Star.
London, England, 1820-05-15 00:00:00

NUISANCE.

Mr. Dessta x moved the Judgment of the, Court
against Messrs. Lydiard and Co. of Stepney, upon
conviction for a nuisance.

Several affidavits were then put in by the defend-
ants. They were principally from Mr. Braude, the
Profe• tor of Chemistry at the Royal institution, from
Dr. Pearson, and other scientific gentlemen, de-
claring thew opinions that the smoke issuing from
Messrs. bleaching-powder manufactory, in
Ocean-street, Stepney, could not have had the effect
spoken to in evidence on the trial, of burning holes
in linen. These scientific persons also said they had
tried several experiments upon the nature of the gas,
or vapour, arising from oxygenated muriatic acid
passing tinough lime, and %%ere of opinion that if
any escaped fiom the manufactory it could not do
the injury to linen which had been represented, be-1
cause it would at once become so diluted by the at-1
mo•pheric air, as to be tendered entirely innoxious
in the manner stated. There were also other affi-
davits limn persons tesiding in different quarters of
the neighbourhood in which the antnufactory was
ituateJ, which ascribed no bad property to the ef-
fluvia ari.ing out of the place, nor any injurious
symptom which rendered it noxious.
. On the other hand, there w ere affidavits from the
prosecutor, Mr. Duncan, from his wife, and others,
reiterating the injurious effect produced by the smoke
of the manufactory, and the deleterious effect it pro-
duced both on their health and on the texture of the
linen they had laid out to bleach.
_ _ _ _ _

Mr. SCA uteri' addressed the Court for the defend-
an a, and sa-d, that a judgment to destroy their ma-,
nufactory would be attended by their complete ruin.
Their manufactory was for the composition of a su-
perior bleaching-powder. Oxygenated muriatic acidl
formed an ingredient in the manufacture, and it was
the decided interest of the defendants, that no part
of the gas, the whole of which was valuable to them,
,hotild be suffered to escape. It was to them, in
fact, a great source of profit, and they conducted
their business in the most creditable and lucrative
manner, until Mr. and M; s. Duncan, who resided in
the neighbourhood, took it into their heads that the
smoke from the manufactory bad had the effect of
burning holes in their linen. An old woman in an
alms-house also said it made holes in an old pair of
her stockings. But against their testimony there
was the opinion of almost every c • person i.r the
neighbourhood, some living nearer than the Dun-
cans, all concurring that no injury was sustained by
their linen on account of any efßuvia. To shew,
indeed, how incautiously the prosecutors had acted,
he need only say, that since the verdict, the defend-
ants were compiled, as they Were under a penalty
of• 5001. to the Excise, to work up their old mate-1
:Ws or stock. They did so, under the direct super-
vision of the Excise officers, and nothing was suf-
fered to evaporate but the mere steam of boiling
water in the composition of Glauber salts; and yet,
nevertheless, this common steam, it seemed, had
also injured the prosecutor (Mr. Duncan's) linen.
—But the Learned Counsel said that the opinions of
such scientific men as Mr. Brande, Dr. Pearson, and
others, ought to be decisive against the prosecutor,
because they demonstrated that no such effect as that
supposed could possibly result from the steam which
issued sot of the manufactory. They [moved it by
experiment. It was also in evidence, that the same
manufacture was carried on in Apothecaries' Hall,
and nobody complained in that populous neighbour-
hoods of there being any injurious effects produced
by the steam ; and it was further in evidence, that
the apparatus used by the defendants was greatly
super ior to that at Apothecaries' Hill. The defend-
ants offered the prosecutor to select any professional
person he pleased, and to make any experiment upon
the smoke in any manner he tholight proper, and
that it it could be rendered capable of producing the
damage alluded to on the trial, they would be ready
to abide any punishment. This offer had been re-
jected. They were ready, in fact, to have the whole
subject submitted to an e.rperimeutum crucis, and
abide lay any issue, so confident were they that no
I bad property could be deduced from the operations
of their manufactory.
ME. :MARRY AT followed on the same side.
Mr. Justice BEST.—How could gas fall in drops,
and burn linen in small holes?

Mr. SCARLETT.—liapossible, my Lord.
Tile Lena CHIEF JUSTICILBItt it is not alone
the warning of linen. There was evidence that the
smoke affected the breath of persons in the neigh-
bourhood; and Mr. Brande said, that if nitrous acid
escaped in large quantities, it was calculated to pro-
duce that effect.—;After some conversation between

^r-

the Counsel on both sues]—tiis touustltP suggested
that the defendant should pay all costs and that a
Gentleman of the Bar should be named by the Court,
who was, at a proper moment, and when the wind
was in the direction of the plaintiff's premises, to
make an experiment with this effluvia upon linen,
and report to the Court the result of his examination.
Mr. ALDERSON was the Barrister appointed by the
Court to make this experiment, and both parties were
so. abide the issue.

The LORD Omar JUSTICE observed, that he had
no doubt the Jury, in convicting the defendant, were
materially influenced by the evidence respecting the
injury done to the linen. As a great difference of
opinion must be ercited by the evidence of scientific
men, although philosophy was not always to be taken
against practice, still his Lordship thought it better
the experiment should be made.