Report on the air of Glasgow : with tables of wind, temperature, and rain-fall, for the month of July, 1877 / by E.M. Dixon in co-operation with the Medical Officer of Health.

  • Glasgow (Scotland). Sanitary Department.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the air of Glasgow : with tables of wind, temperature, and rain-fall, for the month of July, 1877 / by E.M. Dixon 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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    EXPLANATORY REMARKS. 'Pile iiccompauying Tables fall nuclei' two classes, one of them containing the Tables which state the average amounts of certain substances existing in 100 cubic feet of air at the places and during the times siiecitied, and the other containing Tables explanatory of the former, and referring either to the results of special investigations or to meteorological conditions existing during the times and at the places in cpiestion. Hegarding the results of analysis contained in the Tables of the first class, it is sufficient to state here that at each of the stations thei’ein mentioned the air is drawn by aspiration, and continuously for two or three* days in se\ eral distinct currents through as many distinct solutions, each of which is adaj^ted to withdrarv a special substance from the current of air which passes through it; that the amount of air which passes in each curri-nt is measured by means of a S[)ccial gas meter, through which that current subsequently passes; and that the amount of the sub.stance which is specially absorbed from each of the air currents is finally determined by a method sufficiently delicate for the estimation of quantities that in most cases w'ould be called “ traces.”'' The object of the Tables of the second class is, as ab'cady stated, to supply all the information that may be available, or that may appear to be necessary, for correctly interpreting the analytical resiilts in the Tables of the first class. The portion of these Tables relating to changes in the direction and velocity of the wind, and also that relating to the average temperature during the days to which each of the aiialytical results refei's, will continue to be supplied by Professor Grant of the Glasgow Observatory, from the results obtained there V)y self-i'ecording apparatus. As regards rain-fall, however, it has been arranged, in consequence of its marked effect upon the results liitherto obtained, that, from August 1, regular observations of rain-fall shall be made at each of the Stations for air-analysis, and that analysis of the rain falling in the o[)en country, and at two or moie points in the City, shall also be regularly made. Tlie Tables of the first class are numbered, and show the residts obtained with respect to the following- substances, viz.:— Table I.—Carbonic Acid. ,, IT.—Sulphur in combination. „ IIT.—Chlorine free and combined. „ IV.—-Nitrogen in the form of Ammonia. „ V.—Nitrogen in the form of “ Albumenoid Ammonia.” It is intended to j)ublish, as early as possible, a detailed account of the mechanical and chemical processes whereby these results are obtained. Meanwhile, it may be interesting to state that, smee the idea of employing a gas meter for measuring the amount of air submitted to examination occurred to me, I have found that hi 1848 the late Dr. Dundas Thomson, of Glasgow University, employed the same means for that purpose in his attempt to estimate the amount of ammonia in the air of a crowded part of the city during the cholera epidemic which then prevailed.