municipal authorities in this country were vociferating against such an innovation as perilous in the extreme. Those new tram rails and those old ways, the street locomotive and medieval country waggon, side by side, in the old Nuremburg Market Place, are typical of the Nuremburgers-the last to destroy the old, the first to adopt the new-for they were the first Germans to project a railway, while all around the town tells of the wealth that is won from railway works and the construction of the most improved machinery. The shops of the town are of the oldest, with the newest of goods; and the antiquity of the old city within the walls is amply contrasted by the freshness and novelty of the new town spreading in all directions without, with modern residences for all sorts and conditions of men,' from manufacturing and merchant princes' mansions down to labourers' cottages-all telling of space, proportion, ventilation, and comfort such as they who built Nuremburg of old and made it famous never dreamt of. In one point the two peoples are the same in spirit making the most of the present; and, while regarding the past, building up for the future.

They are doing that in Hamburg, and it is not the fault of the Hamburghers if, as compared with the burghers of Nuremburg, they show so little of the very antique, seeing that most of it was burnt up years ago, and what was left is now out of the way and obscure. The mansions of the old merchants, with their quaint gabled fronts, carved, gilded, and darkly glazed, with their many roomed interiors, rich of ceilings and strange in galleries, are rudely split up into offices and warehouses for modern merchants whose villa residences border the lake that glistens and glows on one side of the now great promenade of the city; magnificent on the other side in Regent Street shops and palace-like hotels. Some of the older and quainter parts of the town are down by the harbour, where a whole township of old houses, swarming with labourers and their families, is marked for destruction to give place to municipal buildings and offices, and would have been long ago destroyed, but for the difficulty of knowing what to do with the labourers, who must needs live near the spot that finds them work and living.

Hanover is a third and very different place, yet it makes similar progress in new houses, new streets, and new ways. Handsome houses and fine shops are putting in a new app earance in all directions, the shops coming so thick and fast as to outgrow the demand, and to look long and wearily for tenants. There is not much of the very old in Hanover, and the Hanoverians have not much respect for what remains. Old houses are ruthlessly pulled down to make room for new, and the suburbs daily extend with some of the most tasteful residences to be seen in Europe, the Gothic finding but little favour with owner and architect, whose classic taste tones down and purifies the more popular 'Italian style.'

In going through Hanover one is struck by the absence of working-class houses, and when one learns that the main wealth of the town is derived from manufactures, one wonders still more where the factories are, till it is ascertained that they and those who labour in them are to be found in a suburb mapped out on the air by its tall chimneys. There the working classes live and labour, and save Hanover from the difficulty of Hamburg. But there they are well housed, and everywhere in all the towns of which I have written, sanitation is better attended to than anywhere else on the Continent. In the better class of houses rooms are lofty, expansive, and are fast becoming freer of the evils which attend the dwelling of many families in one house in other parts of the Continent. Hence, however much in remote pastoral and agricultural districts, where living is scanty and education not flourishing, if not altogether absent, the people may emigrate in thousands and reduce the general population of the empire, the towns increase in size health and wealth to a degree astonishing even to an Englishman familiar with the growth of London and our large provincial towns.

EDUCATION AND COMPETITION. Thus far as regards the relation of the Berlin Exhibition to Germany and the Germans; but every Continental exhibition has to be regarded from another point of view -its relation to other countries in general, and especially that one that has hitherto manufactured for all other countries-England. Looking at this Exhibition as a whole, the impression it leaves on my mind is that, if the manufacturers of this country are to successfully compete with those of Germany, we must take lessons out of the great book not only of sanitary, but manufacturing, social, and, above all, educational progress, which Germans have opened out to the world's view with this Exhibition. two or three exhibits of finely finished engines; but still What Krupp does with such agencies he shows here in more largely does he make it manifest in his magnificent show at Amsterdam, where, from very large guns for mowing down thousands in war, to finely finished rolls delicately turned for the working of precious metals on the way to money-making, everything bears the impress of more or less educated handiwork, and conscientious, pains. taking labour. All that iron can do for the field of battle, all the machinery that is needed for ploughing the deep and developing the peaceful intercourse of nations, and the weightiest and finest of iron work for the workshop or manufactory-all are made at Essen, and made with an intelligence and skill that only the resources, mental and moral, as well as mechanical and material, of so vast and

so well-educated an establishment could compass.

