London Fog

WINDOW STUDIES. A HARMONY IN LONDON SMUT. Punch, 16th February, 1889. From The Victorian Dictionary

" Fogs are, no doubt, not peculiar to London. Even Paris itself can occasionally turn out very respectable work in this way, and the American visitor to England will probably think, in passing the banks of Newfoundland, that he had very little to learn on the subject of fog. But what Mr. Guppy called “a London particular” and what is more usually known to the natives as a “pea-souper”, will very speedily dispel any hallucination of this sort. As the east wind brings up the exhalations of the Essex and Kentish marshes, and as the damp-laden winter air prevents the dispersion of the partly consumed carbon from hundreds of thousands of chimneys, the strangest atmospheric compound known to science fills the valley of the Thames. At such times almost all the senses have their share of trouble. Not only does a strange and worse than Cimmerian darkness hide familiar landmarks from the sights, but the taste and sense of smell are offended by the unhallowed compound of flavours, and all things become greasy and clammy to the touch. During the continuance of a real London fog – which may be black, gray, or more probably orange-coloured – the happiest man is he who stays at home. But if business – there is no such things as out of doors pleasure during the continuance of a London fog – should compel a sally into the streets, one caution should be carefully observed. Mr. Catlin, well known for his connection with the Indian Tribes of North America, once promulgated into print a theory, that a royal road to long life was, sleeping or waking, to keep the mouth as much as possible closed. This advice, whatever its value may be generally should always be followed when a London fog has to be encountered. Nothing could be more deleterious to the lungs an the air-passages then the wholesale inhalation of the foul air and floating carbon, which, combined, form a London fog. In this connection it may be taken as an axiom that the nose is Nature’s respirator. The extraordinary effect which the fogs of the winter of 1879-1880 had upon the health of Londoners will be long remembered. It is almost unnecessary to add that the dangers of the streets, great at all times, are immeasurably increased in foggy weather; and that the advantages of being able to dive into that unnatural darkness after a successful robbery, are thoroughly appreciated by the predatory classes."

• Charles Dickens, Jr., Dickens's Dictionary of London 1888 (see LondonGuidesAndMaps)

-- ChrisLehrich^? - 29 Dec 2004