LONDON'S GLOOM.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18926, 15 February 1927, Page 10

LONDON'S GLOOM.

! SMOKB POLLUTION. (raox oca own coßßUFoironrr.). LONDON,, December .15. "Approximately 2,600,000 tons of soot are produced per annum and distributed broadcast over the country," said Dr. J. S. Owens, of tbo Advisory Committee on Atmospheric Pollution, Air Ministry, in a paper on "Smoke and Public Health," before, tho Institute of Technology, in London. A enrve showing smoke pollution in London revealed a rapid rise in the early morning, culminating before midday, followed by a. gradual fall, checked about 7 to 8 p.m. This only comparatively clean period was between midnight and early mofhing, and tho business man arriving in London about 0 a.m. and leaving about 6 p.m. was there for the very worst period of tho day. • Perhaps he got down to tho country thinking trfat ho had escaped the city smoke, but often he would bp very littlo worse off if he slept in the .city. _ Dr. Owens went on to stato that the impurities deposited from the air wore only a part of the story. Much of the finely-divided sooty matter re-, mained in suspension'to form the haze which commonly exists over, our cities,, cutting off the sunlight. The quantity suspended in the air at any time in a large city such as London ranged from about 0.1 of a milligramme per cubic metre on a clear day to five or six milligrammes during a dense smoke hare, or what • had often been termed a ''London particular." "We may say that Nature has not intended us to hreathe polluted air," said Dr. Owens. "Periods of dense fog in cities are known to be very injurious to health j especially marked is the effect on poopie suffering from respiratory diseases." The gloom over a city and the reduction of daylight were very depressing;' and tended to lower the vitality, making people less resistant to the attacks of diseases. It was doubtless one of the causes which accounted for the inferior physique of city dwellers as compared with those who lived in the country. "There is no reason why there should be less sunshine in a city than in the surrounding country if city dwellers did not suspend over themselves an artificial cloud of smoke," Dr. Owens declared. "The worst part of the whole thing is that it is entirely unnecessary, and the conditions have come upon us so gradually that the curious adaptability of human nature to environment has made it appear comparatively natural." It had for years been his firm conviction that the preliminary .step towards smoke prevention should be smoke, measurement, so as to make it possible to set np. standards ofpermissible smoke for any industry. That was essentially a problem for the fuel technologists.