awaken the curiosity, and excite the astonishment, of all ranks of
the inhabitants, and _perhaps_ turn their minds to an object of
economy to which they have hitherto paid little attention."

The essay from which this extract is made was published in 1796: what
would the Count say now? I believe the calculation which he was thinking
of has been made. At any rate a near approximation might be; for I am
told, on scientific authority, that "the actual quantity of smoke hanging
any day over London is the fourth part of the fuel consumed on that day."
Mr. Cubitt, the great builder, in an examination before the House of
Commons, quoted by the Sanitary Report, thus expresses himself on this
subject:

"With respect to manufactories, here are a great number driven by
competition to work in the cheapest way they can. A man puts up a
steam-engine, and sends out an immense quantity of smoke; perhaps he
creates a great deal of foul and bad gas; that is all let loose.
Where his returns are 1000 pounds a month, if he would spend 5 pounds
a month more, he would make that completely harmless; but he says, 'I
am not bound to do that,' and therefore he works as cheaply as he
can, and the public suffer to an extent beyond all calculation."

To show how little loss is to be apprehended from regulations abating
this nuisance, the Sanitary Report cites the authority of

"Mr. Ewart, the Inspector of Machinery to the Admiralty, residing at
Her Majesty's Dockyard at Woolwich, where the chimney of the
manufactory under his immediate superintendence, regulated according
to his directions, offers an example of the little smoke that need be
occasioned from steam-engine furnaces if care be exercised. He
states that no peculiar machinery is used; the stoker or fire-keeper
is only required to exercise care in not throwing on too much coal at
once, and to open the furnace door in such slight degree as to admit
occasionally the small proportion of atmospheric air requisite to
effect complete combustion. Mr. Ewart also states that if the fire
be properly managed, there will be a saving of fuel. The extent of
smoke denotes the extent to which the combustion is incomplete. The
chimney belonging to the manufactory of Mr. Peter Fairbairn, engineer
at Leeds, also presents an example and a contrast to the chimneys of
nearly all the other manufactories wh