A LONDON FOG.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3139, 27 August 1892, Page 5 (Supplement)

A LONDON FOG.

It is not necessary to describe the misery of a London fog to any one who has beeu compelled to reside in the metropolis during' a few days in its prevalence. The painful irritation of the eyes, the choking sensation in tbo ohest, together with a general depression of spirits and many other ailments, are the lesser sufferings that few who are exposed to its excMpe. But it is not yet realized what an amount of serious illness or how many deaths one week of London fog oauses. It may be accepted that every ten days ef this terrible visitation kills 2,500 people, and if we calculate nine serious oaaes of illness to each death, we have 25,000 people laid upon beds of sickness. To a certain extent she oold that always prevails during these dence fours may be credited to a portion of this sickness, but not to any great extent, as neither fog nor oold in country places products any change in the death-rate. There can be little doubt that the extreme discomfort, as well as the deadliness of the London fogs, arises from the poisonous gases with which the damp air gets saturated, and increasingly so the longer the fog lasts. The smoke, which gives the fog its yellow appearance, and is so dirty aud unpleasent is not injurious, being ouly corbon ; probably, indeed, it prevents the prisonous gases from doing more harm. The fog, it is a needless to say, is caused by atmospheric conditions, which keep the lower stratum of the air compavitavely stationary ana prevent smoke from rising, as it ordinarily does, even when there ia no wind to move it. Consequeutly the air in our streets remains to a great extent unchanged during the prevalence of a thick fog, but it by no means remuins in the same state, for the gas generated in the 2500 miles of sewers is rising through the girds and mixing with the air, which is also being corrupted by the emanations from the millions of men and animals that live in the metropolis. It is difficult to realize how foul must be the condition of the air Londoners breathe after two or three days of fog. and the wonder ia, not that so many are sick and so many die, but that so few do. The poisonous fog so deteriorates the vigor of life that, in addition to its directly injurious iuflnence, it renders the system incapable of resisting the cold. To prevent these foes seems impossible ; the draining of mtir.sh land would probably do something to miti/arate them ; the discontinuance of the use of open fires or the general use of smokeless fuel would make them less unpleasant, but they would remain as poisonous as ever.