An inaugural address on some of the relations of meteorological phenomena to man : delivered before the Society of Medical Officers of Health, October, 1882 / by John W. Tripe.

  • Tripe, John William, 1821-1892.
Date:
[1882]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inaugural address on some of the relations of meteorological phenomena to man : delivered before the Society of Medical Officers of Health, October, 1882 / by John W. Tripe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    As regards Electricity, I found that when frequent indications o its existence were manifested, the comparative mortality from this disease, was below the rate for those months in which it was in ar almost passive condition. I therefore concluded, that an activt state of the electricity of the air, tended to diminish the spreading of scarlatina. The whole of these conclusions apply to London. In another paper, read before the Meteorological Society in 1859 and published in their report for 1859-61, I referred to the connectior between meteorological changes, and the mortality from inflamma- tory diseases of the lungs, diarrhoea, and phthisis, and, in a subse- quent paper published in 1862, which was read before the same Society, I gave the percentages of deaths from “all causes,’ “ inflammatory diseases of the lungs,” “ fever,” and “ diarrhoea,’ during the three years 1859-61. The following table gives a sum- mary of the results, and shows that the results then obtained correspond with those stated by later inquirers. Percentage of Deaths in the Metropolis, 1859-61. ' Mean Weekly Temperature. Below 35 deg. 35 to 40 deg. 40 to 45 deg. 45 to 50 deg. 50 to 55 deg. 55 to 60 dog. GO to 65 deg. 65 to 70 deg. 70 to 75 dog. Total. ('All Causes .... 14.2 H-9 H-3 9.8 9-3 8.9 9-7 II.O 13-9 IOO Respiratory Organs 25.8 17.8 14.8 II.9 8-3 <5-5 5-4 4-5 3-o IOO Fever 9.2 11-9 9-9 10.6 10.9 9.2 10.9 12.2 15-2 IOO Diarrhoea .... 1.4 i-7 1-5 i-5 3-i 5-8 13-4 27-3 44-3 IOO The statistical investigations, however, of Mr. Buchan and Dr. Mitchell, published in the Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society for 1877, show that, as regards scarlet fever, the curve for New York is entirely opposed to that for London. Thus, the lowest death-rate from this disease, happens in New York between the end of July and early in October, which corresponds with the period of rise and greatest mortality in London. Again, the curve for London falls in February, March, April, and part of .May, thus attaining its lowest point when the mortality is greatest in New York. We are therefore, driven to the conclusion, either that the same meteorological changes which appear to increase the disease in London decrease it in New York ; or that the mortality per cent, of