The New York herald., 1870-01-25

| neighboring yanes aud found that the wind was
direction. guided by the odor. G thew came to the
Metropolitan Gas Works. In West F0rty-second
street, when they found that purner had just been
emptied aud the pile OF foul lime still warm ana
reeking with offensive gases. When these facts
were reported to tie Board or Health an order was
ture Of gas at the foot OF West Forty second street
70 De q nuisance ana ordering the same to be DIS
continued, except be conducted by process that
WIN not allow any delilerlous gases odors delr
mental u health to escape into the external air.
M. zolikofer, the president OF the Metropolitan
Company al once requested an opportunity 10 be
heard In defence OF the company; ana August 10
| he appeared by counsel and showed by hs witness
tnat he employed the best Goals and purified by the
best process ana tiut the gases evolved by the foul
lime were anything but unheaItny--were indeed. a
specific for the whoopng cough and other diseases
Thc attorney for the Board oil Health showed By his
witness that The publication conducted by tae
Metropolitan Company was necessarily nuisance,
the example Of either OF tne other city
nar ras BEARING .a, was as nep ,Oe
| presented memorial frOm the gas company, signed
by tue president In this they first plead the mex.
on the island. They thon state that they never heard
II even suggested that publication by dry lime was
In any way offensive till they received the order OF
July ia. ihs Is q somewhat remarkable statement.
| inasmuch as every book OH gasmakng admits the
nuisance, and SINCE tae olaer companes 9ad .,, Two
| Investigated the matter and made The necessary
changes all the particulars having appeared IN the
daily papers from time to tIm6
Further, While they protest against the adjud!ca-
tion OF the Board OF Health tnat tncr process OF
publication ~ nuisance they avow tnelr willing
ness try any melnod which science mag suggest
and experiment. demonstrate TO he better one llan
| thar which they are using. And nnnly requesting
that the hearing be postponed TIL March 1869,
| that they may experiment Oh Improved methods OF
purlncaton. The Board finally consented TO post
pOncment OF several months.
1 On February D. 1859, the hearing was resumed
The gas company had enjoyed a respite OF nearly
! six months for this special object, and On dls-
| tlnct, written promise OF making experiments; ana
| had not actually made single experiment aurln9
the entire period. one thing 0nly naa ,eern eern
what processes OF publication were III use there lie
| had returned, but great care was taken when tle
hearing was resumed not to put him on the witness
| stand, for ms written report was complete con-
rmaton OF ISL tnat had been claimed by the wltlfess
for the Board OF Health with regard 10 the improved
processes Of pur1hcation there and Tor preventing
nuisance. What did the Metropolitan Company
/ 10 then, after making written promises and saying
| 80 much about good laith, &c.s they made no
| experiments; did not follow tie advice or
the man they mad sent to Europe; did not do
| had done TO mitigate the nuisance, but at the
end OF SIX months appeared by counsel with distln-
gushed chemical experts, To defend the pro-
dncing method Of purlncaton. For several days the
hearing was continued, and nearly 200 printed pages
OF testimony taken.
/ viii DO Justice to Professor Silliman, who was
called TO testify by the gas company by s,atlg thas
nlroausno Ms w uslea ron parcaon A nstead OF me
I he stated clearly and amequlyocaly on the
| crossexaminaton that the process Of purihca-
| ton as conducted by the Metropolitan Company
was necessarily nuisance and tnat by using simple
| precautions thls nuisance could be avoided rms
| was all that tile Board OF Health was called upon TO
prove and the admission OF thls Dy their own wit
ness was evidently understood by The gas company
AS equivalent to losing tncr case. so they presented
anotner memorial, Oh, raner set Of resolutions, In
! which they again proposed to experiment.. This
was March !, aud the hearing was lnen postponed
Till March ~, the company ROlemny stipuatlng TO
introduce and test tAe lro Or some other Improved
process.
| excuses. I'm order TO introduce the iron process
iJ was necessary TO place false bottoms OF perlor-
| man in New YORK who could bore the holes, and he
had been busy boring holeS for some one cse" Srlll
the patience Of the Board OF Health held out espe-
Clay as prompt enforcement OF the order OF july
IA nignt have thrown into darkness all that portion
or the city lying between Thlrtyfourrh and Seventy
| began TO experiment, but Iii very original way.