Many another exhibit, as well at Amsterdam as at Berlin, made by German ironmasters, show what culture can do for creating great trade by making good workmen, and where they do not turn out such good work as the English they are rapidly progressing in that direction; the irresistible conclusion being that if we do not learn more and teach better in England, they of Germany may not only soon overtake us, but pass us, on the road of foreign competition.

THE AWARDS.

The length to which these notices of this important sanitary exhibition has already extended forbids even cursory glances at the very many individual and more scattered exhibits that would otherwise demand attention. A few of the notices of the judges' awards may, however, give an idea of the merits of some of them. Those judges have awarded forty gold and eighty silver medals. Though indirectly, through their German agents, several English inventors and patentees were exhibitors, but two were honoured with an award, the recognition in each case being a silver medal. One was the Westinghouse Brake Company, Limited, for the now world-renowned and adopted brake; the other the firm of Messrs. Ihlee and Horne, of Aldermanbury, London, who, among other exhibits, made that of the diving dress, in which a diver three or four times daily immersed himself in the Diver's Tank in a separate building, entrance to which was practicable only by payment of a fixed charge, and which nevertheless was crowded on the occasion of each representation. David Grove, of Berlin, who exhibited so many English constructions, also received in consequence a silver medal.

Among the gold medallists are many whose exhibits I have more or less described-notably The People's Kitchen Association of Berlin, the Bremen Life Boat Association, and L. von Bremen & Co. ; and the philanthropists and manufacturers, Frederick Krupp, of Essen, and W. Spindler of Berlin. Though I have not described, because of the general familiarity with similar appliances, the extensive exhibits by states and public benevolent associations of the means of succouring the wounded on the field of battle and otherwise mitigating the horrors of war, the judges have been keenly alive to their merits, and, as was to be expected at a national exhibition of the most military nation in Europe, have been prodigal of golden honours; nor did they confine them to their own country, for

the Red Crosses of Austria, Hungary, and Holland have been decorated with gold medals. The Siemens are not without honour in their own country, gold medals being awarded to Frederick Siemens, of Berlin and Dresden, and Siemens and Halske, of Berlin. Agricultural development is honoured by a like award to the Eckert Agricultural Machinery and Implements and Waggon Works Company, of Berlin, while mechanical and manufacturing progress is recognised in the firms of Schultz, Knaudt, and Co., of Essen, the Berlin and Anhalt Machine Company, the Lausitzer Machinery Works at Bautzen, the Germania Works of Chemnitz, the Boiler Inspection Association, and in the person of the able engineer, Scharowsky, of Dresden. Three professors Dr. v. Fodor, of Budapest, Dr. Georg Recknagel, of Kaiserlautern, and Dr. Cohn, of Breslau-have also been rewarded with gold medals.

the

Among the silver medallists are the Technical School of Design of Wiesbaden; Dr. A. Vötsch, of Nürtingen; the Public Baths Association of Bremen; Dr. Lassar, of Berlin; the Berlin Asylum for the Houseless, Children's Hospital at Dresden, and the Marburg Association for the Cure of Children by providing them with Medical Treatment on the Sea Coast; Dr. T. Petruschky, of Königsberg, in Prussia; Dr. Pissin, of Berlin; Dr. F. Beeley, of Berlin; Dr. Neuber, of Kiel; Dr. F. von Heyden, of Dresden; Dr. B. Spitzer, of Hungary; the German Dentists Association; Dr. Nicolai, of Freiburg (Baden); Dr. K. L. Kahlbaum, of Göritz; the New Hanoverian Asphalte Company of Berlin; the Frankenthal Machinery Company; Dr. F. Hulwa, of Breslau; Professor Dr. E. Hartnack, of Potsdam; the Brothers Schmidt, of Weimar; Naglo Brothers, of Berlin; the Kaiserlautern Ironworks; the several Knappschaftsverein of Tarnowitz, Bochum, and Saarbrücken; the Mine Owners Associations at Essen, Zwickau, and Bochum Professor Dr. Obernier, of Bonn; the Judlin Works at Charlottenburg; Dr. W. Mencke, of Holstein; and Dr. P. Börner, of Berlin.

