Doncaster Microscopical and General Scientific Society.

A meeting of the above society was held on Wednesday evening, the 14th inst., the Rev, Canin Brock (President) in the chair. Nineteen members were present. Messrs. P. Thellusson and S. E. Somerville were elected members of the Society. Dr. J. Mitchell Wilson read a paper on “Climate and Disease.”

After giving several definitions of climate, the effects of the sum 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 range 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 Isles; e.g. It was shown by a map that the isothermal lines (or lines of temperature) of 40 degrees and of 50 degrees Fahrenheit are carried in these Islands several degrees farther north than on the European continent or in America.

The origin and cause of the precipitation of rain and vapour were next explained, and a map coloured according to rainfall in the whole of Great Britain and Ireland, kindly lent by Mr. Symonds, was exhibited. The action 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 climate observations, Messrs. B. S. Brundell, W. Clark, and Howorth had kindly given Dr. Wilson some interesting facts of the rainfall, temperature, etc., in Doncaster and neighbourhood.

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 particulars of the rainfall, temperature, actual moisture present in the air, the direction and 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.

This meeting was held on the 14 December 1881