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 1955
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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must tend to reduce maintenance costs appreciably. It is important that this liaison with
user departments should be encouraged for the use of unsuitable materials can cause,
in the future, considerable replacement costs and frequently only by scientific appraisal
can thev be known to be unsuitable.
The following sections of this report deal in greater detail with many aspects of the work done and the following table summarises the number of samples examined.
| Air—tunnels | 260 |
| Air—miscellaneous | 3 |
| Bacteriological, miscellaneous | 75 |
| Building materials | 483 |
| Chemicals, drugs and medical supplies | 74 |
| Clay, sub-soils and borehole waters | 1,763 |
| Detergents and soaps | 127 |
| Disinfectants | 8 |
| Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs | 99 |
| Fire extinguishers | 3 |
| Floor oils | 64 |
| Fuel (coal and coke) | 41 |
| Foods | 466 |
| Gases:— | |
| Degreasing and rubber spreading works | 8 |
| Flue | 48 |
| Sludge digestion plant | 416 |
| Grit (from Power Stations) | 4 |
| Insecticides | 7 |
| Instrument sets (ambulance) for sterilisation | 31 |
| Insulating materials for hot water systems | 18 |
| Lamps, gas detector | 376 |
| Laundry tests | 31 |
| Liquor (effluent from Beckton Gas Works) | 358 |
| Meals | 76 |
| Metals (various) | 47 |
| Milk, liquid | 53 |
| Milk, condensed and powdered | 13 |
| Miscellaneous | 100 |
| Oils, lubricating and fuel, etc | 75 |
| Paints, varnishes and distempers | 1,608 |
| Petroleum and allied samples | 69 |
| Plastics | 75 |
| Rain-water (atmospheric pollution deposit gauges) | 84 |
| Rubber and rubber substitutes | 11 |
| Scale from boilers, etc. | 1 |
| Scouring powders and lavatory cleaners | 13 |
| Sewage and effluent | 1,783 |
| Sludge, primary and digested | 2,595 |
| Sludge, activated | 1,927 |
| Smoke in air, determinations | 3,364 |
| Sulphur gases in air, determinations :— | |
| Lead peroxide cylinder method | 128 |
| Volumetric method | 3,378 |
| Water, etc., from steam raising plants | 1,320 |
| Water, drinking, chemical | 59 |
| Water, drinking, free chlorine tests | 516 |
| Water, drinking, bacteriological | 571 |
| Water, swimming bath, chemical | 324 |
| Water, swimming bath, free chlorine tests | 369 |
| Water, swimming bath, bacteriological | 473 |
| Water, river, chemical | 3,293 |
| Water, river, bacteriological | 311 |
| Water, miscellaneous | 40 |
| Trade effluents | 1,238 |
| Research and investigation samples at Northern and Southern Outfall Works | 1,658 |
| 30,335 | |
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