;

THE AMSTERDAM EXHIBITION. THE following selection from the list of awards to British exhibitors at the International, Colonial, and Export Exhibition, Amsterdam, 1883 (exclusive of India and the Colonies), contains those awarded to exhibits more espe.. cially relating to Hygiene and Sanitation :

Diplomas of Honour.-Group IV.-Furniture, Fittings, and Accessories: Doulton & Co., London (by acclamation). Group VI.-Food and Chemicals, &c.: J. S. Fry & Sons, Bristol; Price's Patent Candle Company, Limited, London.

Gold Medals.-Group IV.-Furniture, Fittings, and Accessories: Normandy's Patent Aerated Fresh Water Company, Limited, London; T. Bradford & Co., London; John Gosnell & Co., London. Group VI.-Foods aad Chemicals: Rimmel, London (Hors concours, member of the jury); Lewis Berger & Sons, Limited, London; W. J. Bush & Co., London; John Gosnell & Co., London; T. C. Calvert & Co., Limited, Manchester; North British Rubber Company, Edinburgh; W. Warne & Co., London. Group VII.-Mechanics' Machines, Tools, and Means of Transport: T. Bradford & Co., London.

Silver Medals.-Group IV.-Furniture, Fittings, and Accessories: W. Woollams & Co., London; Musgrave & Co., Limited, Belfast; Salter & Co., West Bromwich. Group V.-Textiles, &c.: Pryce Jones, Newtown, Wales. Group VI.-Foods, Chemicals, &c. : Henry Churchman, Horsham; John Corbett, M.P., Stokeley, Worcester; Francis Falkner, Dublin; Green & Son, Cape Town; William Hay, Hull; Lamb & Watt, Liverpool; China Sugar Refining Company, Hong Kong; Dr. Siegert & Sons, Trinidad; Maconochie Brothers, Lowestoft ; Spratt's Patent Company, London; Pearl Wine and Brandy Company, Cape Town; A. Boake & Co., London: Cantrell & Cochrane, Dublin; R. Cresswell & Co., London; E.

Packard & Co., Ipswich; H. C. Stephens, London; J. Tullis & Son, Glasgow; Innes & Grieve, Edinburgh.

Bronze Medals.-Group IV.-Furniture, Fittings, and Accessories : British Siphon Manufacturing Company, London. Group VI.-Food and Chemicals: Carr & Co., Carlisle; Cornelia Ida Plantation, Demerara; J. Gray & Co., Glasgow; S. Gulliver, Aylesbury; W. A. Ross & Co., Belfast; Blaydon Manure and Alkali Company, Blaydon; B. F. Brown & Co., London; T. Christy & Co., London; Maltine Manufacturing Company, London; J. Richardson & Co., London; J. Sinclair, London; George Angus & Co., Newcastle; Ness & Co., Darlington; J. Williamson & Co., Lancaster; Roger Errington, Doncaster; Kerr & Tubb, Halifax; Barret & Elers, London; John White & Sons, Bingley. Group VII.Mechanics, Machines, Tools, and Means of Transport: Clark, Bunnett, & Co., London.

Honourable Mentions.-P. A. Maignen, London; Branson & Co., London; Khoosh Tonic Bitters Company, Liverpool; Langdale Chemical Manure Company, Limited, Newcastle-on-Tyne; United Asbestos Company, Limited, London; Kerr & Tubb, Halifax; J. Tullis & Son, Glasgow; Caloric Engine and Siren Fog Signals Company, Limited, London; Certaldo Marble Company, London.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS TO THE ASSOCIATION
OF PUBLIC SANITARY INSPECTION.
THE following address was delivered by Mr. George B.
Jerram, A. M.I.C.E., and M.S. E., &c., Surveyor and
Inspector of Nuisances to the Walthamstow Local Board,
at the Parkes Museum on Oct. 6.

