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Show Deleterious Effects of Snow. A recent article by llorr R. Sendtner in the "Meleorolopischo Zeitschrift" tends to prove that the works of art in the streets and squares of cities ore more liable to decay than those in (lie country, and that this decaying process is more rapid nowadays than it was forty or fifty years ago. The writer attributes it not only to the changes of temperature in general, but more especially to the variations of temperature near the freezing point, the freezing of the water in the Mres of the work of art hastening the decay, in consequence con-sequence of the sulphurous and sulphuric acids, arising from tho increased use of coal. These deleterious ingredients mixing mix-ing with tho rain, fog and dew act like diluted sulphuric acid on the surfaces of statues, monuments, etc., be they of stone or bronze. "Worse than all these, however, is the effect of the snow, which altsorbs those acids to a remarkable degree. Fresh fallen snow in Munich, for instance, contained con-tained seven to eight milligrammes of acid to each kilo of snow; and the same proportion was noticeable at Forstenried, about eight kilometers from tho city. The same quantity of snow, after having remained re-mained on tho ground a fortnight, showed in Munich sixty-one milligrammes, while at Forstenried the proportion had not altered in tho least; hence the snow in tho city must needs have a more deleterious delete-rious elTect than that in the country. This also is tho reason why the public monuments in Berlin aro always covered at tho approach of winter. Berliner Tagblattk |