Weather of 1911 in Relation to Health. 201 



Weather of 1911 in Relation to Health. By Dr J. Maxwell 



Ross. 



The following notes are compiled from the returns of four 

 meteorological stations in the county, viz., Eskdalemuir 778 feet, 

 Drumlanrig 191 feet, Dumfries 155 feet, and Comlongon 74 feet 

 above sea level, and from the returns made by registrars of births, 

 deaths, and marriages. It may be most convenient to present 

 them under the heads of each month. 



January. — During this month the conditions were mild with 

 high barometer, high mean temperature, low rainfall, and winds 

 chiefly from south-west. A violent westerly gale was experienced 

 on the 10th and 11th with heavy falls of rain, sleet, and snow, 

 but the weather thereafter almost to the end of the month was 

 extremely mild, like the Januaries of 1898 and 1906. The 

 average of the barometer readings at the four stations was 29.916 

 inches; the average mean temperature 38.8 degs. F., the humidity 

 90 per cent., the rainfall 2.56 inches, the average number of wet 

 days being 17. The total number of deaths recorded in the 

 County Landward and six Burghs was 70, giving a rate of 14.520 

 per 1000. The average death-rate of this month during the ten 

 previous years being 18.384, the " expected " deaths may be 

 stated at 88, or 18 more than the actual number. The chief 

 causes of death were the circulatory diseases, pneumonia, 

 phthisis, and cerebral ha;morrhage. This was one of two 

 months, October being the other, when the phthisis mortality was 

 at its highest for the year. Among the notifiable diseases scarlet 

 fever was the most prominent, none of the others appearing in 

 the list. Thirty-one cases, a much greater number than usual, 

 came under observation, and these were fairly scattered over the 

 county. 



February showed two definite types of weather, the first half 

 of the month being characterised by anti-cyclonic conditions with 

 high barometer, low mean temperature, and low rainfall ; the 

 second half by storms of wind and rain, low barometer, high 

 mean temperature, and high rainfall, this being to such an extent 

 that the total fall for the month was considerably in excess of 

 the average. Winds during this period were chiefly from south- 

 west, and frequently reached the force of a gale. The average 

 of the barometric readings was 29.694 inches; the average mean 



