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51
Ryder's evidence is conclusive that sulphuretted hydrogen
had not effected a lodgment in the sludge of the Sewer
before three o'clock on the day of the accident.
The condition of the Sewer before the accident and the
condition after, both tend towards the conclusion that the
fouling of the residual sewage and the fouling of the
atmosphere of the Sewer must have been on May 4th, after
three o'clock, and that both were effected by the operations
of an extraneous agency.
DID LACK OF VENTILATION CONTRIBUTE?
In a charge to the Jury of considerable length, the
Coroner referred to the ventilation of Broadwall Sewer and
intimated an opinion that, had a better system been in
vogue, gases forming in the Sewer would have been readily
dissipated. Since, however, sulphuretted hydrogen gas
which, in this instance, was the cause of the mischief, is
heavier than air, it is not easy to understand what system
the Coroner had in view when he gave utterance to this
reflection. Ventilation by shafts and inlets—the method
usually employed—except in conjunction with mechanical
or other motor force must prove ineffective in the elevation
of a heavy medium through a lighter one.
The inadequacy of the ordinary means of ventilation in
dealing with this dangerous gas is emphasized in the
history of a case of poisoning which took place in Germany,
and is related by Casper, a celebrated German Pathologist.
Casper's Works, translated and published by the Sydenham
Society, give the particulars of the case at length. A
wooden box had been sunk in the earth to serve the purpose
of a tan pit, and an aperture made at the bottom
furnished a means of communication with a channel traversing
the ground below. Unfortunately, waste products.
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