London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Islington 1953
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington Borough]
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36
Where it is possible for the staff to be released to attend lectures, this is
encouraged.
Number of complaints received during year 51
Number of observations made 257
Number of inspections and revisits 312
Number of notices served 5
Number of notices complied with 2
Recording of Atmospheric Pollution.
Consequent upon the dense fog which enveloped the London area during the
5th—8th December, 1952, inclusive, the public have become more atmospheric
pollution-minded, particularly having regard to the increase in the number of
deaths which occurred during this period from bronchitis, pneumonia and other
forms of respiratory diseases.
In order to assist in the investigation into atmospheric pollution, this Council
acceded to a request from the London and Home Counties Smoke Abatement
Advisory Council and arranged for the measuring and recording of atmospheric
pollution in the Borough. As a result, three measuring and recording stations were
set up, each having a deposit gauge and a lead peroxide instrument to provide the
necessary readings. These stations are situated on the Town Hall roof, the roof of
the Community Centre, York Way Court, and at the Disinfecting Station, Seven
Sisters Road, and operated from the 1st July of this year.
A summary of the observations at the above three Stations for the six months ending the 31st December is as follows .
| Month | Site | Rainfall in Inches | (Tons per square mile) | Mg.of S03/day collected by 100 sq. cm. of Batch A Lead-Peroxide. (Louvered Box) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insoluble Deposit | Soluble Deposits | Total Solids | ||||
| July | 1 2 3 | 3.43 3.90 4.57 | 7.02 13.24 9.91 | 7.56 10.62 6.96 | 14.58 23.86 16.87 | 1.15 1.74 0.63 |
| August | 1 2 3 | 2.01 2.13 2.21 | 4.74 8.05 7.23 | 5.80 4.15 5.68 | 10.54 12.20 12.91 | 1.48 1.71 0.74 |
| September | 1 2 3 | 1.54 1.62 1.73 | 9.94 13.46 11.24 | 6.43 7.89 6.50 | 16.37 21.35 17.74 | 3.74 2.11 0.91 |
| October | 1 2 3 | 2.20 2.25 2.29 | 7.49 13.12 9.84 | 9.25 9.31 7.79 | 16.74 22.43 17.63 | 2.36 2.34 1.72 |
| November | 1 2 3 | 1.42 1.50 1.46 | 9.31 11.60 11.54 | 6.96 7.33 5.61 | 16.27 18.93 17.15 | 4.97 2.51 4.72 |
| December | 1 2 3 | 0.59 0.63 0.67 | 8.82 20.38 11.44 | † † 8.35 | † † 19.79 | 3.19 4.05 3.02 |
| † Figures for water-soluble matter for Sites 1 &2 not available. Key to Sites : 1. Town Hall. 2. York Way. 3. Disinfecting Station. | ||||||