Atmospheric Pollution | Nature

THE eighteenth report of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research on the “Investigation of Atmospheric Pollution”(H.M. Stationery Office, 5s. net) records observations for the

year ending March 31, 1932. It shows that the co-operation of local authorities has been well maintained in spite of the financial difficulties of the times. Comparisons between towns on the

basis of the tests, should, it is stated, be made with caution. A deposit gauge may be placed in a position where conditions are not truly representative, and it is the trend of the results

over a period rather than the absolute weights of deposit which should be stressed. From this point of view there is evidence of improvement in the atmosphere of some provincial towns of

Great Britain. This cannot be said of the deposit of tarry matter, which is “pre-eminently a product of domestic fires and there is little reason to think that the amount of smoke from

domestic fires has decreased much in recent years”. Deposits of sulphate have increased in some places, notably Ravenscourt Park, London. Such increase, it may be inferred, may be due to the

increase in the sulphur content of the fuels burnt—some fuel oils are rich in sulphur—or to the concentration of fuel burning on one site, such as in large power stations. London does not

show up well in the matter of smoke fog while Coventry again has an excellent record, ascribed last year to the use of gas for domestic and industrial heating.

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