A MONTHLY RECORD OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION
Transcript of A MONTHLY RECORD OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION
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A MONTHLY RECORD OF ATMOSPHERICPOLLUTION.
WE publish this week a first series of results Iobtained at various stations in the country in regardto the quantity and quality of the deposit collected outof the atmosphere by the standard gauges set up at
Ithese places. The tables below give the rainfall for themonths ending April 30th and May 31st, 1914, and the ’,
COMMITTEE FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION :
Bummary of Reports for Month ending Aprit 30th, 1914.
Col. 4 includes all matter insoluble in water but soluble in C82. Col. 5 includes all combustible matter insoluble in water and in 052.Col. 6 includes all earthy matter, fuel, ash, &c. One metric ton per sq. kilomtre is equivalent to: (a) Approx. 9tb. per acre; (b) 2 56 Englishtons per sq. mile; (c) one gramme per sq. metre; (cd) 1/1000 millimetre of rainfall (see Col. 3).
amounts found of insoluble matter (tar, soot, dust) andsoluble matter (sulphates, ammonia, and chlorine) in thevolume collected. It will be seen that the laboratory findingsare calculated into metric tons of deposit per square kilo-metre during the month. One metric ton per square kilo-metre is equivalent to approximately 9 lb. per acre, or
2’56 English tons per square mile. These comparativefigures are well worth studying, inasmuch as they showconsiderable variations in the degree of atmospheric pol-lution at different stations. To take one example,Malvern shows for the month of April a total deposit
of solid matters of 1’76. These contained no tar at all, andbut little carbonaceous matter. In the same period, however,at Liverpool the total solids amounted to 15’ 97 metric tons,and the tar to 0’36 ton. All through there are most
interesting and significant comparisons to be made, andwhen the series for the year is completed a very valuable andinstructive record will be available. The Committee for the
Investigation of Atmospheric Pollution may be heartily con-gratulated on the practical movement they have successfullyorganised to obtain actual records of the atmosphericpollution which is taking place throughout the C3untry.
Similar results obtained in THE LANCET Laboratory inregard to the pollution of the metropolitan atmospherehave already been published in our columns,l and thefuture records of the committee as they come forwardfrom month to month will be issued. We are under-taking ourselves in THE LANCET Laboratory the analysisof the deposit collected at the Meteorological Office inLondon.
1 The Sootfall of London, its Amount, Quality, and Effects : AnAppeal for Soot-gauge Observations, THE LANCET, Jan. 6th, 1912.