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Morning Open Thread. The Great Stink of 1858. Note: not breakfast reading material. [1]
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Date: 2023-01-28
“And now I've got to explain the smell that was in there before I went in there. Does that ever happen to you? It's not your fault. You've held your breath, you just wanna get out, and now you open the door and you have to explain, 'Oh! Listen, there's an odor in there and I didn't do it. It's bad.” --Ellen DeGeneres, My Point... And I Do Have One
In 1831 England experienced its first case of cholera. Cholera is caused by a bacteria, a microscopic organism. Benign, even innocent, looking little thing, isn’t it?
Cholera bacteria
Caused by the Vibrio cholerae bacteria, about 10% of people infected will experience severe vomiting and diarrhea. Some of those people die within hours. Infection is usually spread through consumption of food or water contaminated with cholera-containing feces. --wonderhowto.com Invisiverse
In 1858, the Thames river in London was little more than an open sewer. Two million people, all pooping and all of that poop just going into the Thames. No semblance of modern sewage treatment to be found. It was stinkin’ BAD! Parliament pretty much shut down.
By June the stench from the river had become so bad that business in Parliament was affected, and the curtains on the river side of the building were soaked in lime chloride to overcome the smell. The measure was not successful, and discussions were held about possibly moving the business of government to Oxford or St Albans.[38] The Examiner reported that Disraeli, on attending one of the committee rooms, left shortly afterwards with the other members of the committee, "with a mass of papers in one hand, and with his pocket handkerchief applied to his nose" because the smell was so bad.[39] The disruption to its legislative work led to questions being raised in the House of Commons. According to Hansard, the Member of Parliament (MP) John Brady informed Manners that members were unable to use either the Committee Rooms or the Library because of the stench, and asked the minister "if the noble Lord has taken any measures for mitigating the effluvium and discontinuing the nuisance". Manners replied that the Thames was not under his jurisdiction.[40] Four days later a second MP said to Manners that "By a perverse ingenuity, one of the noblest of rivers has been changed into a cesspool, and I wish to ask whether Her Majesty's Government intend to take any steps to remedy the evil?" Manners pointed out "that Her Majesty's Government have nothing whatever to do with the state of the Thames".[41] The satirical magazine Punch commented that "The one absorbing topic in both Houses of Parliament ... was the Conspiracy to Poison question. Of the guilt of that old offender, Father Thames, there was the most ample evidence".[42] --wikipedia
Yup, real bad.
Something had to be done. And it was. And it involved a steam engine.
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The civic infrastructure overseeing the management of London's sewers had gone through several changes in the 19th century. In 1848 the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers (MCS) was established at the urging of the social reformer Edwin Chadwick and a Royal Commission. … In August 1849 the MCS appointed Joseph Bazalgette to the position of assistant surveyor … [Bazalgette] continued refining and developing the plans for the development of the sewerage system… … By June 1856 Bazalgette completed his definitive plans, which provided for small, local sewers about 3 feet (0.9 m) in diameter to feed into a series of larger sewers until they drained into main outflow pipes 11 feet (3.4 m) high. A Northern and Southern Outfall Sewer were planned to manage the waste for each side of the river.[21] London was mapped into high-, middle- and low-level areas, with a main sewer servicing each; a series of pumping stations was planned to remove the waste towards the east of the city. --wikipedia
By now, dear MOTreaders, I suppose you may be wondering: “How, funningforrest, how do you come up with topics like this?” Simple: I watch science documentaries, in this case one with Professor Simon Schaffer, in which he talked about three of the greatest machines ever invented by man; the telescope, the steam engine, and the time machine. (That last one is still undergoing refinements, by the way. I should have mine up and running backwards by some time last week. Or is it next century? Time travel gets so confusing.) That video is here, Mechanical Monsters, on YouTube, if you want to watch it. It’s a full hour long, but really good, and if you’ve not watched this documentary you should take the time.
At any rate, this is a great way to segue into the Crossness Pumping Station, a cathedral of steam engine housing and operation, and thanks again, YouTube. This is just under nine minutes, well worth your time.
1:30 mark: “...immediately had an impact on London in terms of the eradication of cholera...”
* * * * *
Now, some may think I’ve got some sort of obsession with poop, but that’s only partially true. I admit, modern sewage treatment technology and engineering fascinates me, to an extent. What I really boggle over, though, is how simple this is as a remedy for so many health crises of the world. Just clean water in and cleaned water out. But it galls me no end that so much of the world’s population, especially children, cannot partake of the advantage (that we take for granted here in the U.S.) of having clean water to drink, cook with, bathe in, and having a working toilet and septic/sewer system to take the disease away. Fer’ cryin’ out loud, cholera is one disease that should be as non-existent these days as small pox. But it sure the hell ain’t.
Cholera may be rare in the US, but cases of the disease have increased worldwide since 2005, particularly in Africa, southeast Asia, and Haiti. An estimated 3 to 5 million people are infected, and more than 100,000 die from the disease globally each year, mostly from dehydration. V. cholerae is a serious health threat in countries without adequate sanitation, sewage processing, or water purification facilities. It can also occur in war zones and after natural disasters. --wonderhowto.com
Think about it next time you flush.
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