Report on the air of Glasgow, chiefly relative to enclosed spaces and smoke / by Wm. J. Dunnachie in co-operation with the Medical Officer of Health.

  • Glasgow (Scotland). Sanitary Department.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the air of Glasgow, chiefly relative to enclosed spaces and smoke / by Wm. J. Dunnachie in co-operation with the Medical Officer of Health. 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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    inclined to accept of the former theory, and, if it be the true one, I think it would be obviously erroneous to look upon decomposing organic matter as being, under the circumstances, capable of producing the effects above referred to, and I see no other source except smoke adequate to do so. In judging of the healthfulness of any particular town or locality by the quantities of ammonia and albuminoid ammonia contained in the air, great care must be exercised and hasty conclusions avoided, as the physiological effects of these compounds, or rather of their accompaniments, depend entirely upon the origin of such compounds, and that locality or town which shows the smallest percentage of such atmospheric impurity, may nevertheless be the most dangerous to health. It does not therefore follow that because less ammonia was found in the square than the street, the latter would be less conducive to health than the former, as it is highly probable that the great proportion of that found in the courts is due to the decomposi- tion of organic matters, chiefly of animal origin, and, in consequence, may be accompanied by the germs of disease. Referring again to the Tables in the Appendix we find that the sulphur compounds predominate in street air. This fact confirms our opinions regarding the chief source of the ammoniacal salts and undecom- posed organic matter found in street air. Lastly, it will have been observed that the carbonic acid is in excess in the court compared with the street, due, I believe, to the fact that the apartments, the windows of which open into the court, consist almost entirely of bedrooms and kitchens, and constitute the principal living rooms of the inhabitants Add to this the quantity of carbonic acid produced by external decompositions, and view the whole in the light of the fact that the atmospheric renewal is much less than in the open street, and the result does not at all appear strange. WILLIAM J. DUNNACHIE. 1 Montrose Street, February, 1879. DESCRIPTION OF THE “ STATIONS ” REFERRED TO IN THE TABLES. The results given in Table II. were obtained at Claremont Street and an adjoining Court, which is bounded by properties in Kent Road on the north, Breadalbane Street on the east, Dover Street on the south, and Claremont Street on the west. This is bv no means a bad specimen of the “hollow square,” as the occupants of the houses are almost entirely such as belong to the respectable working-class. The erections within this enclosure consist of four washing-houses, four dry ash-pits and a number of coal-cellars. The height of the stations above ground level was at the front about 20 feet, and at the back 30 feet, the court being sunk about 10 feet below the street level. Table III. A contains the results obtained at North Street, and a “cul-de-sac” bounded by properties in Richard Street on the north, Cadzow Street on the east, West Bothwell Street on the south, and North Street on the west. The first two samples were obtained from the south-east corner of the square, and the remaining two from the north-west, which is partially occupied by coal-cellars, washing-houses, ash-pits, and privy. The occupants of the surrounding houses belong to the labouring class. The height of the stations was at the front about 10 feet, and at the back about 6 feet. Table III. B contains a few results obtained at Pollok Street and a neighbouring court, or rather series of courts, bounded by properties in Paisley Road on the north, South Kinning Place on the east, Houston Street on the south, and Pollok Street on the west. It would be somewhat misleading to designate this enclosure a “hollow square,” as within it have been erected three separate blocks of dwelling-houses, a bakery, and large stable, together with cellars, ash-pits, and privies. Admission to the west side of this enclosure is had by means of a wide “close,” through which a strong current of air from Pollok Street prevailed during our observations. I placed one of the cases of absorbers in this current, and another about the middle of the space between the first row of the enclosed tenements and the properties fronting to Pollok Street. The