After a few prefatory remarks, Mr. Jerram said: When we last met, the whole of the nations of Europe were in an intense state of nervous excitement as to the probability of that dread enemy the cholera visiting our shores. New laws were passed for the metropolis; orders to all sanitary authorities were issued by the Local Government Board offering suggestions as to how the enemy was to be met. Sanitary authorities took advice from their medical officers of health, increased sanitary inspection was ordered, and a general clean-up and investigation was the consequence. Local authorities were aroused from their usual state of lethargy, and medical and sanitary officers and surveyors were enabled to get improvements made and necessary sanitary work executed which had been delayed, and would have been still further delayed had not this alarm scared the community. Thus far the alarm has no doubt done good. It is satisfactory to note the increased interest the general public are taking in sanitary matters, and this is no doubt due in a great measure to the efforts that have for some years been made by such reformers as Mr. Edwin Chadwick and others, and to the holding of conferences by the Society of Arts, to the holding of health congresses, and to the information that has been spread by the members of the Sanitary Institute, Parkes Museum of Hygiene, and kindred institutions.

It is quite evident that no amount of sanitary inspection will be effectual until the public generally are made more conversant with the general laws that govern health, and with the fact that it is the duty of each one not only to take those measures which will serve to promote the health of the individual, but also that it is his duty to do so for the protection and safety of the community in which he lives. During the last few months, owing to the above-mentioned causes, and in answer to the outcry of the public, local authorities have had to take measures whereby they may ascertain the sanitary condition of their districts, and in a great number of places it was found necessary to engage more inspectors to assist the permanent staff in their duties. This fact alone shows that at the present time effectual sanitary inspection is rather the exception than the rule. It will be interesting to note the kind of men who were engaged for this duty, and it is to be feared that in many cases men have been engaged who are quite ignorant of the

duties, and who have had no experience. I am afraid it is only too often thought by local authorities that anyone who is reasonably steady and bears an ordinarily good character, without any special qualification, will do to inspect nuisances, and in consequence in many instances men are engaged for this work who are not qualified or fit for so important an office. I propose, therefore, to lay before you what I deem to be the work of a sanitary inspector, and to inquire whether this work is done.

There has been lately a great discussion as to whether the designation 'inspector of nuisances' or 'sanitary inspector' should be used, it being thought by many that the latter name sounded better, while the former denoted an inferior office and duty. I find on looking through the Nuisance Removal Act, passed in the year 1855, that the words 'sanitary inspector' are there mentioned; and there fore this name is not a new one used for the purpose of covering up what looked like a disagreeable office. Unfortunately, owing to the favour in which sanitary matters are looked upon and discussed by the aristocracy and society in general, the name 'sanitary' is being employed where it does not apply; and thus we have plumbers calling themselves sanitary engineers,' &c. But it is quite certain that the name 'inspector of nuisances' will not be adopted only by those employed in carrying out the requirements of the Public Health and other sanitary Acts. In the Metropolis Management Act and Public Health Acts the office is designated 'inspector of nuisances,' and it has been used in all recent Acts and Orders of the Local Government Board. It must, however, not be forgotten that the word 'sanitary' is really the proper designation; and the work of an inspector includes much more than is implied in the name 'inspector of nuisances.'*

