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54
The man-made fog of December was no new phenomenon;
nor can it be regarded as a pestilence caused by an agent against
which we have no defence. It is merely a repetition of what the
medical officers of health of Manchester, Glasgow and other large
industrial cities have been reporting for generations; and is the
well-known result of certain well-defined meteorological conditions
in an area where the atmosphere becomes overloaded with poisonous
products of combustion to such an extent that the human air
passages are irritated until death or acute disability overtakes those
least able to withstand such irritation.
Man-made fog is in effect an epidemic illness whose cause is
known. It is therefore in great measure preventable, and should
be prevented. Can it be that we are now more pre-occupied with
the cure of disease rather than its prevention?
The following is a quotation from a medical journal—
"A few weeks earlier (than the fog) the Minister of Fuel and
Power introduced to the House of Commons, with favourable
emphasis, the Ridley Report, and at the same time made
available 'off the ration' small unwashed coal to the domestic
consumer. The National Coal Board promptly advised the
public by advertisement how to burn this smoky coal in the
smokiest possible way. Was there ever a greater fog over
Whitehall than on this problem of atmospheric pollution?"
These terrible fogs have a way of recurring all too frequently,
and it would be well if the disastrous nature of the most recent one
should lead to further investigation into all causes and effects.
Influenza
About the middle of January there were circulated reports of
widespread influenza prevalence on the continent of Europe, and
in America; and these reports were soon followed by news of large
numbers of cases in this country, especially in London and the
South of England.
I submit, hereunder in tabular form, figures showing the
effect of the influenza epidemic in Leyton in comparison with those
of the Registrar-General's "160 Great Towns (including London)",
which contain more than half the total population of England and
Wales, of which roughly one-fifth are contained in the area described
as "Greater London".