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202
Over Grating in
Pavement which
acted as Ventilator
to Underground
Bakehouse C.
In Back Yard
behind
Bakehouse C.
In Open Street
on Edge of
Kerbstone opposite
Bakehouse C.
Number of bacteria
on agar
plates exposed
for 30 minutes
820 200 160
From these figures it will be seen (a) that underground Bakehouse
air contained at least four times more bacteria than street
air around it; (b) at least three times more bacteria than the
air of a shop over it; and (c) at least three times more bacteria
than the above ground Bakehouse.
Summary.—The general result of these three investigations
is that the air of the typical underground Bakehouses
examined—
(i) Contained 14.8 volumes per 10,000 of carbonic acid gas,
C02 (as compared with 4.9 in above-ground Bakehouses
and 4.3 in the streets of Finsbury);
(ii) That it contained between 10 and 24 per cent. less
moisture than outside air surrounding the Bakehouses;
and
(iii) That it contained at least four times more bacteria than
surrounding street air, and three times more bacteria
than the air of a typical above ground Bakehouse.
It is not possible to judge with accuracy what the effect of
these conditions has been upon those who work under them.
Bakers as a class appear to suffer considerably from diseases of
the liver and the lungs, and their mortality from rheumatic fever,
diabetes and urinary diseases is above the standard for occupied
males generally.* This statement must, however, be qualified by
¤ Supplement to the 55th Annual Report of the Registrar General, Part II.,
1897, p. li. See also Dangerous Trades, by Thomas Oliver, M.D., 1902, p. 505.