| Tney engaged man to make q soap with wnIcn TO
| wash the smell out oi tho ioul lime considerable
| quantity OF IL was used, ana the members OF the
| Board OF Health and several other gentlemen were
Invited TO witness the success OF the operation. But
the soap Old not answer; 1t was tOlerably effective
on the upper layer OF foul lime, but left the lower
fve or siX layers as offensive as ever. AT last an
iron mixture was procured; not one OF those, how
| ever, wnlcn the messenger to Europe had seen in
successful operation, and mnutely described IN ms
written report nor YET the one IN use by the New
| was once used somewhere in New Jersey and
subsequently abandoncd--a mixture OF spanish
| brown, shell lime and Sawdust. Hall tue
purifiers were nlled with THIS mixture, white
the other set filed with lime as usual They went
through the motions or using this mixture in hail
the purifiers during most Of the past summer though
tho gus was actually pArded ] think, by the pur-
fcrs containing lime. At all events tne mixture
dld not WORK might have been expected, and this
| autumn, as soon as the consumption OF gas IN
creased, the mixture was thrown out and the puri'
| rers were again nled with lime. so this company
has now gone back to the Old process, and III spite
OF all the evidence to the contrary and all the time
anu money expended in bringing ont that evidence,
| II still stubborny denies the Iact that foul lime
creates nuisance, or that any improvements nave
| been made In gas purification.
The offensive process Is now In ful operation, ana,
more than tnat, the foul lime Is actually used To I'LL
In pier This IS specially Objectionable, as 1t has
| already happened both IN London and Dublin that
on making excavations iur sewers III places where
foul lime mad been used Tor filing In the workinen
killed at one rilne IN this manner In London IN lsi3
sucn is the history OF the gas nuisance III NeH
| ork, brought down to date
| N.-MHAr TaE MErROPOilrAN GAS COMPANY MIGHT
|
This company has probably spent nearly sIo,o
for expert fees counsel ices, sending 10 Europe
the man whose evidence was suppressed ant
whose sadyice was not followed, tune OF en
| ployGs, printing 200 pages OF evidence, &C. al
apparently with the design, not of suppressing tn
nuisance, but OF defeating the ponest efforts OIL th
Board u Health Ia behalf VI the citihens Oh AeM
York. suppose Lhe Officers ol this company Vcrt
really acting III good falth, with sincere desire GO
obvate the nuisance, they could al once Introduce
better process OF puriiicaol, cheaper process nj
which they could save $4,000 per annnn, OF
they could retain Their present process ant
yentilate the foul lime. Let tDem follow
companies, the iron process OF TIT
New York Company or the ventlaung process OF tne
Ike improved iron processes now used ID Europe
All that ~ asked OF them Is that they manifest tn
Willingness to direct tneir ehorts 10 the man
agelnent OF their business IN q nanuer most condu
TO the health ana comfort vi tue cij rs was 81
promptly manifested by the OTHER companies.
! vL-CHANGES REQtiiR RED.
| The introduction Of an iron process would require
| little II any cnange In the apparatus. some iron
| mixtures are employed III exactly The same irol
boxes with trays, as the company is now using lo
me while the greatest change that could he ncees
| sary would consist simply IN taxing cut the move
able trays ana Introducing a hooring Of plank, per
foraed with aii9er holes. few hours would siliiic
TO make the change; III fact. the plank loDring !
Already on the grolnd. A lew days would be re
| qulred TO procure the necessary material
| AZ there are two SETS Of purifiers, either o
| which could, In case OF necessity, he mad
| to purify all the gas made by the company. the
! change could easily he made without any serious
interruption. Until within short time the New Ior
Gas Company mas been obliged To purity more IA.
tnan the Metropolitan Company now makes Will
| purifiers OF no greater capacity than one OF hes'
gWo SETS To Introduce the veRtilatjng process
siderable additions would he required To the appa