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installation: (c) plated bath fittings were found to be pitted due to their
poor condition before plating; the coating of deposited chromium was also very
thin: (d) a fractured bibcock revealed crevices in the metal and also blowholes, the
opinion being expressed that the casting was poor.
Attention was paid to the development of new analytical methods and close
liaison was maintained with many Research Associations, branches of the Department
of Scientific and Industrial Research, etc. The library of the Chemical
Branch continued to develop, and is an essential part of its equipment. The
Chemist-in-Chief served on three committees of the Ministry of Health, two of the
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and five of the British Standards
Institution. He also was a member of Council of the Society of Public Analysts.
The Deputy Chemist (Dr. S. G. Burgess) served on a Committee of the Ministry of
Food and on two committees of the British Standards Institution.
Two papers were published during the year: "The estimation of grease in
sewage sludge" by Dr. R. J. Stephenson, and "A rapid method of estimation of
ammonia nitrogen in sewages and effluents " by Mr. J. E. Houlihan.
Atmospheric Pollution
Introduction — It was considered that it would be of interest to include in this
report an extended section on atmospheric pollution for this is a subject to which
much attention has been devoted since the end of the war on both public health and
amenity grounds. It is also one with which the Chemical Branch has been concerned
for many years, in fact since 1912 when an advisory Government Committee
was formed which was first attached to the Meteorological Office; later, in 1927,
this Committee was taken over by the Department of Scientific and Industrial
Research and, as the Atmospheric Pollution Research Committee, it is now a
constituent Committee of the Fuel Research Board.
This association of the investigation of atmospheric pollution with that of fuel
research is a very logical arrangement for almost the whole of the pollution
normally arises from the burning of coal and other fuels derived from it, only a
small part being due to waste products from industrial processes and other sources.
Evolution of smoke from a chimney indicates incomplete combustion of the fuel
being used and hence waste of fuel and its equivalent heat value. Therefore it is in
the interests of economy in addition to those of public health and amenity that
atmospheric pollution should be prevented.
The first coal to be mined in England was dug out from the seashore about
a.d. 1200 and hence it was known in the early days as "sea coal" to distinguish
it from "charcoal." As soon as its use became general the smoke nuisance made
itself felt. In London it is recorded that in 1273 "sea coal" was prohibited from
being used as being " prejudicial to human health." The pamphlet "Fumifugium"
written by the diarist, John Evelyn, in 1661 is famous: in it he refers to London
smoke as "that Hellish and dismall clowd of sea coal which is not only
perpetually imminent over her head but so universally mixed with the otherwise
wholesome and excellent Aer, that her Inhabitants breathe nothing but an impure
and thick Mist accompanied with a fuliginous and filthy vapour, which renders them
obnoxious to a thousand inconveniences, corrupting the Lungs, and disordering the
entire habits of the Bodies; so that Catharrs, Phthisicks, coughs and consumptions
rage more in this city than in the whole Earth besides."
This is a rather wholesale indictment and suggests that the methods then
employed for burning coal were not even up to present day standards of efficiency,
particularly since the amount consumed at that time must have been only a small
fraction of that now used.