﻿Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlix. (1905), No. 14. 



XIV. On some Constituents of Manchester Soot. 

 By Professor EDMUND KNECHT, Ph.D., F.I.C. 



Received and read May 2nd, fcjoj. 



The coal burnt in Manchester and its immediate 

 surroundings is chiefly what is known as a " fat coal," 

 which, although possessing a high calorific value, is known 

 to yield, especially when used in the household, an ab- 

 normally large proportion of smoke and soot. It is to 

 this circumstance that we must ascribe the vitiated 

 condition of the atmosphere in which we exist for the 

 greater part of the year, with its attendant evil effects on 

 the respiratory organs, the desolate appearance of plots 

 of land in the city and its immediate neighbourhood, 

 the dirty condition of all out-of-door objects, the enormous 

 amount of labour involved in keeping the interiors of 

 houses clean, and lastly, to a large extent, the incon- 

 venience experienced by individuals and the trade and 

 commerce of the city caused by such dense black fogs 

 as we experienced last winter. 



Having had occasion to examine during February, 

 1902, some samples of surface snow which had been 

 collected in the centre of the city, and in one of its 

 suburbs, it struck me that it would be of interest if we 

 could obtain some further knowledge of the constituents 

 (more particularly those of organic origin) of the smoky 

 atmosphere we live in, and experiments were undertaken 

 with this end in view, in the carrying out of which I was 

 assisted for a brief period by Mr. Percy Gaunt and by 

 Mr. Cresswell Milnes. Although I am conscious of the. 

 fact that the investigation was far from being complete, 



June 1st, IQ05. 



