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
London County Council 1906
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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"January 30. A very fine cold crisp day, clear, with wind N.N.E. outside. Dry bulb, 43 deg. F. Wet bulb, 39 deg. F. Humidity, 71%. Carbon dioxide in outer air, 3.5.
| Time. | Outside air temperature. | Inside air temperature. | Humidity. | Outside C02 | Inside. CO. | Work done by boys. | Number of persons. | Remarks. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry. | Wet. | Dry. | Wet. | |||||||
| 2 | 40.5°F | 36°F. | 56 | 48 | 56 | 4 | 5 | Copy off board. | 24 boys.- | Boys do not feel cold and work well. |
| 2.15 | 66 rel. | =RH. hum. | 57 | 48 | 53 | 7 | History & geography | 2 adults | Attention good. | |
| 2.30 | 57 | 48 | 53 | 9 | ||||||
| 2.45 | 40.5 | 36 | 57 | 49.5 | 59 | 4 | 9 | History & geography | ||
| 3 | Singing. | |||||||||
| 3.15 | 57 | 49.5 | 59 | 9 | ||||||
| 3.30 | 39.5 | 35 | 57 | 48 | 53 | 9 | Geometry. | Interval 3.30 3.40. | ||
| 3.45 | 7 | |||||||||
| 4 | 57 | 48.5 | 55 | 3 5 | 8 | |||||
| 4 15 | 39 | 34.5 | 9 | |||||||
| 4 30 | 57 | 48 | 9 | |||||||
| 4 45 | 57 | 48 | 9 | |||||||
| 5.0 | 57 | 48.5 | 9 | |||||||
| Ave rages | 57 | 48.5 | 55 | 8 | ||||||
Master's Remarks. Room cool-boys bright and very attentive. They worked well. Some very good
work done by the boys without any great demand on the teacher's energy.
Result of mental tests—20 simple multiplication sums thus, 8 x 7 x 6=336.
Test I. Boys 18. Sums right 305. Sums wrong 29. Omitted 26.
Test 11. Boys 18. Sums right 345. Sums wrong 15. Omitted 0.
Summary of tests:-
| Sums omitted. | Sums wrong. | Sums right. | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | ||
| Test I.- Boys | 2 | 2 | — | 2 | — | 2 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| Test II.- Boys | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4 | 7 | 7 |
Percentage Right 84.7
Wrong 8.05
Omitted 7.2
100
Right 95.9
Wrong 4.1
Omitted 0.0
100
An improvement in
Rights 11.2
Wrongs 4.0
Omissions 7.2
Summary. Temperature, dry bulb 56-57. Average 57.
Wet bulb 48-49.5. Average 48.5
Rel. Humidity 53-59. Average 55.
CO2. content 5-9 vols. Average 8.0.
No pollution of air. Normal ventilation. No fan used in room.
Object to prevent pollution of air
Keep a low air temperature, low relative humidity, usual ventilation.
Results. 1. Subjective symptoms, nil.
2. Objective, nil.
3. No human or school smell.
4. Master's report boys bright all afternoon, good work done.
5. Result of tests. Improvement of Test II. over I=22.4 %
Under normal conditions of atmosphere, the usual school fatigue at the end of two hours has
improved the boys' mental capacity. The results of the various observations are summarized in tabular
form. -See pages 64 and 65.