. lugust 7, 1884] 



NA TURE 



353 



quency. There are, however, in this country known relations 

 between the temperature and, I may say, almost all diseases. 

 As far back as 1S47 I began a series of elaborate investigations 

 on the mortality from scarlet fever at different periods of the 

 year, and the relations between this disease and the heat, mois- 

 ture, and electricity of the air. I then showed that a mean 

 monthly temperature below 44° "6 F. was adverse to the spread 

 of this disease, that the greatest relative decrease took place 

 when the mean temperature was below 40 , and that the greatest 

 number of deaths occurred in the months having a mean temper- 

 ature of between 45 and 57" F. Diseases of the lungs, ex- 

 cluding consumption, are fatal in proportion to the lowness of 

 the temperature and the presence of excess of moisture and fog. 

 Thus, in January 1SS2 the mean weekly temperature fell from 

 43 0- 9 F. in the second week to 36°'2 in the third, with fog and 

 mist. The number of deaths registered in London during the 

 third week, which may be taken as corresponding with the 

 meteorological conditions of the second week, was 1700, and in 

 the next week 1971. Unusual cold, with frequent fogs and little 

 sunshine, continued for four weeks, the weekly number of deaths 

 rising from 1700 to 1971, 2023, 2632, and 21S8. The deaths 

 from acute diseases of the lungs in these weeks were respectively 

 279, 481, 566, SSi, and 689, showing that a large proportion of 

 the excessive mortality was caused by these diseases. At the 

 end of November and in December of the same year there was 

 a rapid fall of temperature, when the number of deaths from 

 acute diseases of the lungs rose from 297 to 358, 350, 3S7, 541, 

 553, and 389 in the respective weeks. From November 29 to 

 Decembei 9 the sun was seen only on two days for 4! hours, 

 and from December 9 to the 18th also on two other days for 

 less than 1 hours, making the total amount of sunshine 8"I 

 hours only in 20 days. In January and February the excess of 

 weekly mortality from all diseases reached the large number of 

 504 deaths ; in December it was less, the fogs not having been 

 31 1 dense, but the excess equalled 246 deaths per week. 



The relations between a high summer temperature and exces- 

 sive mortality from diarrhoea have long been well known, but 

 the immediate cause of the disease as an epidemic is not known. 

 Summer diarrhoea prevails to a greater extent in certain localities, 

 notably in Leicester (and has done so for years) ; and the cause 

 has been carefully sought for, but has not been found out. Recent 

 researches, however, point to a kind of bacillus as the immediate 

 cause, as it has been found in the air of water-closets, in the traps 

 under the pans, and in the discharges from infants and young 

 children. In order to indicate more readily how intimately the 

 mentality from diarrhoea depends on temperature, I now lay 

 before you a table showing the mean temperature for ten weeks 

 in summer, of seven cold and hot summers, the temperature of 

 Thames water, and the death-rates of infants under one year per 

 million population of London : — 



London. Deaths under I Year, in July, August, and part of 

 September, from Diarrhoea per 1,000,000 Population Living 

 at all Ages, arranged in the Order of Mortality 



As may be seen, the deaths of infants under 1 year of age 

 from diarrhoea per 1,000,000 population was only 151 ; whilst 

 the mean summer temperature was only 58°'I F. against 1S9 in 

 1862, when the mean temperature was 59°'°- ln '879, when 

 the mean temperature was 5S7. the deaths from diarrhoea rose 

 to 228 per million, but a few days were unusually hot. In 1S77 

 the mean temperature of the air was 6i J "2, of the Thames water 

 63°'3, and the mortality^ infants from diarrhoea 347 per million 

 population. In 1874, when the mean temperature of the air 

 was 6l°7, the mortality rose to 447 per million ; and in the hot 

 summers of 1S7S and 1876, when the mean air temperatures 

 were 64° - l and 6^ = '9 respectively, the death-rates of infants were 

 576 and 642 per million population. The relations, therefore, 

 between a high summer temperature and the mortality from 

 diarrhoea in infants are very intimate. I have selected the 



mortality amongst infants in preference to that at all ages, as the 

 deaths occur more quickly, and because young Children suffer in 

 greater proportion than other persons. 



