Pea soup fog
Pea soup fog (also known as a pea souper, black fog or killer fog) is a very thick and often yellowish, greenish or blackish fog caused by
Historical observations
From as early as the 13th century,
In 1880,
The difficulties of driving through the fog were vividly described in the Autocar magazine, with an otherwise straightforward 45 mile car journey on the night of 12 December 1946 taking over eight hours to complete. At times, the passenger had to get out and walk alongside the car to see the kerb and operate the steering through the side window while the driver operated the pedals.[12]
The most lethal incidence of this smog in London
Origins of the term
Reference to the sources of smog, along with the earliest extant use of "pea-soup" as a descriptor, is found in a report by John Sartain published in 1820 on life as a young artist, recounting what it was like to
slink home through a fog as thick and as yellow as the pea-soup of the eating house; return to your painting room ... having opened your window at going out, to find the stink of the paint rendered worse, if possible, by the entrance of the fog, which, being a compound from the effusions of gas pipes, tan yards, chimneys, dyers, blanket scourers, breweries, sugar bakers, and soap boilers, may easily be imagined not to improve the smell of a painting room![14]
An 1871
Remediation
King Edward I of England banned the burning of sea-coal by proclamation in London in 1272, after its smoke became a problem.[17][18] By the 17th century London's pollution had become a serious problem, still due, in particular, to the burning of cheap, readily available sea coal.[7] John Evelyn, advisor to Charles II of England, defined the problem in his pamphlet, Fumifugium: Or, the Inconvenience of the Aer and Smoak of London Dissipated[19][20][21] published in 1661, blaming coal, a "subterrany fuel" that had "a kind of virulent or arsenical vapour arising from it" for killing many. He proposed the relocation of industry out of the city and the planting of massive gardens of "odiferous flowers" to "tinge the air" and thus mask the pollution.
Clean Air Act
The worst recorded instance was the Great Smog of 1952, when 4,000 deaths were reported in the city over a couple of days, and a subsequent 8,000 related deaths, leading to the passage of the Clean Air Act 1956, which banned the use of coal for domestic fires in some urban areas.[15] The overall death toll from that incident is now believed to be around 12,000.[22][23]
See also
- Great Smog of London
- Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO)– an aircraft landing aid intended to allow safe flying during the extremes of 'pea souper' fog
References
- ISBN 978-1-86105-799-0.
- ISSN 0043-1656.
- PMID 789426.
- OCLC 156716838.
- ^ Calendar of Close Rolls, 35 Ed. 1. m6d
- ^ Calendar of Patent Rolls, 13 Ed. 1.ml8d.
- ^ a b Graunt, John; Petty, William (1662), Natural and political observations mentioned in a following index, and made upon the bills of mortality [microform] / by John Graunt ...; with reference to the government, religion, trade, growth, ayre, diseases, and the several changes of the said city, Printed by Tho. Roycroft for John Martin, James Allestry, and Tho. Dicas
- ^ Landsberg, Helmut Erich (1981). The urban climate. Academic Press, New York, p.3.
- ^ F. A. R. Russell, London Fogs. London: Edward Stanford, 1880, pp. 4, 11, 27
- ^ B. Luckin, "Demographic, Social and Cultural Parameters of Environmental Crisis: The Great London Smoke Fogs in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries", in C. Bernhardt and G. Massard-Guilbaud (eds) The Modern Demon: Pollution in Urban and Industrial European Societies. Clermont-Ferrand: Blaise-Pascal University Press, 2002; pp. 219–238
- ^ B. Luckin, "Pollution in the City", in M. Daunton (ed.) The Cambridge Urban History of Britain, Volume III 1840–1950. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 207–228.
- ^ Michael Brown (17 January 1947). "A Night of Fantasy". The Autocar. London: Iliffe & Sons Ltd: 80–81.
- ^ Brimblecombe, P. (2006). "The clean air act after 50 years". Weather, 61(11), 311–314.
- ^ John Sartain (1820). Annals of the fine arts. London, Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, digitised by Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, p.80
- ^ ISBN 1-903144-02-7.
- ^ "GRAUNT, John. (1620-1674). Natural and political observations mentioned in a following index and made upon the bills of mortality..." Christies.
- ^ David Urbinato (Summer 1994). "London's Historic "Pea-Soupers"". United States Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ "Deadly Smog". PBS. 17 January 2003. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ Evelyn, John (9 September 1976). "Fumifugium". Exeter, Eng. : University of Exeter, the Rota. Retrieved 9 September 2022 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ HTML text of Fumifugium.
- ^ "He shewes that 't is the seacoale smoake That allways London doth Inviron, Which doth our Lungs and Spiritts choake, Our hanging spoyle, and rust our Iron. Lett none att Fumifuge be scoffing Who heard att Church our Sundaye's Coughing." from; "Ballad of Gresham College". Original text.
- PMID 14698923. Archived from the originalon 14 October 2008.
- ^ "Counting the Cost of London's Killer Smog" Richard Stone Science 13 December 2002: Vol. 298, Issue 5601, pp. 2106-2107 DOI: 10.1126/science.298.5601.2106b
Further reading
- Cavert, William M. (2016) The Smoke of London: Energy and Environment in the Early Modern City. Cambridge University Press.
- Corton, Christine L. (2015) London Fog: The Biography. Harvard University Press. Excerpt The Reason London Is Renowned For Being Foggy
- New York Times, 2 April 1871, pg. 3: "London... fog the consistency of pea-soup..."