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
Southall-Norwood 1935
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southall-Norwood]
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During the period of the experiment day-to-day records were made of the
wind direction in the hope that this would act as an indicator of the source of
any atmospheric pollution which might be found to occur.
The following table shows the grouped results obtained. In the table,
cylinders 1—8 refer to the positions in which the cylinders were placed. These
were as follows:—
1. Manor House grounds.
2. A back garden on the south side of Beaconsfield Road.
3 and 4. Near the centre of the unbuilt-on space in the gas-works
ground in line with a projection of Townsend Road.
5. Immediately north of the railway embankment near the
south-west corner of the area.
6, 7 and 8. In a wide arc going from a space between Gas Works
Road and Grange Road (6) to near the position of cylinder 2 (8).
| Direction of wind | Percentage time in a given direction | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Highest | Averages | ||
| November-February | March-July | ||
| n. | 12.1 (April) | 7.3 | 7.5 |
| n.e. | 52.0 (May) | 12.6 | 14.5 |
| e. | 25.8 (March) | 7.1 | 19.4 |
| s.e. | 20.1 (December) | 5.6 | 4.6 |
| s. | 22.4 (November) | 12.2 | 9.8 |
| S.W. | 45.1 (February) | 30.1 | 27.0 |
| W. | 17.0 (April) | 13.4 | 12.2 |
| N.W. | 18.6 (January) | 9.4 | 4.6 |
| Fog | 8.9 (November) | 2.1 | — |
| Cylinder position Milligrammes of Sulphur Trioxide calculated to 30 days | |||
| 1 | 74.2 (November) | 58.1 | Discontinued |
| 2 | 90.6 (December) | 71.9 | 49.8 |
| 3 | 107.7 (February) | 92.3 | Discontinued |
| 4 | 110.2 (February) | 92.9 | Discontinued |
| 5 | 107.5 (May) | 79.3 | 75.1 |
| 6 | 86.2 (March) | Not used | 62.2 |
| 7 | 77.5 (March) | Not used | 56.4 |
| 8 | 96.4 (June) | Not used | 67.3 |
In assessing the results obtained it is necessary to have regard to
corresponding figures for various parts of the country. In this connection a
passage from a report from Mr. W. A. Damon, Chief Inspector of Alkali, etc.,
Works, may be quoted:—
".... the results .... cannot be considered to be high. It is, of
course, idle to pretend that emissions from the two works under review do not
increase the sulphur content of the air in the locality but, by plotting the daily
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