The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-01 00:00:00

finances of the country regulated, the blessings of
peace secured, an increased intercourse with the
most civilised nations of Eurepe promoted—then we
may fairly presume that the political institutions of the
land, and the political condition of the people, will
doubtless also improve in a commensurate ratio—a
proposition which I take it political philanthropists
will scarcely be prepared to throw cold water upon.
Let the line of railway once be completed down to Sem-
lin or to Orsova, and I'll be bound its continuation to
the mouth of the Danube and to Constantinople will
follow within a few years as a matter of course. This
investment, therefore, of foreign capital on the Austrian
South-Eastern line promises to turn out not merely a
most lucrative enterprise, but one also of vast political
significancy. It was this enlarged view of the case which,
I am told, operated most powerfully in inducing this
Government to bring the contract in question to a
speedy conclusion—although by delay, it may be, better
terms might possibly have been secured. On the
other hand, this contract breaks the ice. It opens the
grand road for the future influx of foreign capital,
t have o del
yeta
and makes known, for the consideration of enterprising
easy
and
that
foirtehignthcealiutastliristasn, Gthoavterintmise
nt,
be made to pay as well as the South-Eastern.
plentyw of other railway lines to dispose of, which might

CITY COMMISSION OF !EWERS.

Yesterdaybusiness.
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cd feokr tolie despatchccupied t
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chair.
ALLSCED NUISANCE ARISING FROM TEE CITY GAS WORMS.
The Medical Officer read the following report
" October 21.
"Gentlemen,--Yon have desired me to report on cer-
tain complaints referring to nuisances alleged to arise from
the City Gas Works.
trial.pmt hr
eoenc procure
Ar
chemicalodan
judgment
tMayor'she part
assistance,
s ohc eft ;intr
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oee)corporation legal
against
" I will first mention that two years age (I believe at
ed
establishment, when I was directed to make inquiry, and
cineged, ianngvs,
iwahblicehtombeayaff, wyeitthbeaenvileivwentointhetheexsepe;ter!
were
thisere slam;
t
teheetreedf obr
by
, yours t still lbe
present
tion pen d
of the subject, I thought it desirableicie that my recent
visit to the gas works should be n with
Mr. T. Taylor, the gentleman already retainedl'.ceulasPachYemical
witness in the case. -
,e what I have now to state ma theistss:am of
your refera
nee DA3r...13e tViiairea- 01110411 tr— 1:17,7fi11t ;-considering •
rally-the -procest of gas teanufactilie, and observing in
which -of its stages the liabilities to nuisances arise.
" When coal is heated in retorts for the
preparation of
gas there are volatilised from it, together with the mate-
rials used for illumination, certain very offensive products.
Some of these tend to be deposited from the distilled va-
pour in proportion as its cools ; others reqiire to be with-
drawn from it by specific chemical agencies. All gas
works present arrangements for effecting in succession
these two acts of separation. The first is an apparatus
known as the condenser, the second by one called the
purifier.
" Within the condenser constant currents of cold water
reduced the distilled vapours of coal to a temperature
which allows many of their ingredientoLtp revert from a
vapourous to a fixed state. An abllll4 @of steam falls
as water, rendered foisted by the salphurruLand ammonia-
cal ingredients which it has dissolv,a; while, simultane-
ously, the volatile oil and resins of the coal re-appear as
that black compound called tar. 'There are mechanical
arrangements for allowing these imtpnrities to
_settle in a
particular receiver, which, of course, requires to be pe-
riodically emptied. Its very stinking contents are of com-
mercial value, and the arrangement of the City Gas Com-
pany is, on certain days of the week, to discharge this re-
fuse of their establishment into a tank barge, by which it
is conveyed beyond your jurisdiction. The loading of this
barge always occurs in the day-time, at or about the time
of high water.
" The second stage of gas purification is to separate, by
the action of lime all that has remained in it of sulphu-
rotted hydrogen. In the City Gas Works, where use is
made of the apparatus known as the wet-lime purifier, the
gas bubbles through great churning-tubs of milk of lime,
and leaves in them its sulphuretted hydrogen, combined
into sulphurot of calcium. These constitute a very bulky
refuse, and as they are of no commercial value, the com-
pany discharges them into the Thames by a pipe, which
runs from their establishment to near the middle of the
river. lam assured by the servants of the company that
this evacuation never takes place otherwise than late at
night, and at such period of tide as may enable the re-
fuse immediately to mingle with large volumes of water.
" Theoretically speaking, this discharge might perhaps
be inoffensive, for (assuming the action of the condenser
to have been complete, and the lime of the purifier to have
been in chemical excess) the refuse referred to would con-
sist of an inodorous slush of insoluble proto-sulphuret of
calcium, not liable to rapid decomposition in the river
water. But this is practically not the case. The blue-
billy, as it is called, contains many bituminous matters
that have escaped precipitation in the condenser, and it is
liable, from deficient action of the purifier, to present free
sulphuretted hydrogen, or to contain a soluble and foetid
bi-sulphuret of calcium, instead of the insoluble and in-
offensive proto-sulphuret. I therefore cannot doubt that
its discharge into the Thames must be regarded in the
light of a common nuisance, which it lies within your
functions to suppress.

