Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London, City of ]
This page requires JavaScript
14
cough—have advanced from 144 to 202. Some of
these diseases will doubtless occur under all circumstances,
but their malignity is much influenced by
external conditions ; and it is more than probable
that defective sanitary arrangements invite their
presence as well as favour their development.
The chief facts connected with the meteorology
of the quarter are classified in Table VI., and, as
usual, they have been deduced from the observations
at Guildhall, under the superintendence of
Mr. Haywood. The range of temperature has
been from 14.5 degrees of Fahrenheit to 85 degrees
; and the daily fluctuations of the thermometer
have been from 8 to 15 degrees. The greatest
cold was at the close of 1860, and the greatest
heat in August 1861. The average humidity of
the air has been from 83 to 84 degrees of saturation
; and the range for the year has been from 73
to 91 degrees of saturation. This is not above
the usual amount; nor has the amount of rain-fall
(19.85 inches) been above the average. In the
preceding year the rain-fall was 29 inches, and in
that of many years it has averaged 22 inches.
Lastly, with regard to the state of the river: the
soluble impurities have ranged from about 19 grains
in the gallon to 216 grains. The former proportion
was found in the month of October 1860, after a wet
autumn, and the latter in September 1861, after a
dry summer. The proportions of organic matter