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8
METEREOLOGY OF GREENWICH IN 1868.
The mean air temperature of the year was 51°.6 Fahrenheit, or three
degrees above the average. The air was unusually dry; yet the great rains
at the beginning and the end of the year increased the rain-fall to 25.28
inches, which is nearly the average for Greenwich.
The wind moved at a mean velocity of 12.2 miles an hour, the average
of several years being 10.8 an hour; thus there was an usually great
horizontal movement of the air during the year.
The weather was cold during the first eleven days of the year. On
January 12th, the temperature increased and passed above the average.
February and March were warm both by day and night; the former month
remarkably so, the weather being more like that of spring than of winter.
April was warm, so also were May and June, and in July and August the
heat was almost tropical. A very long period of warm weather thus prevailed
from January 12th to September 80th. On the 1st of October the
weather changed, and throughout the month, and also that of November,
the temperature of the air, with the exception of a few slightly warm days,
was generally below the average for the season. During December the
weather was again unusually warm, the temperature being as much as 5'5°
above the average of fifty years.
REPORT ON THE GAS SUPPLY DURING THE YEAR 1868.
The average illuminating power of the Gas during the whole year was
14.2 standard sperm candles. The mean of the monthly maximum results
was 15.4, and the mean of the monthly minimum results was 12.8 candles.
The highest illuminating power observed was 16.1, and the lowest 12.8
candles. An illuminating power of 12 candles is required by the Gas Act,
1860. The amount of sulphur in the Gas varied from 18.4 to 26.8 grains
per 100 cubic feet; 20 grains being the legal maximum. Sulphuretted
hydrogen was never present. Ammonia was usually present.
The whole of the provisions of the "Workshop Regulation Act, 1867,"
only came into force at the commencement of the current year. No procedure
under this statute took place in 1868 in St. Pancras, it having been
resolved to defer acting upon it until the new Medical Officer of Health
should be appointed. I have reason to believe that considerable duties will
be entailed upon the Sanitary Department in carrying out this Act of
Parliament.
The "Sanitary Act, 1868," provides that Dry Earth Closets may,
with the sanction of the Local Authority, be substituted in lieu of Water
Closets where the latter are inapplicable. No permission for such substitution
has yet been asked in this parish.
May 10th, 1869.
THOMAS STEVENSON, M.D.,
Medical Officer of Health.