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Atmospheric Pollution.
A wharf engaged in exporting waste paper to the Continent complained that
during the night of January 1st certain papers had turned bright yellow in a
matter of a few hours. Upon investigation it was found that of the various types
of paper on the wharf only that containing wood fibres was affected and only that
portion of the stacks which had been wetted by rain. There were several varieties
of woodpulp paper including newsprint involved and one particular consignment of
a wellknown daily newspaper, the surplus issue of the previous day, had only been
deposited on the wharf at 3 p.m. in the afternoon. This was perfectly normal when
brought in and such changes as were observed could only have occurred during the
period before 8 o' clock the next morning.
Between 4 p. m. in the evening and 8 o' clock the following day the wind had
veered from west through north to east and during the night there had been squalls
of rain with the wind gusty.
Samples of the various papers affected and comparable samples without colouration
were submitted to two analysts who both found that there was no abnormality
in the unaffected paper and independently suggested that the colouration was due
to the effect of a primary amine such as aniline or a similar substance under acid
conditions and, in fact, the colour was identical with that produced by the use
of a standard solution of aniline sulphate which was used on the wharf as a spot
test to separate woodpulp papers from other varieties. There was evidence that
newspaper lying in the gutters in the vicinity also showed signs of the change
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