Investigating the use of clean air in treatments for infectious disease and the fight to legislate against air pollution through Lothian Health Services Archive collections: City of Edinburgh Public Health Department, Medical Officer of Health Reports (LHB16/2). Access these online here: https://edin.ac/3KWB0db Royal Victoria Dispensary, Hospital and Tuberculosis Trust (LHB41) Edinburgh Royal Victoria and Associated Hospitals Board of Management (LHB10) Edinburgh earned its moniker “Auld Reekie” from the veil of domestic smoke from its Old Town that obscured views of the city centre. Although the city was a pioneer in public health provision, it was not until the 1920s that city sanitary officials included the effects of this air pollution in its annual reports about Edinburgh’s health. However, when national legislation on smoke abatement from industry was passed in 1926, the Sanitary Department introduced a range of measures to curb the smoke cloud over the city, from monitoring rainfall for pollutants to factory visits and running evening classes for industrial workers on efficient use of fuel. The 1950s finally brought legislative control of smoke from household fires, including smokeless zones and smoke control areas under the 1956 Clean Air Act. These measures sat alongside a much earlier awareness of the benefits of clean air to health, particularly in infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, which flourished in areas of crowded, unventilated poor housing. From the 1880s, physician Robert Philip began what became known as the “Edinburgh Scheme”, an early “track and trace” scheme designed to reduce the spread of tuberculosis, including by sending sufferers to hospitals in the fresh country air to recuperate. This form of treatment for tuberculosis dominated until the introduction of treatment with antibiotics and mass screening slashed Edinburgh’s tuberculosis rate in the 1950s. Are there any parallels between the way that infectious disease is treated now and Robert Philip’s Edinburgh Scheme? How do we frame the importance of clean air to health in the present? What data was collected about air pollution in the early to mid-twentieth century? What prompted air pollution to be seen as a problem for society? Why were authorities so slow to act on domestic smoke? And what is seen as the main cause of air pollution today? The Lothian Health Services Archive (LHSA), based at the Centre for Research Collections in the University of Edinburgh’s Main Library, looks after the historically important records of NHS Lothian hospitals and other health-related material, dating from 1594 to the present day.Please contact LHSA directly if you wish to access these records or would like further information, lhsa@ed.ac.uk This article was published on Wednesday 17 June 2026
