The beginning of air quality monitoring. First and only edition of the first book on the results of air quality monitoring, a pioneering work in the chemical investigation of pollution, particularly acid rain.

Robert Angus Smith (1817-1884) became concerned about industrial pollution while associated with the heavy chemical industry in Manchester in the 1840s and 50s. After experiencing the use of chemists as paid witnesses in environmental lawsuits he became an advocate for scientific independence and court reform, and was made a government inspector.

'As well as reporting his regulatory activities, Smith used his official reports as inspector to explore contested empirical, methodological, and theoretical issues that had no direct connection with the immediate business of inspection. In the case of the alkali inspectorate this included research into the normal composition of the urban industrial atmosphere. Little was known about variation of the composition of the air as a result of urban concentration of industrial activity, or about the effects on health of gases not normally present in significant concentrations, such as ammonia' (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).

This volume presents the 'vast body of data' that Smith collected by sampling air and water around Manchester and other areas over three decades (ODNB). Of particular importance is his identification of the phenomenon of acid rain, which he correctly determined was caused by coal burning, and for which he coined the term in 1859. His work also explored the interaction of oxygen with industrial pollution and the by-products of organic decay; changes in climate and weather caused by pollution; air quality in mines and enclosed domestic spaces and methods for its improvement; and the physiological and social effects of pollution. He was 'keen to apply this research for the benefit of all members of society and in particular to improve sanitary conditions in the main urban areas' (Reed, Acid Rain and the Rise of the Environmental Chemist).

First edition; 8vo (21 x 31 cm); 9 lithographic plates, engravings and tables within the text, bookplate, occasional light spotting to the contents; contemporary prize binding of tan calf, spine gilt in compartments, green morocco label, school crest, double fillets and decorative roll to upper board in gilt and blind, marbled edges and endpapers, decorative roll to turn-ins in blind, spine a little darkened, some indentations and small spots to the upper board, very good condition; 600pp.