The proportionate number of deaths at aliases from diarrhoea 

 corresponds pretty closely with those of infants. To prove this, 

 I made calculations for three years, and ascertained that only 

 3 '9 per cent, of all the deaths from this disease were registered 

 in the weeks having a temperature of less than 50° ; 1 1 '9 per 

 cent, in the weeks having a temperature between 50° and 6o°, 

 whilst in the comparatively few weeks in which the temperature 

 exceeded 6o° F., as many as 84^2 per cent, of the total number of 

 deaths was registered. In the sixteen years, 1S40-56, for which 

 many years ago I made a special inquiry, only 1 8 "9 per cent, of 

 all the deaths from diarrhoea occurred in winter and spring, 

 against Si "I per cent, in summer and autumn. In the twenty 

 years, 1S60-79, there were seven years in which the summer 

 temperature was in defect when the mortality per 100,000 in- 

 habitants of London was 200 ; whilst in ten summers, during 

 which the temperature was in excess by 2' or less, the mortality 

 was 317 per 100,000. The mean temperature was largely in 

 excess, that is to say, more than 2° plus in three of these summers, 

 when the mortality reached 339 per 100,000 inhabitants. These 

 figures show that great care should be taken in hot weather to pre- 

 vent diarrhoea, especially amongst young children ; by frequent 

 washing with soap and water to ensure cleanliness, and 

 proper action of the skin ; by great attention to the food, 

 especially of infants fed from the bottle ; free ventilation 

 of living rooms, and especially of bedrooms ; and by protection, 

 as far as possible, being afforded from a hot sun, as well as by 

 avoiding excessive exercise. All animal and vegetable matter 

 should be removed from the vicinity of dwelling-houses as 

 quickly as possible (indeed these should be burnt instead of being 

 put in the dust-bin), the drains should be frequently disinfected 

 and well flushed out, especially when the mean daily temperature 

 of the air is above 6o° F. 



Time will not admit of more than a mere mention of the 

 relations between meteorological phenomena and the mortality 

 from many other diseases and affections, such as apoplexy from 

 heat, sunstroke, liver diseases, yellow fever, cholera, whooping- 

 cough, measles, &c. , especially as the state of our knowledge on 

 the subject is so very limited. A comparison between the 

 mortality from several diseases in this and other countries shows 

 that certain of these do not prevail under closely corresponding 

 conditions. Thus the curves of mortality from whooping-cough, 

 typhoid fever, and scarlet fever, do not correspond with the 

 curves of temperature in both London and New York, and the 

 same may be said of diarrhoea in India. It is therefore evident 

 that some other cause or causes than a varying temperature must 

 be concerned in the production of an increased death-rate from 

 these diseases. The subject is of great importance, and I do 

 not despair of our obtaining some day a knowledge of the agents 

 through which meteorological phenomena act in the production 

 of increased and decreased death-rates from certain diseases, and 

 the means by which, to a certain extent, these injurious effects on 

 man be prevented. 



Mr. R. H. Scott, F.R.S., read a paper on "The Equinoctial 

 Gales — do they occur in the British Isles ? " Most scientific 

 meteorologists, Mr. Scott stated, are disposed to give up, almost 

 in despair, the idea of eradicating from the popular mind the 

 belief in the influence of the moon on the weather. There is, 

 however, another belief, not quite so widely spread, but still 

 very generally accepted, which attributes to the equinoxes a 

 peculiarly stormy character. Over and over again have I heard 

 the remark that it would be well for those proposing to take a 

 voyage to wait until the equinoctial gales were over. It has 

 struck me, therefore, that as we have had for several years past a 

 regular system of storm warnings, it might be of interest to 

 ascertain if the record of these warnings, and of the storms 

 with which they were connected, exhibited any maximum of 

 storm frequency about the equinoxes. 



The period I have taken has been that of the fourteen years 

 beginning with the spring of 1870, and I have commenced with 

 the spring in order to include the past winter, that of 1S83-4. 

 With the year 1870, the systematic checking of storm warnings 

 was commenced on the demand of the late Colonel Sykes. The 

 results were published as " Parliamentary Papers" for the first 

 seven years, and subsequently the returns have been regularly 

 prepared in the Meteorological Office, though only the summary 

 of results has appeared in the Annual Reports. As these 

 returns give not only the storms for which warnings were issued 



