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45
Smoke.
Before the war, there were in use many hundreds of private slaughterhouses.
Some had been used for many years and because of developments
around them since they were first put up, they came to be poorly sited
both because of the unsatisfactoriness of the approach by which the
animals reached them and also because of the proximity of nearby
dwellings. There were other disadvantages in that many were far from
ideal for the greater use made of them, while their very numbers made it
difficult for arrangements to be made for the inspection of the carcases.
In spite of all these disadvantages which were fully recognised, the private
slaughterhouse continued and it needed the recent war to bring an end
to these arrangements.
For many years, much interest has been taken in the subject of
atmospheric pollution. Legislation has been passed with the object of
reducing the emission of factory smoke, and courses of instruction have
been held for the training of those especially concerned with the stoking
of boilers. In some districts, the pollution by smoke emitted from
factories is far exceeded by that from the domestic chimney. Against
this, there is no legislation—and yet quite apart from the relative amounts
of pollution from these two sources, it may be found that the smoke from
the household chimney is far more damaging than that from factories.
The question of smoke pollution is important for many reasons. There
are those who see in the smoke in the air something which causes damage
to animal and vegetable life by interposing a barrier to the passage
through the air of certain of the rays of the sun or by causing injurious
deposits on vegetables or on the soil. To others, the main concern is the
spoiling and the damage to buildings ; to others again, the most important
aspect is that the unconsumed or partially consumed carbon which
finds its way into the air is a loss of that much fuel. To those whose
chief concern is the health of the community, it may be that the
most important aspect is the effect of contaminated air in bringing
about cancer of the lungs. While much of the increase in the incidence
of cancer can be accounted for by the fact that more of the population
are reaching the ages at which cancer is more common, this is not the
explanation of the increase in the incidence of cancer of the lung and
of the bronchus. The reason for this increase is not known. An
enquiry is now being undertaken to see if there is any substance in the
suggestion that this greater prevalence results from the practice of
smoking. If this should be even a partial explanation, further enquiries
will be needed to ascertain the particular constituent which causes the
harm. Even though it should be found that there is no relationship
between the incidence of cancer of the lungs and the smoking habits of
the sufferers, it might nevertheless be the case that pollution of the atmosphere
might be one of the ætiological factors, pollution possibly by a
breakdown product such as benz-pyrene, or possibly by some substance
such as arsenic which is volatilised and passes into the air from the fire
when coal is consumed. It may be, then, that there is such an additional
factor, which makes it desirable that everything should be done to reduce
the contamination of the atmosphere, and for not excluding the fire in
the house from attention. All too frequently it seems that a fatalistic