Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-08-27

The city Of Cologne. with It's seventy
distinct smells, has lost its prestige. No
more shall il bear the palm for Odors
which we're the antipodes Of those which
sOlaOed the traveller in Araby the
Blestn America has produced greater
dispenser Of flth than Europe, and
Chicago is the name Of the new found cess
pool. The Tribune Of that city. gives a
graphic report Of the voyage Of an Alder
manic Smelling Committee upon an in
vestigation through the North and South
branches OF the river, which at that point
pour their waters into the Lake. With 6
premonitionof what they would encounter,
various preventives in the way Of camphOr
ammonia, spirits, cigars, SC, were provided,
and they were by no means needless. A
chemist accompanied the party to test the
water.
The process of fchemieal examination pur-
sued by DR.. Mahla was substantially this
A bucket Of the fluid called water was
dipped up at various points. A glass jar
was partially filled with the fuid into
which small quantity of sulphuric acid
was poured. The sulphuretted hydrogen
gas, which is the essential element of all
stencil, and emitted by decOmposing or
rotten substances of any kind containing
sulpur, was separated from the water by
the action Of the acid, and was detected by
the diseOlOratiOn of paper suspended in
the mixture, having been previously moist
ened with solution of sugar of lead.
At the mouth Of the river the water was
found comparatively pure. Upon round
ing the point into the North branch, the
discoveries commenced. An ocean of filth
was here found.
The reporter says =" Here it lies
in one vast bed, rotting fermenting,
decompOsing; unmeasured depths Of
refuse from slop-sheps, tanneries, dis
tilleries and stables, sending forth its mall
arious odors, and poisoning the breezes as
they sweep over the city. No living thing
man, bird, beast or insect-could live
for an instantin the seething mass of cor
ruption. The chemist applied his test,
and the paper almost instantly was
blackened. The chemist alone was in
ecstasies. Wrapped up in his science,
what cared he for stencil, so long as the
sinking fluid wrought so beautiful a
change. The yellow primrose was prim-
rose and nothing more to them. They
could only see rottenness and filth above,
and untold horrors beneath the stagnant
flood"
Not very pleasant this, but it was but
the beginning and mere trife compared
to what followed Going further North,
the slops from distilleries were drained
directly into the river, until the water
was nearly of the consistency of dough.
But more distilleries were to come, and
here were the "stump-tair' cows, whose
New York prototypes Frank Leslie so
faithfully illustrated some time since.
Here we quote again =
"Thus much for the interiors now
for the effect upon the river. From
these stables fifteen bitches led
down into the river. The rotten hay
and manure are piled up in immense
heaps upon the bank, making an ooze-
the character Of which one Jealous Alder
man tested by slipping into it from the
planks, up TO his knees, which was follow
ed by verbal explosion more emphatic
than elegant. Through these bitches
sIuggishly rolls a thick food of manure,
mud, slops and other rotten compounds
into the river, the whole surface Of which,
at this point seems almost a solid mass
of putrefaction. There is not a drop of
pure water in this vicinity. The little
creeks and bayous are stagnant pools Of
corruption, in which there is no living
thing but the worm and the maggot. Not
even the carrion fly skins its surface.
| Combine all the filthy substances you can
conceive, and you cannot 'outdo it. Make
q broth Of assafetids, polecats, buzzardsr
/ toads, the vilest weeds of the swamp and
the rankest nondescripts of the most
malarious bogs, and still the North Branch
at this point, would carry off the first
prize"
And if such is the Chicago water,
Heaven help the poor unfortunates who
are compelled to live and breathe in such
an atmosphere as comes daily and
nightly from these compounds of putridity,
spreading its black and deadly miasma-
like Briarean arms on the entire city.
And all thanks and gratitude that Cleve-
land has unlimited supplies of water which
is clear and pure to sight and taste.
/ -o---
MajOr-General Cassius NJ. Clay has taken
command of brigade in Kentucky, and
is en- route for the Mountains. There is a
splendid corps of officers now leading the
| troons in Kentucky. Morris, Wallace, CLAY.