Atmospheric pollution in Leicester : a scientific survey.

  • Great Britain. Atmospheric Pollution Research Board.
Date:
1945
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Atmospheric pollution in Leicester : a scientific survey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/178 page 1
    APTMOSPHE RIC POLeEUTION IN VLEICESTER PC BN eee oy EY 1:0 INTRODUCTION 1-1 ORGANIZATION During the three years 1937-9, three officers of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research were engaged full-time in making systematic observa- tions of atmospheric pollution in the City of Leicester with the full co-operation of the City Authorities. The object was not only to obtain information about the distribution and dispersal of atmospheric pollution which would be peculiar to Leicester, but to secure new basic knowledge about atmospheric pollution which would be of more general application. The present report is an account of the results of this work and of the conclusions, whether of special or general application, which may be drawn from them. The Leicester Survey was planned and supervised by the Atmospheric Pollution Research Committee of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, but the cost of the Survey was partly met out of a fund accumulated | from subscriptions of a number of municipal, industrial, and other bodies which associated themselves with the Department in a study of atmospheric pollution. The Atmospheric Pollution Research Committee wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to the Leicester City Council, and particularly to the officers of the City of Leicester Public Health Department, for their very substantial help in organizing and carrying out the survey. In addition to providing office and laboratory accommodation, the Leicester authorities provided accommodation for 12 of the 17 observing stations, and maintained observations at one of them. Most important of all was the City Health Committee’s decision to set up and maintain a fully equipped climatological station at their City General Hospital. The Atmospheric Pollution Research Committee are also deeply grateful to the Visiting Committee of the City Mental Hospital, Leicester, the Principal of University College, Leicester, and the President of the Leicester and County Saturday Hospital Society for providing accommodation for observing stations and assistance in taking observations; also to Mr. J. E. White, proprietor of the Glen Gorse Golf Club, and to the Council of Scraptoft Golf Club, for provid- ing accommodation for observing stations. Their thanks are also due to Mr. E. W. Jackson and Messrs. Pattinson and Stead, of Middlesbrough, for the gift of an apparatus for taking hourly samples of sulphur dioxide, and for permission to publish a description of the apparatus. 1°2 PURPOSE The removal or, better still, the prevention of atmospheric pollution is part of the general problem of living healthily and happily in communities, because the quality of the air we breathe is just as important as the purity of our food and water. To solve this problem, the nature and behaviour of atmospheric pollution must first be understood. In spite of the systematic observations and special researches made in recent years, little was known about the distribution of atmospheri¢ pollution in towns, or about its persistence or dispersal, and
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3