The growth of public opinion and knowledge in sanitary science is well illustrated on examining the various Acts of Parliament that have from time to time been passed. As early as the tenth year of the reign of our present Queen, a Public Health Act was passed, which was renewed in the year 1848, and in this Act a nuisance is defined as follows: Any dwelling-house or building in such a filthy or unwholesome condition as to be a nuisance and injurious to health; or that upon any premises there is any foul ditch, gutter, drain, privy, cesspool, or ashpit, or any foul ditch, gutter, drain, privy, or cesspool or ashpit kept or constructed so as to be a nuisance to or injurious to the health of any person; or that upon any such premises, being a building used wholly or in part as a dwelling-house, or being premises underneath any such building, any cattle or animals are or is so kept as to be a nuisance,' &c. In the year 1855 an Act for Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Act Consolidation and Amendment was passed. This is really the basis of the present laws under which we act. In this Act the word 'nuisance' is more clearly defined than in the last Act mentioned. The word 'nuisance' means any premises in such a state as to be a nuisance or injurious to health; any pool, ditch, gutter, watercourse, privy, urinal, cesspool, drain, or ashpit, so foul as to be a nuisance or injurious to health; any animal so kept as to be a nuisance or injurious to health; any accumulation or deposit which is a nuisance or injurious to health. In the same year the Metropolis Local Management Act became law, including all the provisions of the above-named Act of Nuisances Removal. In this Act the duties of inspectors are still further increased to superintend and enforce the due execution of all duties to be performed by the scavengers, and also to report to the vestry or board the existence of any nuisance, &c. It is worth noting as a matter of history that in this Act the water-closet is first mentioned, and also that such shall be furnished with suitable water supply and water-supplying apparatus, &c. This marks the growth of improvement in sanitary appliances.

In 1866 the Acts were further amended, and the word 'nuisance' comprised any house or parts of a house so

* See on this subject SANITARY RECORD for June 1883, Vol. xiv.,

P. 554

overcrowded as to be dangerous or prejudicial to the health of the inmates; any factories, workshops, work-places, not included in any general Act for the purpose, that were unclean or not ventilated in such a manner as to render harmless, as far as practicable, any gases, vapours, dust, or other impurities, generated in the course of the work carried on therein, or so overcrowded as to prejudice the health of the inmates. The term was made to include also any fireplace or chimney that does not, as far as practicable, consume its own smoke. In this Act power is also given to disinfect houses, clothing, &c.; and this shows another advance in sanitary science, viz., the im portance of isolation and disinfecting to prevent the spread of contagious diseases. In the year 1875, in addition to the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, an Act of Parliament became law which, while not affecting the inhabitants of the metropolis, yet affects the interests of the inhabitants of the rest of England. The law relating to public health and local government was put into a simple and compre hensive form, and included regulations for the prevention of disease and nuisances, &c., and defined the duties of local authorities, officers, and the like. The definition of nuisances, as stated in the former Act referred to,,is included in the Public Health Act, so that as regards the word 'nuisance,' it is the same over the whole country.*

The Local Government Board have clearly defined the duties of inspectors of nuisances in a circular sent to local authorities in the year 1873, and again in 1880; and an important provision was made in the Public Health Act of 1872, that the Government would, if the local authorities agreed, pay half the salaries of the medical officer of health and inspector of nuisances, provided the appointment and qualifications of the officers were approved of by them. This is satisfactory, as in the regulation for tenure of office it is stated that should the sanitary authority suspend any officer the cause of such suspension shall be reported to the Local Government Board, and if the Local Government Board remove the suspension of such officer by the sanitary authority, he shall forthwith resume the performance of his duties. I have gone a little into detail as to what the term 'nuisance' implies, and the legal duties of a sanitary authority as by law required; but, as I have pointed out, the various Acts of Parliament show stages of improvement and discovery in sanitation, and to-day we have much more to do and much more is required of us than in times past, as there have been many changes, and the requirements to-day are far more onerous than those of former years. Take one or two examples.

