Doncaster Microscopical and General Scientific Society
A meeting of the above society was held on Wednesday evening, the 14th inst.,m the Rev. Canon Brock (president) in the chair.
Nineteen members were present.
Messrs. P. Thelluson and S. R. Somerville were elected members of the society.
Dr. J. Mitchell Wilson read a paper on “Climate & Disease.”
After giving several definitions of climate, the effects of the sun in heating the earth’s surface, and from that the atmosphere, were noticed, and the different powers of land and sea to absorb and to retain the heat of the sun’s rays were compared.
The great power of the sea as a carrier of heat was explained by the action of the well-known Gulf Stream, and its effects upon the climates of the British Islands; e.g. it was shown by a map that the isothermal lines (or lines of equal temperature) of 40 deg & of 50 deg F. are carried in these islands several degrees further north than on the European continent or in America.
The origin & cause of the precipitation of rain and vapor were next explained, and a map coloured according to the local rainfall in the whole of Great Britain & Ireland, kindly lent by Mr. Symons, was exhibited. The action of wind as a carrier of heat and moisture or of cold air and its power in producing fogs was mentioned, along with the influence of lessened barometric pressure in the climate of high altitudes.
Of the local climatic observations Messrs. B. S. Blundell, W. Clark, and Haworth, had kindly given Dr. Wilson some interesting facts of the rainfall, temperature etc. in Doncaster and neighborhood.
A short reference was also made to the power engineering works have had in altering some climatic conditions and thereby lessening the extent of such diseases as phthisis and ague. It was pointed out that the particulars of the rainfall, temperature, actual moisture present in the air, the direction & velocity of the wind, with other observations, are wanted before a satisfactory answer can be given to the query – what is the climate of any district, and that many important towns are yet without these complete observations.
An interesting discussion followed, after which a vote of thanks was proposed to Dr. Wilson for his highly instructive and suggestive paper.
[Doncaster Gazette, 23 December 1881]