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their heads are nearer the floor there might have been some filtering
action by the straw. A postmortem examination of the dead cattle showed
commencing pneumonia, slight inflammation of the intestines and
considerable fatty degeneration of certain organs, including the liver,
kidneys and heart. This lastnamed finding is, to say the least of it,
peculiar in that fatty degeneration usually takes a long time to occur;
it is therefore possible that show cattle, being specially bred and
specially fed, may be regarded as altogether abnormal and unable to
withstand such things as fog for those reasons. Some confirmation of
this arises from the fact that at the zoo in Regent's Park there was little
noticeable effect on the animals. It may therefore be that the altogether
abnormal conditions involved in transport and showing in an environment
to which these special cattle were unused were the main factors
in the Smithfield affair. With regard to plant life most gardeners saw
the effects both at the time and shortly after and these effects will
probably be even more obvious during the present summer, but here
again different plants vary enormously in their reaction.
The plain fact remains however that from the known effects on
human, animal and plant life, conditions of fog are a dangerous menace
to town populations.
Effects in the borough
The position in Lewisham was that there was a large increase
in the number of deaths of Lewisham residents in the borough. In the
week ending December 13 there were 134 such deaths registered, and
in the week ending December 20 there were 94, making 228 for the two
weeks. This compares with 37 and 39 (76 for the two weeks) for the
corresponding period of 1951 and 45 and 50 (95 in all) for the corresponding
period of 1950. The 228 deaths were analysed as follows:—
Day of death
Eight persons (a normal number) died on December 5, but 16 on
December 6, 32 on December 7, 28 on December 8, 25 on December 9,
12 on December 10 and 16 on December 11. The daily number dying
thereafter gradually dropped until on December 17 there were only 6.
During the worst period, namely December 6 to 11 inclusive, 129
persons died, of whom 79 were males and 50 females.
Sex
There were 130 males and 98 females, giving a ratio of 133 males
to 100 females, which is considerably higher than the usual yearly ratio.
Thus in 1951 the ratio for the whole year was 106 to 100 and in 1950
108 to 100. For the two corresponding weeks of 1951 and 1950 together
the ratio was 104 males to 100 females. During the days (December
6 to 11 inclusive) when most deaths occurred there were, as mentioned
in the previous paragraph, 79 male deaths and 50 female deaths,
giving a ratio of 158 males to 100 females. This rather indicates that
the males were knocked out more quickly than the females.