Years ago the system existed of open privies and cesspools, and it was found that the earth became impregnated with foul matter which contaminated the water supply, and gave off foul gases, causing disease. The then laws concerning nuisances consisted in merely seeing that the cesspools were emptied at such times of the day so as not to cause annoyance to the inhabitants; but since then the circumstances have changed. It has been thought that the proper way to deal with refuse was to convey it away by means of pipes, and it has been considered that as long as there was a pipe from the houses, and the refuse was hidden, that then there was an end of all trouble. It was not until about the time the Prince of Wales was attacked with typhoid fever that attention was drawn to the fact that in doing away with cesspools and privies, and in constructing sewers, a very serious danger arose from the presence in these drains or elongated cesspools of a much more potent agent of disease caused by the fermentation of the foul matter and the giving off of sewage gas.. It has taken some time for this subject to be thought out by scientific men, and it is only within the last few years that public attention has been drawn to this subject and means taken to counteract the effect of it. The presence of diphtheria and the forms of typhoid fever is almost always a sure sign of an emanation of sewer gas, and the idea that it was only necessary to abolish the cesspool and connect the drains with the * See SANITARY RECORD for July 1883 (Vol. xv., p. 12) for an exact legal definition of the term 'nuisance.'

new sewer was till very recently deemed sufficient, and that no harm could accrue if only proper traps were used. But it has been found that very few traps are serviceable, especially when there is a pressure on the sewer, as when the gas is displaced by the inlet into the sewer of a heavy downfall of rain the gas soon forces its way through the small seal of the trap, and thereby escapes into the house.

We might stop here and inquire whether it is right that this sewer gas should be caused; and I personally have very strong opinions, derived from experiments and observations made by myself, that there is no necessity for the presence in sewers of sewer gas, and I shall be prepared at some future time to show that the cause of this evil can easily be prevented, and that the fact of its presence shows a very wrong condition in the construction of our sewers. What I want to show is that it will not be enough to follow the strict letter of the law in the interpretation that was meant when the draughtsman prepared the works, but by observation steadily to apply the investigation of scientific men in showing the causes of disease, to endeavour by all practical means to carry the knowledge into our duties. We must remember that the elements of health are pure air, pure water, and pure food, and everything that hinders or adulterates any of these three elements is a source of danger to health. It is owing to the condition in which men live and cluster together in towns, villages, and elsewhere that the air becomes polluted by means of foul air engendered by overcrowding, want of ventilation, emanations from the inhabitants themselves, foul smells or gases, arising from means for carrying off the refuse, noxious trades, and accumulation of filth and dirt.

SMOKE ABATEMENT.

THE winter course of lectures at the Parkes Museum of Hygiene, Margaret Street, Regent Street, was inaugurated on the 4th inst., when Mr. Ernest Hart delivered a lecture on 'Smoke Abatement.'

Professor Chandler Roberts, F. R.S., occupied the chair, and, introducing the lecturer, said that in the early days of the steam-engine it was recognised that the increased consumption of coal would bring about serious evils, but, as regarded the state of London from the same cause, very little sustained effort had been made.

Mr. Ernest Hart said the difficulty which the Smoke Abatement Institute had to contend against was that, whilst everybody wished it well, very few were inclined to help it much. The only persons who were against the Institute on principle were the chimney-sweeps, and the only class against it on the ground of interest were market gardeners, who feared a stoppage in the cheap supply of soot. But it had been proved that an improvement in the consumption of coal and a more extensive use of gas would enable sulphate of ammonia to be more largely used in the cultivation of the land. This lecture was intended as a serious prelude to a considerable and continuous effort which must be made, and for which the help would be needed of the Parkes Museum and other sanitary institutions if any real progress was to be attained in the abatement of smoke. After briefly giving a history of the attempts made in this direction from the time of Elizabeth, when Parliament passed an Act prohibiting the use of coal in the houses of the metropolis, Mr. Hart said it would be perceived that the present race of reformers had a respectable history and an honoured line of predecessors. The basis on which they claimed the help of all classes of the people was the unpleasantness of smoke, and its proved prejudicial effect in the air on the health, the respiratory organs being those on which the incidence of the prevalence of that smoke chiefly fell. Mr. Hart, on this point, quoted a mass of statistics to show the enormous increase in the death-rate of London and other large and smoky towns during certain periods of the year. Another evil was that every year the area on which it was possible to grow flowers in London was being gradually driven

