Just as we were enjoying the lovely sunshine someone has to go and spoil it!! I was startled, to say the least, when I read this morning that the British Government, DEFRA to be exact, had issued a ‘SMOG ALERT’ of all things. I thought smog evaporated with the Victorians, and in any case was restricted to the city, but on further investigation I found that I was very wrong!
Apparently we are to be bombarded with something called PM10s, which are detrimental to our health, particularly if you suffer with breathing related difficulties! It’s a subject far too complicated for someone who was taught only the very basic of science many, many years ago! But, I did manage to extricate the fact that it’s all to do with a type of air pollutant derived from a mixture of vehicular emissions, industrial fumes and their reaction to sunlight, which in turn produces a ‘photochemical smog’.
In Victorian London ‘pea soupers’ were caused by fog off the river combining with smoke from the over abundant coal fires! Hence, very cleverly, ‘sm’ from smoke and ‘og’ from fog! The phenomenon could just as easily have been called ‘foke’! (Maybe not!) Charles Dickens referred to the occurrence as ‘death of the sun’. Smog (or foke) provided the ideal cover for many evil doings! Jack the Ripper’s antics being a good example!
Victorian smog came in many guises and colours. Anything from brown, through reddish-yellow to green and smelled of sulphur and smoke, and covered everything in its wake with sooty smuts, which was pretty much the whole of London. This foul smelling problem could also be dangerous to our health. Not only did it affect one’s breathing (and no doubt made the eyes run!), but because of its density people ending up walking into the river, never to be seen again, and horses and carriages careered through shop windows giving the unsuspecting shop-owner a bit of a shock! This prompted the use of men who walked in front of the horse with a torch to warn folk of their approach. This must have presented the torch-bearer with a multi-threat situation, not only was he in danger of dying from lack of breath, he was at risk of being trampled from behind, running into objects or leading the whole shebang into the river! Snuffing out life, and the torch. Glug! Glug!
Even sitting by your fire (while you were unwittingly adding to the problem) you were subjected to the inescapable murk. It penetrated into people’s houses, and often theatre-goers could only hear the actors and not actually see them through the smoggy curtain.
Air pollution has been with us since the first man (I presume it was a man!) accidentally discovered fire! It would have been like a bolt from the blue! (Maybe that’s how it all started!) Prehistoric humans apparently suffered from anthracosis (blackening of the lungs, also known as miner’s lung), and that was long before tobacco was offered to Christopher Columbus by the American Indians (15th October 1492)!
As far back as 1306 air pollution was a problem. King Edward the First banned coal fires because of their smog making capabilities! His mother Queen Eleanor fled to Nottingham Castle after becoming very sick from coal fumes. The death penalty for coal burning ensued! (Was that by fire I wonder?)
The sun also plays its part in the debacle, instead of dispersing the smog by burning it off it only serves to increase its density.
Anyway, thank goodness for the Clean Air Act of 1956! This was implemented by Sir Anthony Eden’s Government after the ‘Great Smog of 1952’, when in December of that year it was thought that 12,000 people died in London from smog related illnesses, etc, and a further 8,000 died in the following months.
So, fellow ramblers, keep safe! Speak soon, smog permitting!
Thanks for your time!
The Bumpkin Rambler xx
