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
Edmonton 1959
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Edmonton]
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SUMMARY OF ANALYSES
| 1959 | Rainfall in inches | DEPOSIT IN TONS PER SQUARE MILE | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insoluble Deposits | Ash | Soluble Deposits | Total Solids | ||||||||||||
| (a) | (b) | (c) | (a) | (b) | (c) | (a) | (b) | (c) | (a) | (b) | (c) | (a) | (b) | (c) | |
| Jan. | 2.13 | 2.13 | 1.83 | 3.32 | 5.05 | 3.24 | 1.81 | 3.24 | 1.82 | 5.60 | 5.03 | 4.82 | 8.92 | 10.08 | 8.06 |
| Feb. | 0.06 | 0.04 | 0.05 | 6.73 | 9.53 | 5.13 | 4.02 | 4.66 | 3.05 | 6.58 | 5.00 | 5.27 | 13.31 | 14.53 | 10.40 |
| Mar. | 1.67 | 1.47 | 1.43 | 5.30 | 9.48 | 7.24 | 3.60 | 6.51 | 4.96 | 5.02 | 5.63 | 5.98 | 10.32 | 15.11 | 13.22 |
| Apr. | 2.12 | 2.21 | 2.20 | 4.92 | 8.22 | 5.36 | 2.21 | 5.73 | 3.60 | 5.41 | 6.13 | 5.41 | 10.33 | 14.35 | 10.72 |
| May. | 0.99 | 1.30 | 1.24 | 6.35 | 7.55 | 5.48 | 3.34 | 5.17 | 2.99 | 3.86 | 3.74 | 3.34 | 10.21 | 11.29 | 8.82 |
| June | 0.38 | 0.89 | 0.50 | 3.10 | 5.96 | 3.40 | 1.58 | 4.00 | 2.13 | 1.55 | 3.11 | 1.90 | 4.65 | 9.07 | 5.30 |
| July | 0.87 | 1.22 | 1.37 | 5.32 | 4.29 | 6.32 | 3.03 | 3.03 | 4.40 | 2.70 | 3.24 | 3.00 | 8.02 | 7.53 | 9.32 |
| Aug. | 0.96 | 1.00 | 0.76 | 6.70 | 4.29 | 3.00 | 3.30 | 2.72 | 1.85 | 3.92 | 3.06 | 2.84 | 10.62 | 7. 35 | 5.84 |
| Sep. | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 7.79 | 5.91 | 4.51 | 5.33 | 3.91 | 2.82 | 2.38 | 2.14 | 2.23 | 10.17 | 8.05 | 6.74 |
| Oct. | 1.68 | 2.00 | 1.37 | 4.78 | 7.41 | 5.74 | 3.04 | 4.90 | 3.87 | 2.71 | 6.15 | 5.93 | 7.49 | 13.56 | 11.67 |
| Nov. | 2.41 | 2.43 | 2.34 | 3.73 | 8.34 | 6.55 | 2.18 | 5.07 | 3.70 | 6.50 | 7.46 | 6.81 | 10.23 | 15.80 | 13.36 |
| Dec. | 3.46 | 3.28 | 2.99 | 4.90 | 7.35 | 5.99 | 2.31 | 3.99 | 2.75 | 7.44 | 14.78 | 6.26 | 12.34 | 22.13 | 11.55 |
(a) Site No.l St. David's Hospital.
(b) Site No.2 Town Hall
(c) Site No.3 Cuckoo Hall Lane School.
Deposit gauges do not accurately measure pollution of the air itself. It
is the dust and grit falling through the air that they record, and it tends therefore
to be pollution from factories and possibly railway locomotives that is mainly shown
in deposit gauge results.
There seems to be a decrease in the pollution caused by factories and
this impression is confirmed by the deposit gauge results.
A more accurate measure of air pollution is given by a volumetric filter
which measures smoke and sulphur dioxide in the air. Continuous flow of air is pumped
through the instrument and daily the sulphur dioxide is chemically measured and the
stain produced by smoke measured by means of a filter paper. Such a recorder was
installed at the Latymer School in May and the readings are shown below.
Smoke Filter - Latymer School
June 1959 - December 1959
| Month | Milligrams of Smoke per 100 cubic metres of air. Average daily value. | Parts of Sulphur dioxide per 100 m. parts of air. Average daily value. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June | 2.8 | 2.8 | ||
| July | 2.1 | 2.4 | ||
| August | 2.5 | 2.6 | ||
| September | 5.6 | 2.5 | ||
| October | 10.5 | 5.4 | ||
| November | 19.5 | 9.2 | ||
| December | 18.0 | 10.6 | ||
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