beyond our urban circle. Then as to the cost of this smoke, Mr. Chadwick had stated that it added 1,000,000!. a year to the washing bill, and every householder would bear witness to the showers of blacks which came through open windows, destroying the decoration and furniture of our houses. The coal nuisance had even debased and degraded our ideas of ornamentation in London, and destroyed a large part of the beauty and appearance of our houses-and it had led us to assume that to evade, not to escape from, the consequences of this dirt we must necessarily use dark papers, oak-grained doors, and generally to live in dark and dirty coloured apartments, because they were least likely to show the dirt which fell upon them. The injury done by smoke particles to the surface of the Houses of Parliament was estimated by Mr. Shaw Lefevre at 2,500l. a year; whilst from the same cause the surface of Westminster Abbey was in a state of so much decay that a great national effort would shortly have to be put forward in order to in some measure repair the damage. Beyond this the waste of coal, the waste of labour, and the cost of hauling the waste, the expenditure on street cleansing, and the additional labour involved in private houses, were almost incalculable. If people would read the reports of the Smoke Abatement Institute they would see which grates were the least efficient and the most smoky, which were the coals which had the least evaporative_value and which had the most evaporative value. The manufacturers whose chimneys produced the most evil were bakers, brewers, builders, chemical works, confectioners, iron and brass founders, laundries, leather dressers, oil workers, potters, printers, saw-mills, smiths, steamboats, and tanners. Every one of these trades could be carried on without the production of any smoke whatever and without interference with the economical carrying out of their businesses. For the remedy of this state of things the Institute looked, in private houses, to the use of improved grates, but the ultimate line of progress would be the abolition of the use of crude coal in open grates and stoves, and the introduction of the use of the gaseous fuel derivable from coal. As to manufactories, both in Lambeth, the Eastend, and the provinces, some owners had adopted smokeconsuming apparatus with great financial benefit to themselves. These facts would greatly help the Institute in proceeding against offenders, but what they wanted, above all things, was to carry the industrial classes with them, and show the advantages of taking the course which the Institute recommended. Mr. Hart urged householders to adopt a system of under-feeding for kitcheners, and to burn in the other grates a mixture of coal and gas coke broken into small pieces, having the sides and backs of the open grates made of fire-clay, and not iron. In conclusion, he stated that what the Institute aimed at was the appointment of a Royal Commission, so as to collect all the available knowledge on the question and apply that knowledge in abolishing smoke, not only in London, but in provincial towns. The Parkes Museum were considering a proposal to allow the Smoke Abatement Institute to exhibit a typical series of smoke-abating grates and appliances, and in the exhibition which will be held next year at South Kensington the ventilation of houses and the abatement of smoke would be an important section. They also wanted to give the local authorities in London increased and more extensive powers to deal with the difficulty; but, above all, they wished to educate public opinion, for that was the only true means of bringing about a better state of things.

After a short discussion, a resolution was passed, on the motion of the chairman, seconded by Mr. W. White, F.S.A., cordially thanking Mr. Hart for his paper.

The Council of the National Smoke Abatement Institution met at 44 Berners Street, on the 8th inst., to consider the resolution proposed at the Mansion House by the Duke of Northumberland, and seconded by Sir William Siemens :-'That the period has now arrived at which systematic inquiry is desirable into the application of the resources of technical science for the abatement of smoke

now largely produced in industrial processes and in the heating of houses, as well as into the operation of the existing laws for smoke abatement and that the Council of the National Smoke Abatement Institution be requested to urge upon the Government the desirability of appointing a Royal Commission for the purpose.' It was decided to comply with the request contained in the resolution, and a committee of the Council was appointed to take the necessary steps. A proposition to arrange with the Council of the Parkes Museum for space to exhibit smoke-abating appliances at that institution was considered and adopted subject to conditions being agreed. The general report on the tests made by the institution since the last meeting was presented, together with detailed statements and tables, prepared by the engineer, for future publication.