" To this, hoWever, I must add that in consequence of the
legal proceedings already referred to (judgment meanwhile
remaining in abeyance), the gas company has pledged
itself to an abatement of the nuisance. In fulfilment of
this pledge they have now nearly completed, on a very
large scale, and at an expense, as they allege, of many
thousand pounds, which will substitute for the second pro-
cess I have described to you the use of a dry lime purifier,
and, by thus giving them a tastable refuse, will enable
them entirely to refrain from polluting the river. As this
endeavour to effect this reform is now being made in good
faith and at great cost, I presume your honourable Court
will consider the question of nuisance from the lime pn-
rifler ono that may stand over for the present.
" With respect to the other stage of the process; qie ao•
tion of the condenser, I am much disposed to believe that
it occasions the more obvious nuisance of the two ; and I
suspect that the loudest complaints I have heard relate to
the period when the tank-barge moored off the pre-
mises of the company is receiving its freight of tar
and ammoniacal liquours collected from the receivers of
the condensing apparatus, for in -these ingredients are con-
centrated the well-known odours of gas works—a very
complex pungency that may be analysed into something
of rotten eggs, something of waterproofing, and something
of ill-conditioned. urinals.

" I think it would be reasonable to require that this
process should be so amended as to occasion no spread of
stink in its vicinity ; and without pretending to dictate
the terms of any such amendment, I would suggest as an
illustration of what I mean that the receptacles of this re-
' fuse, instead of being fixed in barges, might be moveable
vessels, capable of being loaded within the building, where
the offensive process could be conducted under cover of
some hood ventilation into the furnaces of the establish-
ment.
"In addition to those sources of nuisance to which I
have adverted, it seems probable that in various acts of
shifting and changing the retorts the general atmosphere
of the place may be considerably impregnated with the
odours complained of. Under existing circumstances it is
difficult to judge whether this evil prevails to any serious
extent ; but if there should continue any complaints re-
ferable to the manufacture of gas when divested of the two
principal nuisances now arising in the disposal of the re-
fuse it may become necessary to revert to this question
with a view to require some inodorous ventilation ef the
building. " JOHN SIMON."
Mr. Ross—l think this a most important question.
The report is so comprehensive and minute in all its re-
ferences to the mode of manufacturing gas, that I think
the Court can hardly understand it from the mere read-
ing it. Nevertheless, there are two points which are
brought out in strong relief, and which we can consider;
the one, the preparation of gas in the condensers ; the
other, the ammoniacal products, which appear to be a
great nuisance, as these are removed in the tank vessels
of the company. If the statements contained in the
report of the medical officer be correct—and I have not
doubt their
b y t
haec cguarsa ceyo—m thinkcompany
tot that
something me seltihgihnegs t onoruegahs
ought to
medy the evil complained of. Thinking that the com-
pany ought to have the report before them for their con-
sideration, I move that a copy of it be sent to them
forthwith. (Hear, hear.)
The motion having been seconded by Mr. H. L,
TAYLOR, was put and carried unanimously.
THE SMOKE NUISANCE.
Mr. M`Call, preserved provision merchant, Gravel-
lane, Hounsditch, was summoned by one of the inspec-
tors of nuisances for allowing large volumes of opaque
smoke to escape from the chimney ef his premises, to
the great annoyance of the surrounding inhabitants.
The inspector stated that he had noticed dense smoke
issuing from the chimney of the defendant's premises
once on Monday and twice yesterday.
The defendant said he was having an alteration made
in the flues which he believed would altogether abate the
nuisance, but that in consequence of the workmen not
following out his instructions dense smoke had recently
certainly issued from the chimney.
The Court ordered that the summons should stand
adjourned for a fortnight, in order that resultthe__ of the
at the premises of the defendant
alterations in progress
should be ascertained. The Gourtthen adjourned.

