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
Kensington 1883
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
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sand, whilst others are sinking deep.wells in the chalk. Unfortunately
the protection which is provided by the common law to rivers is at present
denied to subterranean waters, which may be polluted to any
extent without remedy. Such sources of pure water should be carefully
protected by law.
A marked and undeniable advantage of spring water is its evenness of temperature.
The range of temperature of river waters is considerable, and
last year in the water of the Thames, as delivered by five of the Companies,
it amounted to 340.0 Fahr., viz., from 370.6 in March to 710.6 in July.
The deep.well water sent out by the Kent Company varied in temperature
from 380.l in March to 590.9 in June (range 210.8). The deep.well waters
remain of an agreeable coolness in summer when the river waters become
warm and unpalatable.
The transparency or otherwise of water is ascertained by its appearance in a tube two feet in length, and is expressed in arbitrary terms settled by common agreement, as in the following table, which shows the degree of efficiency of filtration of Thames water as supplied by the Companies in this parish, and a great improvement over former years, the examinations being made monthly :—
| Number of Occasions. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name of Company | When clear and transparent. | When slightly turbid. | When turbid. | When very turbid. |
| Chelsea | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| West Middlesex | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Grand Junction | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
The deep.well waters were clear and transparent on every occasion save one.
When examined under the microscope the sediment deposited by turbid
water, on standing, is generally found to contain living and moving
organisms. The occurrence of such organisms is now much rarer than
formerly. The annexed table shows the results of such microscopic examinations during the past fourteen years:—
| Name of Company | Number of occasions when living organisms were found. | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1869 | 1870 | 1871 | 1872 | 1873 | 1874 | 1875 | 1876 | 1877 | 1878 1879 | 1880 | 1881 | 1882 | 1883 | |
| Chelsea | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| West Middlesex | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Grand Junction | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | |
The subjoined table shows the annual averages of each determination, and
thus summarises the average results of the analysis of the waters supplied
by the local Companies during the year; the Kent Company's
water being taken as a standard for comparison. The numbers in this
table relate to 100,000 parts of the waters, but may be converted into
grains per imperial gallon by multiplying them by 7 and then moving the
decimal point one place to the left.