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38
between the symptoms in rheumatism and the weather has not been
satisfactorily demonstrated on a scientific basis, but in other diseases
the association is or has been more obvious; thus it was shown many
years ago that the death rate from diarrhoea or gastroenteritis in young
children began rising steeply when the temperature of the earth a few
feet below ground level rose over a certain limit. This phenomenon
does not occur now, but the explanation is quite simple. In the old
days (prior to world war I), when the earth temperature got to the
particular limit it meant that there had been a fairly long spell, or a
succession of spells, of warm or hot weather, and with the relatively
bad hygienic conditions then prevailing this meant that there had been
a great increase in the number of flies and thereby a great increase in
the number of cases of fly-borne disease, of which gastroenteritis and
diarrhoea in infants were outstanding examples. With the more
energetic methods now made to deal with flies, and with the education
of the parent and the shopkeeper in general hygiene and in storing
and preparing food, high temperatures have ceased to have any
appreciable effect on the infant mortality rate.
For a number of years a high correlation was noticed between hot
summers and the number of cases of infantile paralysis (poliomyelitis).
This occurred between the wars, and also in 1947 and again in 1949,
both of which were hot summers with long periods of sunny weather;
but in 1950, which was a less hot and also a wet summer, the cases of
poliomyelitis in the country were roughly as numerous in 1947 and 1949.
Nevertheless the association between poliomyelitis and hot weather does
not necessarily receive a death blow from the figures for last year, as it
might well be that the number of cases of poliomyelitis last year, though
large, would have been larger had there been a hot summer.
These are two examples of possible association of disease and
meteorology, and others have been put forward. The evidence, though
inconclusive, is sufficient to justify records being kept in health
departments, so that in future years it may be possible in retrospect to
pick out the true correlations. Some figures are published (Table 19)
in this present report of sunshine, rainfall, etc., but these are not
specifiic to the borough, having been obtained from the RegistrarGeneral,
who, in his turn, obtained them from the Director of the
meteorological office. I also include some figures on temperature
which were obtained at the Town Hall by the Borough Engineer's
department in connection with plans for concreting. The thermometer
is in an alleyway 5 feet from the ground.
During the year 1950 I put before the committee a suggestion that
we should cooperate with the Department of Scientific and Industrial
Research of the Medical Research Council in setting up stations in the
borough for the measurement of atmospheric pollution. This pollution
has an effect on the amount of sunlight available, and it has an effect on
the comfort of the inhabitants. It may also have a more marked and
serious effect on individual inhabitants, for example, a person with lung
disease living near a source of atmospheric pollution from which some
irritant, such as sulphur trioxide, occurs might be badly affected. No
decision was come to during 1950, but in the early part of 1951 the
committee decided, in principle, to authorise the setting up of three
stations in the borough and a first report on these will be given in the
next annual report.