htes chronic
DELL'S REAPING MACHINE.—The number ofiviß.t eneall'ss
.
reaper sold far the harvest in 1854 amounted to only 17
, which had
"Twenty-five
in
rEAnDgvlEaßnidisaEgmaiEnNstsl_simn
eSdcioctinlaenadlw.—ayEsdaigngbruarvga
diFeases, such as dyspepsia (indigestion), habitual consti a
themreminovae voerry
rsehloiervtet,imhaev.
tion, nervous, bilious, and liver complaints, consumption,
P-
but Du Barry's Delicious Revalenta ArabicaF„,A
a few out of 50,000 testimonials of cures, extract
miserY, and which
e-Wbeeen eff--
resisted all medicines. Cure No. 180
invariably cures
years' nervousness, constipation,
from which I had suffered great
1:1, and debility,
no medicine could
tually cured by Du Barry's food in
_w. B. Reeve, Pool Anthony, a very short time
4,208.—" Eight years' dyspepsia, Tiverton." Cure No.
with cramps, spasms an, nervousness, debility,
tunny removed by Du nausea, have been effec
short time.—Rev. John W. Larry's delicious food in a very
Norfolk." Cure No. 51,416.F1ave11, Riclling,ton Rectory,
agony from dyspepsia, " Fifty years' indescribable
nervous
flatulency, spasm ousness, asthma, cough, consti-
pation,mitings, have been removed s, sickness at the stomach and vo-
-Maria Jolly, Wo th ved by Du Barry's excellent Food.
No. " coo T, . r am, Ling, near Diss, Norfolk." Cure
c,,, . uirteenyears'
gene-
ral debility have been
Food.—james removed by Du Barry's excellent
Potter Athol-street, Perth." Cure
No. 81. __,, Twenty ,
disorders of the years'
live: complaint, with
stomach and nerves, have be en
perfectly cured by Du Barry's Revalenta Arabica.—
Andrew Frazer, Haddington, East Lothian." " Trevagler,
Gulval, near Penzance. Feb. 20th, 1851.—Eighteen years'
nervous debility, violent palpitation of the heart, throb-
bing of the temples, violent pains in the left side and back,
shortness of breath, coughs, numbness of the extremities,
cramps, spasms, flatulency, retching, and such general
weakness, that I was constantly fearful of falling when on
my legs ; all these symptoms have been removed by Da
Barry's excellent Food.—Mary Gilbert."—ln canisters,
suitably packed for all climates, and with full instructions
—llb., 2s. 9d.; 21b., 4s. 6d. • 51b., lls. ; 121 b., 225. ;
super-refined, 11b. 6s. ; 21b., ils. • lb., 225.; 101 b., 338.
The 101 b. and 1.21b.,_ carriage fre°
', on post office order.
Barry du Barry and Co., 77, Regent -street, London ;
Fortnum, Mason, and Co., purveyors to her Majesty, Pie.
cadilly ; also at GB, Cornhill; GO, Gracechurch-street ;
1 ;30 and 451, Strand ; 63 and 150, Oxford-street ; 55,
1 Charing-cross ;4, Choapside; 49, BiehloPtitate•street.