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28
It was found that the pump well at the Tower Hamlets'
Cemetery was highly charged with sulphur. Beyond the place
from which the next sample was taken, 325 yards from the
well at the Tower Hamlets' Cemetery, no trace was discovered,
and the fluid contained in the sewer had become deprived of
its peculiar offensiveness, either by agitation in its course or by
forming new compounds within the sewer. The experiments
were made three several times, on fluid taken on three different
days from the sewer, and with similar results,—on the first
occasion while the pump at the Tower Hamlets" Cemetery
was at work; the second after the pumping had, by arrangement,
ceased 48 hours; and the last without giving any one
intimation of our intention to subject the fluid to examination.
The places from which the samples were procured were,
the Tower Hamlets' Cemetery, the Moor's Arms, (2 places,)
North Street, (2 places,) King Street, and the outlet of the
sewer where it enters the Thames. At a subsequent visit
to the Great Central Gas Consumers' Company's Works, it was
found that the pits which had been the persisting cause of
the nuisance were filled up, and that the fluid which was
so nauseous was being utilized by the engineer in making
sulphate of ammonia. If this filthy stuff- can be turned
to profitable use, we shall have very few, if any, complaints
of its having been got rid of by pumping it into the sewer;
and the last examination has put those whose duty it is to
watch over such matters, in a position to distinguish the
offenders, should any further complaints reach Ihem.
Thus, the conclusion of the matter has proved as satisfactory
as possible; no better position could have been secured
after the best contested trial at the Sessions, and we may
congratulate ourselves on its having been achieved without
cost to ourselves, and very little to our opponents.