THE SMOKE ABATEMENT, EXHIBITION. 
229 
the amount of smoke produced might be obtained by a proper 
admixture of anthracite and bituminous coal. Several of the 
towns in South Wales are smokeless by using anthracite coal, 
which is much preferred there, owing to the enormous saving 
attending its use. 
Soon after, another meeting was convened by the Lord 
Mayor at the Mansion House. 
Amongst other statements made at this meeting it was said 
that during the fogs of the winter of 1880 the death-rate of 
London rose to 40 per cent, higher than any rate since the last 
cholera epidemic. This mortality did not extend to the 
provinces, and the excess was almost wholly confined to 
respiratory diseases. It is calculated that a million sterling is 
the value of the coal wasted, and two millions more lost owing 
to the damage done by the smoke. 
It w^as shewn that whereas 40 or 50 years ago roses 
flourished in London, their cultivation is now almost impossible, 
owing to the presence of smoke in fogs. Mr. Shaw Lefevre, 
amongst other remarks, suggested the use of gas for heating 
purposes. 
At a subsequent meeting held at Grosvenor House, Dr. 
Siemens insisted on the importance, commercially, of the gas 
companies furnishing an inferior quality of gas for heating 
purposes at a lower price than that which they supply for 
lighting. Sir Henry Thompson spoke of the pernicious effects 
of the smoke in fogs on persons of delicate constitutions, and 
stated that he had frequently seen ladies sponging the leaves of 
flowers in drawing-rooms to free them from the small particles of 
carbon. In post mortem examinations, the lungs of those who 
had died were found to be covered with a black layer of carbon. 
Such is a very brief and rapid resume of preliminary 
meetings which wmre held, and which resulted in the formation 
of the Smoke Abatement Exhibition. 