ANTHRACITE COAL AND SMOKE
ABATEMENT.

AT the present moment we have at our command two sound and reliable agents, which, if used by every householder in London, would do much to prevent the production of smoke. These agents are gaseous fuel and anthracite coal. As the effects of the former are well known, and as this article is written to show the availability of anthracite coal, it will be restricted to an account of its capabilities and advantages under existing circumstances. Admitting that anthracite coal is rather more difficult to light than the bituminous variety, and that grates with a quicker draught are more suitable to its use, it is nevertheless a fact, that in the district in South Wales, around which it is raised, it is commonly used both by the working classes and others above them in the social scale in grates of the most ordinary construction, and with the most satisfactory results. The writer has recently returned from a visit to that portion of the South Wales Coal Field where the fine veins

of anthracite exist, and has seen fires in different classes of houses burning in different kinds of grates, none of which, however, possess any special facilities for burning this coal; old-fashioned grates, with the fire-basket a foot or more from the hearth, and others in which it is only a few inches from it. In all these were found bright and cheerful fires, giving out great heat, clean hearths (for it is notorious that anthracite coal produces but a mere minimum of ash), and, above all, an entire absence of smoke. Leaving the working classes out of the question altogether, and confining his remarks to those who have to depend upon servants for making their fires, the writer was careful in instituting inquiries to endeavour to find out if any additional assistance was at the command of the domestic when lighting her fires, but found that the usual addenda of paper and wood were the only ones employed. It was admitted that sometimes when a change of servants occurred, and a new one that had not been accustomed to anthracite was engaged, she experienced a little difficulty at first in dealing with the 'stone' coal, but with a few instructions she soon became mistress of her work, and satisfied with the results, which gave her less labour day by day in clearing up ash and dirt. This clearly shows that the burning of anthracite with successful results depends entirely upon those who have to light the fires, for once lit they require but little attention, certainly not nearly so much as those made with bituminous coal, and when it is distinctly asserted that cheerful fires cannot be obtained with anthracite coal, the writer is thoroughly convinced from what he has seen and heard that the fault lies with the servant and not with the coal. It is doubtless true that there are different qualities of anthracite as with most other things, and the writer would qualify his remarks to this extent, that his observations extended mainly to the finest description of it, viz., the Big vein' of the Garnant colliery, situate in the Cwmamman valley, on the borders of Glamorgan and Carmarthenshire.

The tram' of coal (A) is brought from the pit along the tramroad (B C), then tipped as shown in the sketch, the screen (DE) being brought into the position shown by the weights (F) acting through the chain (GG) over the pulley (H). The weights are heavier than the screen, so that when empty the screen is lifted by them. When the coals are let on to the screen the screen and coals are heavier, and so the weights are lifted and the screen is lowered: this action is controlled by a brake attached to the shaft of the pulley (H). To avoid confusion this gearing is omitted from the sketch. After the tram has been emptied on to the screen, the bars on this screen are 1 inches apart; and all the smaller portions of the coal have fallen through into the shoot (1J), and thence into the box (K). The screen is lowered, and the large coal is allowed to pass on to the shoot (L M), and from this after cleaning into the railway truck (N). When the main spring is thus lowered, the box (K) descends

to the position (o), shown in dotted lines; and by an arrangement of rods-not shown in the sketch-it is emptied on to the swinging screen (P Q); this is made of steel wire with holes 1 inch square; beneath this another screen is attached with holes 4-inch square, and under this latter is a shoot (TU); the 1-inch screen (ro) delivers on to a band (v) working on rollers: the 1-inch screen into a shoot (x x), and what passes through this 4-inch screen by the shoot (TU) into a tram marked 'duff coal-and the shoot x x into another tram marked 'pea coal.' To the upper end of the two screens a couple of rods are attached, and so by means of eccentrics to which the rods are also attached, worked from a small vertical engine (2) through the shaft y, shown in fig. 2, these 1-inch and inch screens are kept rocking, and the coal as it is delivered from the box K on to them is passed forward, free from dust.