NA TURE 



[August 26, 1922 



Barker and Dr. Margaret Fishenden on the efficiency 

 of various forms of grates and kitchen-ranges (already 

 reviewed in these columns), and partly on statistics 

 collected by the Manchester Air Pollution Advisory 

 Board (of which Mr. Simon is chairman) on the cost 

 of washing, a sum estimated at 250,000/. a year. The 

 subject is introduced in a preface by Lord Newton, 

 who acted as chairman of the Departmental Committee, 

 and has given time and thought and a sustained and 

 disinterested enthusiasm not often associated in the 

 minds of most people with members of the Upper House. 

 He has even travelled abroad with the sole object of 

 learning how smoke was successfully controlled or 

 prevented in foreign cities. 



It is hoped that Lord Newton's pungent remarks on 

 governments — parliamentary and municipal — may be 

 read in the right quarter. He says : " The battle . . . 

 against industrial smoke may be said to have been won 

 in principle, but it is scarcely necessary to warn en- 

 thusiasts that there are many parliamentary dangers 

 to be overcome, and that governments are not as a 

 rule particularly zealous in forcing through bills of a 

 non-vote-catching nature." 



If the object of the authors was to make out a case 

 against domestic smoke by demonstrating in clear and 

 incisive language, backed by carefully ascertained 

 statistics, its wastefulness and uselessness and the 

 damage it entails, which may be reckoned in millions 

 of pounds annually, the little volume before us may be 

 said to have more than accomplished its purpose. It 

 is now for the public to read the case presented by the 

 authors, take it to heart, and put the conclusions to 

 practical use. The authors have not restricted their 

 remarks to destructive criticism of present methods 

 and appliances for heating and cooking. They have 

 shown a better way. Though they condemn, as all 

 witnesses condemned, the old-fashioned open range, 

 they have described and illustrated modern ranges 

 and discussed their efficiency for varied requirements. 

 They explain in simple language the comparative value 

 of coal, coke, and semi-coke (low-temperature coke) 

 and the relative cost of gas and coal. The book does 

 not profess to be a scientific treatise, and a good deal 

 of recent research on the use of gas for cooking and 

 on the subject of ventilation has been overlooked ; but 

 this is no drawback. It is intended for householders, 

 builders, and architects, to whom an appeal based on 

 scientific principles would be incomprehensible and 

 almost certainly unread. 



As the new bill excludes all domestic fireplaces and 

 largely ignores the recommendations of the Depart- 

 mental Committee in regard to new housing construc- 

 tion, it is well that the authors of " The Smokeless 

 City " have saved from the eternal silence of Ministerial 

 NO. 2756, VOL. I 10] 



pigeon-holes the accumulated and valuable evidence 

 of so many expert witnesses. 



Leaving then the subject of domestic smoke, we may 

 consider for a moment the improvements and defects 

 in the new bill. The amendments are few ; the 

 qualification of the indefinite term " black " is omitted, 

 and the expression " smoke " includes soot, ash, and 

 grit ; the maximum penalty is raised from 5/. to 50Z., 

 and the person summoned under the Act must show 

 in his defence that h ( has used " the best practicable 

 means." On the other hand, there is no reference to 

 the supervision of heating arrangements in new private 

 dwellings but only in public buildings ; there is no 

 attempt to standardise the system of inspection of 

 factory chimneys, strongly advocated by the repre- 

 sentative of the Sanitary Inspectors' Association ; no 

 clear definition of the powers of the central authority ; 

 no combination of large areas under the County or 

 Borough Councils ; no inclusion of new processes 

 emitting noxious vapours ; no provision for competent 

 scientific advisors and supervisors appointed by the 

 Ministry of Health to control and report — in short, the 

 position remains very much in statu quo, and the 

 prevention of smoke in industrial areas still remains 

 in the incompetent hands of the local authority, without 

 pressure from the central authoritv. 



The only hope for salvation lies in the energetic 

 action of a disinterested sanitary committee and its 

 medical officer. As the two are linked together, and the 

 smoke inspector harnessed to them, and as members of 

 the sanitary committee are usually interested in manu- 

 facture and factory chimneys, the prospect of ameliora- 

 tion is not bright. But if such a disinterested sanitary 

 committee, intent on the purification of its atmosphere, 

 existed, it would reduce boiler smoke to a negligible 

 amount (and the greater part of the factory smoke 

 comes from boilers) ; it would have a building to exhibit 

 the best appliances for domestic heating and cooking ; 

 afford details of the cost of installation and efficiency; 

 it would promote classes for stokers, and appoint an 

 expert, scientifically trained, and well-paid inspector. 

 Such an ideal committee would within a short period 

 render the atmosphere comparable with that of the 

 clean industrial centres of France or Germany. 



J. B. Cohen. 



The Earth's Structure and its Evolution. 



Earth Evolution and its Facial Expression. By Prof. 

 W. H. Hobbs. Pp. xviii + 178. (New York : The 

 Macmillan Co. ; London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 

 1922.) 155. net. 



THIS volume is intended to present to the non- 

 technical reader the author's conclusions on 

 the form and structure of the earth's crust. The 



