LONDON, England, the largest city in the world, the capital of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of the British Empire, situated on both banks of the Thames River, about 40 miles from its mouth, the latitude and longitude of Saint Paul's Cathedral being respectively 51° 30' 48" N. and 0° 5' 48" W. Modern London consists of the city of London as the nucleus, and the occupied sur rounding parts of about 120 square miles taken from the counties of Middlesex, Surrey and Kent. In 1855 the Metropolis Management Act was passed, defining for sanitary purposes, out side the nucleate city of London with 675 acres, 85 parishes, the whole, including the city, cover ing an area of 75,379 acres, 31,422 acres being the county of Middlesex, 23,893 acres in Sur rey and 20,064 acres in Kent. By the Local Government Act of 1888 this area was consti tuted the administrative county of London. In 1899, by the London Government Act of that year, the boundaries of the county were slightly altered, and the whole, with the exception of the city of London, was divided into 28 metro politan boroughs, including the city of West minster. The area of the administrative county is now 74,816 acres, including 31,652 acres formerly in Middlesex, 23,100 formerly in Sur rey and 20,064 formerly in Kent. See Lortim Courcry COUNCIL.
Table of the metropolitan boroughs, with their acreage and population in 1901 and The name London is therefore legally and properly applicable to the entire area within the county boundaries. But outside the county limits the urban aggregation extends, with numerous large and connected towns, to 15 miles around Charing Cross. These are em braced in the boundaries of the metropolitan and city police districts and constitute Greater London, bringing the total area to 443,424 acres with a population (1901) 6,581,402, (1911) 7, 251,358; estimate of 1914, 7,419,704.
London is one of the healthiest of the large cities of Europe. The death rate per 1,000 living in 1841-50 was 24.8; 1851-60, 23.7; 1861-70, 24.4; 1871-80, 22.5 ; 1881-90, 20.5; 1891-1900, 19.1. The death rate for 1914 was 15 per 1,000, and the birth rate 24.8 per 1,000. The mean annual temperature is about 50° and the general range of the thermometer is from 20° to 81°; the highest• and lowest markings being, for the most part, in August and Janu ary respectively. The prevailing wind is the southwest, and there •are few places in the kingdom where less rain falls. In the begin ning of winter London is occasionally envel oped in fogs, which are especially dense in the lower parts, and greatly aggravated by the per petual pall of smoke-laden air overhanging the metropolis. This pall is occasioned by the general domestic and industrial use of bitumi nous coal. Even when this smoke-cloud does not take the Unpleasant form of fogs it keeps the sunshine away to quite a considerable ex tent, in winter robbing London of fully half the sunshine it ought to enjoy, and giving to the metropolis that general gloom and begrimed aspect of buildings which are so depressing to visitors.
General Aspect, River, Bridges, Main Thoroughfares, London stands on allu vial deposits consisting of beds of clay and gravel, below which is the hard clay stratum known to geologists by the name of the eLon don clay,e in the middle of the great chalk basin extending from Berkshire to the east coast. On
the north bank of the Thames, where the prin cipal part of London stands, the site rises gradually at the rate of 36 feet per mile, while on the opposite bank the houses cover a nearly uniform and extensive flat, lying in some places several feet below the highest tides. Within the limits of London the Thames varies con siderably in width. At Putney it is 550 feet, at Battersea 960, at Vauxhall 630, at West minster 275 feet, at Waterloo 1,140 feet, while at Blackfriars it narrows down to 830 feet. At London Bridge, it is 800 feet wide, and at Wool wich 1,470 feet wide. The bridge farthest down the river is Tower Bridge, just below the Tower of London— a bascule bridge, which allows the passage of large vessels. London Bridge con nects the city at King William street with Southwark at the junction of Wellington street and Tooley street. About 500 yards further up the river stands Southwark Bridge, connect ing the city and Southwark. About half a mile farther west Blackfriars Bridge. con necting the city at Bridge street with South wark at Blackfriars road, was widened in 1908. Waterloo Bridge, nearly half a mile above the former, is a granite structure of 9 elliptical spans, and is 1,240 feet long between the abut ments. It is perfectly level, and connects the Strand with the Waterloo road. Westminster Bridge crosses the river at the north end of the Houses of Parliament from Westminster to Lambeth. Further up the river Westminster and Lambeth are again connected by Lambeth and Vauxhall bridges. The Chelsea Suspension bridge connects Chelsea and Pimlico on the north side with Battersea to the west of Batter sea Park; and the Battersea Bridge unites Chelsea and Battersea a littler further west. Putney Bridge, a magnificent structure of granite, connects Fulham and Putney; and Hammersmith Bridge, the last in London, con nects Hammersmith with Barnes. There are also six railway bridges across the Thames. One of them, at Charing Cross, displaced the old Hungerford Suspension Bridge, but is provided with a footway on one side. The two railway bridges at Pimlico, which look like one, belong to the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company and the London, Chatham and Dover. The latter company owns a bridge close to Blackfriars Bridge. The modern bridge at Vauxhall is said to be as notable a combination of art and utility as the famous Alexander III bridge in Paris. The once famous Thames tt.nnel, two miles below London Bridge, opened in 1843 as a roadway under the river, now serves as a railway tunnel. A subway under the river, lined with iron hoops, connects Tower Hill and Tooley street, South wark; and there is a great tunnel for foot passengers and vehicles between Blackwell and East Greenwich and one for foot-passengers only between the Isle of Dogs and Green wich. A tunnel for both vehicular and pedes trian traffic between Shadwell and Rotherhithe was opened in 1908. Three underground elec tric railways pass under the river. There is a free steamboat ferry between North and South Woolwich.