyman .... 27S 



Transcription of Russian F>ames. — Cecil A. Hoare . 279 



Sense of Smell in Birds. — Prof. Alexander Meek . 279 



A Coincidence in Values. — L. M. Stewart . . 279 

 The Evolution of Consciousness. — A. Wyatt Tilby ; 



The Reviewer 279 



Transparency of Liquids and Colour of the Sea. — 



Prof. C. V. Raman 2S0 



Telescopic Observation of Atmospheric Turbulence. — 



Catharine O. Stevens 280 



Hesperopithecus, the Anthropoid Primate of Western 

 Nebraska. (Illustrated.) By Prof. Henry Fairfield 



Osborn 281 



Science in Egypt. By Col. H. G. Lyons, F.R.S. . 2S3 

 Gelatin. By Dr. T. Slater Price . . . .286 



Current Topics and Events 288 



Our Astronomical Column 290 



Research Items 291 



The Glasgow Meeting of the British Medical 



Association 293 



Broadcasting in America ...... 294 



Third International Congress of the History of 



Medicine ......... 296 



The Research Association of British Rubber and 



Tyre Manufacturers ... ... 297 



University and Educational Intelligence . . 297 



Calendar of Industrial Pioneers 29S 



Societies and Academies 299 



Official Publications Received 300 



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Editorial communications to the Editor. 



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The New Smoke Abatement Bill. 



THE new Government bill to prevent the pollution 

 of the atmosphere by smoke again raises the 

 vexed question of the best means of accomplishing 

 this highly desirable result. That the bill, which 

 merely modifies the existing Act of 1875, will leave 

 matters very much as they are, is, however, the con- 

 sidered opinion of those who framed the recommenda- 

 tions of the Departmental Smoke Abatement Com- 

 mittee appointed by the Ministry of Health. 



Two years ago an interim report on the prevention 

 of domestic smoke was prepared at the pressing request 

 of the Minister of Health in view of the large housing 

 schemes in contemplation, only to lie dormant in the 

 department. 



It is perhaps not sufficiently realised how much of 

 the dirt and damage in our large industrial centres 

 arises from the domestic hearth. In spite of pious 

 opinions to the contrary, it has been established, from 

 carefully ascertained facts, by two independent 

 observers, that of the 2% million tons of soot turned 

 into the atmosphere something like four-fifths is 

 emitted from domestic chimneys. But that is not all. 

 This incompletely burnt material, formed to some extent 

 by a process of destructive distillation, such as takes 

 place in gas retorts, is charged with tar, whereby it 

 clings to every object with which it comes into contact. 

 Moreover, the tarry soot is strongly acid with sulphuric 

 acid, and its presence on the mortar and masonry of 

 buildings soon shows itself by their gradual disintegra- 

 tion. The evidence of Sir Frank Baines, the head of 

 H.M. Board of Works, was convincing in this respect, 

 and his specimens and photographs exhibited during the 

 inquiry illustrated in a striking manner the conversion 

 of the calcium carbonate (which cement the siliceous 

 particles of the original stone) into the soluble calcium 

 sulphate and the subsequent crumbling of the surface. 



Furnace smoke, on the other hand, owing to its 

 higher temperature of combustion, contains a negligible 

 amount of tar ; but consists of fine cinder and grit 

 discharged mechanically by the draught. It is true 

 that it darkens the atmosphere, but it does not adhere 

 to any extent, and much of it is washed away by rain. 



To return then to domestic smoke. In a brochure 

 recently published and entitled "The Smokeless City," 1 

 Mr. E. D. Simon, a member of the Government Com- 

 mittee and present Lord Mayor of Manchester, and Miss 

 Marion Fitzgerald, his collaborator, have put together 

 the principal facts relating to domestic heating and 

 domestic smoke. The information is drawn partly 

 from the evidence of witnesses who appeared before 

 the committee, partly from the reports of Mr. A. H. 



1 " The Smokeless City," by E. D. Simon and Marion Fitzgerald. Pp. 

 xi + 82. London : Longmans, Green and Co., 1922. is. 6d. 



NO. 2756, VOL. I IO] 



