Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-01
iron and Stone Eaten Up
by the Air of London
Special Correspondence of The Star.


LONDON. November 20, 1872.
<1IIS no wonder that so many Amer
leans who come to London to live
break down in health" said an English
engineer who knows the United States
we'll, for they come, mostly, from cities
where the air is comparatively whole
some to the most destructive atmosphere
in the whole world-an atmosphere under
whose influence stone disintegrates and
that even eats up iron.
1T is because Of the atmosphere of
London he went on, that the new
front OF buckingham Palace is to be of
Portland stone instead of the Caen va
riety. as it is at present. The latter. We
have found, crumbles away so quickly I'M
der the London air that it is almost al
ways in the hands of restorers and paint
ers, whereas Portland Stone is less
ceptible to the atmosphere and according
ly is almost always chosen nowadays for
any new public building,
THE properties of the London air are
really amazing" continued the expert
It's a blend of smoke and SCOT. There
are six thousand tons of SCOT hanging
over London every day which contain
lots OF sulphur. and this sulphur. when it
meets certain substances. forms sulphuric
acid or VitriOl.
1T was the vitriol in the atmosphere
that brought the big roof of Charing
Cross station down with crash. a few
years ago. The smoke from the locomo-
lives had eaten away the iron, which was
not sufficiently painted. Some years ago.
too. before the London underground rail-
way was electrified by YerkeS, IL was a
favor:te pastime at Cover street station
for passengers to go and poke umbrellas
into certain iron Sirder which at one
point was almost as soft as putty.
In such cases paint is the engineers
great standby. In some ways il is more
powerful than iron. Many London build
ings. in fact, may be said to be practi-
cally held together by paint especially
railway STATIONS. nee the Charing Cross
disaster all the big London termini are in
the painters hands practically all the
time. Since the Forth bridge was fin
ished the pain. $ have never stopped
working ON it. But for skin Of paint.
the vitriol in the engine smoke might rot
the bridge
1T is this substance. too, that has
made Cleopatra's Needle. on the Embark
ment, show greater signs of age since it
came to London forty years ago than it
did after two thousand years in the clear
air of Egypt. Probably the difference in
-,
New York. in corresponding time Is so
slight as to be hardly noticeable.
Ofhand. one would say that every
building of any age here was of the gray
est granite obtainable. yet when one of
them is cleaned, as a few have been late
ly, il proves that they originally were al
most white and the Transformation is a
bit startling. In a dissecting room they
always can tell whether a patient is a
Londoner or a cOuntryman. for whereas
the lungs of the latter are the natural
color. pink, those of the former are jet
black
The London SCOT covers ones face with
smudges, and If you leave any white ma
terial in front of open window for an
hour or so when You come back you Will
find it Uttered with blacks, as they are
locally termed The SCOT kills vegeta-
ton. too. within the city limits. unless it
is tended most carefully. In the garden
inside The Bank of England the leaves
are washed every week with soap and
water.