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
City of London 1959
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London, City of ]
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TABLE III.—Results obtained in 1959 of the measurement of SULPHUB DIOXIDE by the volumetric and lead peroxide methods.
| Month | Rainfall collected in deposit gauge at Golden Lane | Police Stations | LEAD PEROXIDE METHOD | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equivalent to | Golden Lane | Bishops-gate | Cloak Lane | Snow Hill | Golden Lane | Finsbury Circus | ||
| Milli-metres | inches of rain | Monthly Average | Monthly Average | Monthly Average | Monthly Average | Mgs. (S.0.3) per day per 100 sq. cm. | ||
| Parts per 100 m. parts of air | ||||||||
| January | 49 | 1.93 | 23 | 28 | 26 | 24 | 6.34 | 5.24 |
| February | 1 | 0.04 | 22 | 26 | 28 | 25 | 6.06 | 5.19 |
| March | 40 | 1.58 | 11 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 3.56 | 3.26 |
| April | 32 | 1.27 | 10 | 42 | 13 | 13 | 3.16 | 2.38 |
| May | 20 | 0.79 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 2.14 | 1.38 |
| June | 33 | 1.31 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 1.85 | 1.24 |
| July | 38 | 1.51 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 1.73 | 1.08 |
| August | 101 | 3.96 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 1.99 | 1.00 |
| September | 2 | 0.09 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 2.13 | 1.24 |
| October | 40 | 1.59 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 3.76 | 2.36 |
| November | 59 | 2.31 | 16 | 20 | 16 | 15 | 4.70 | 3.37 |
| December | 72 | 2.83 | 13 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 4.10 | 3.09 |
| Averages: | ||||||||
| 1959 | 41 | 1.60 | 11 | 17 | 14 | 12 | 3.46 | 2.57 |
| 1958 | 62 | 2.44 | 10 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 3.10 | 2.66 |
| 1957 | 42 | 1.66 | 9 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 2.71 | 2.47 |
| 1956 | 44 | 1.74 | 10 | 15 | 12 | 13 | 2.69 | 2.42 |
| 1955 | 43 | 1.71 | 10 | 13(a) | 10(a) | 12(a) | 2.85 | 2.57 |
| 1954 | 47 | 1.80 | 11 | – | – | – | 2.54 | 2.60 |
| 1954-1958 | 48 | 1.87 | 10 | – | – | – | 2.78 | 2.54 |
(a) Measurements for 9 months of the year.
CLEAN AIR - SULPHUR POLLUTION
During the year the Port and City of London Health Committee gave considerable attention to
the question of the emission of sulphurous gases into the atmosphere and received reports from
the various Officers concerned. For record purposes the following report is included in the
Annual Report of your Medical Officer of Health. The question was still under consideration at
the end of the year.
TO THE WORSHIPFUL
THE PORT AND CITY OF LONDON HEALTH COMMITTEE
Gentlemen,
CLEAN AIR - SULPHUR POLLUTION
At your meeting on the 4th March last you further considered the proposal in the Motion of
Mr. Stanley E. Cohen relating to the emission of sulphurous gases into the atmosphere. You then
instructed Mr. Engineer, the Medical Officer and myself to report upon the possibility of obtaining
powers to control such emission, and further authorised us in our discretion to obtain advice from
appropriate experts.
2. This problem has been exhaustively examined by us, and the views of a great number of
scientific and medical experts have been reviewed during the course of our considerations. Mr.
Engineer considered that as technical progress was fully reported to date, there appeared to be
no point in engaging a further consultant in his field, but the Medical Officer submitted his conclusions
to Dr. Charles Fletcher, C.B.E., (Cambridge and St. Bartholomew's) Senior Lecturer in
Medicine at the British Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith, lately Director of the
Pneumoconiosis Research Unit, Medical Research Council. Dr. Fletcher considered that the
summary of the Medical Officer, in the light of present medical knowledge, was admirable, and
had no further constructive comments to make. He further pointed out that Dr. Daly, working in
Dr. J.N. Morris's Social Medicine Research Unit, make some studies of bronchitis mortality in
county boroughs, and showed a closer correlation with domestic rather than with power station
coal consumption, and since power stations are the greater producers of sulphur, it was taken as
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