New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-12-17
LONDON FOG.
MUST NEW YORK HAVE II, TOOg
TIE BRITISH METROPOLIS IS MAKING DES-
PERATE EFFORTS TO GET RID OF 1T.

fEhAl ~ MI OI -
DARKNESS THAT CAN BE FELT AT MONDAY
HUNDREDS OF TONS OF CARBON AND
THOUSAND TONS OF SULPHUR FLOAT
ING IN TIE ARA PICTURE OF
SOFT COAL ATMOSPHERE.
To smoke. or not to smoke. that is the question
It concerns not the fragrant cigar; the much
mathematical cigarette dear alike to dude and
gamin: the briarwood Of Bohemia; the patiently
colored meerschaum; the luxurious hubble-bub-
bile II pertains to flues and chmney-pots. us
ing innumerabe above the roofs of Manhattan
Shall they continue to exhale only the paie
breath of anthracite, no denser than an lhuiah
summer haze or shall they belch forth bituni-
nous pillows, dun, backening sunocatng! Anu
shall Manhattan still be a city or crystal at
mosphere or be invested with perpetual smoke
fog semi Stygan? There has been recently soiiie
mIcroscopc foretaste of this latter fate, with
much menace Of the full measure or evil COM
ing. by strange coincidence, at the very time
when London, haunt Of the modern Cimmer1i, IS
making its strongest efforts to be free from IT,
Nav. TO add to the strangeness OF the situation'
the American metropolis is In danger OK Lon
don's fate Just when London Is seeking free
dom by taking n leaf out df the American book
An American fog may render steam
boat invisible at the distance or her own
,ength and may make the objects on
the other side Of an ordinary street look aim
and indstinct. But there are fogs in London
I'm which the blaze Of a large gas lamp Is In
visible a few yards away. when men standing
near enough TO shake hands could not see even
n dim outline OF each others forms. and when.
tha
dry plate could be exposed without being in
the least light struck" 1t was not gray; 1t
was literally black. white handkerchief held
at arms length could not be seen by the holder
OF It through the Opaque gloom.
Fogs have been famous In London since the
days of Edward I, perhaps longer. And they
have been growing steadily worse. Scientific
analysis demonstrates that there are cast
upward into the air Of London. to hang
in dense pail over the city. every DAY
fully sixty tons Of unconsumed coal that Is.
coal in the form Of exceedingly fine dust float
Ing In the air There are also some 200 tons OF
sulphur. mostly In combination with ammonia
sulphate Of ammonia-cast daily into the atmos-
phere OF course. liz clear. bright weather the
bulk OF this is speedily swept away and dissi-
pated. But when winter sea-fog creeps over
the town Il holds II all In fixed suspension and
receives each days new contribution. until at the
end Of the week the air Of London Is charged
with hundreds of tons OF coal and thousand
tons OF sulphur, And that is London fog. Nor
IS that quite ALL in these last years. There has
been an extraordinary amount of building and
rebuilding and repairing done In London. and
there has been through it all a perfect mania
for ventilatng sewers by means Of pipes OPEN
ing above the roofs of houses Thus an UNI
precedented quantity of sewer gas Is now liber-
ated into the atmosphere at the very point where
Il can most readily mingle with the mist and
the SCOT and the sulphur fumes and form an
other and particularly injurious ingredient Of
the whole dark horror.
These figures seem extraordinary. but they are
rather under than over the truth. They may
best be justified by quoting other figures that
tell something OF the size and growth Of this
gigantic metropolis. London now contains about
900 900 private dwelling houses. and that number
is being added to at the rate Of fully $4,000 n
year There are. on the average, five chimneys
to each house 80 that no less than 100000
chmneys are now daily belching forth their
clouds of smoke and currents of noxous gas;
and every month sees 1000. or every year 1875 OOO
new ones set to work Nor these all. There
are thousands Of other buildings-clubs factories
and what not-all literally supplied with still
larger chimneys, so that the total number Of
smoking stacks in the metropolitan area must
be close to 100000. 1t surely is not beyond
the bounds Of credence that 100000 chimneys.
each with fire Of soft coal at It's base, should
send forth daily sixty tons Of unburned carbon.
The effect of a fog upon London IS almost indie
scribable or course, In every house and through
the streets lamps are kept lighted all day. Omni-
bus travel Is suspended No cab or other vehicle
can be driven faster than a walk. No one vent
ures to walk out. except the most urgent
business and then generally with n lantern in
hand Business Is almost at a standstill society
in despair. The loss to shops Is enormous the
general discomfort incalculable In reckoning i:s
effect upon the health Of the people It would not
be fair to judge from last seasons fogs, since in
fiuenza then rife. But years ago. before
the influenza came. what did fog do? During the
great fogs of 1880 the death rate was more
than doubled Generally speaking. a single day
of dense fog makes a perceptible difference.
while a week Of continuous fog sends the death
rate up fifty per cent: a serious matter. surely.
In the foggy week which ended on February Z.
$780, the death roll In London was 1000 above
the average. That Is to say. week OF fog
caused 1000 deaths. Suppose that instead OF fog
It had been an epidemic Of smallpox or cholera,
what panic there would have been! And what
a demand for sanitary measures that should
make a recurrence Of the plague Impossible!
From December H. 1873 to January IA. 1874 one
month the death roll was 1000 above the aver
age. thousand deaths week on account OF
fog! Such mortality Is appalling.
Now from the crude analysis given IL IS eVident
that the fog consists OF three principal elements
mist. coal and Its products and sewer gas Inc
first is comparatively harmless ana cannot De
got rid Of No engineering ana no "orh VI
science can keep the gray sea ros from s'ea'
ing In from the North Sea. over 'he "SseA