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large proportion of that material. The furnaces, in which the
attempt to burn the pyrites was made, not having sufficient draught,
a considerable quantity of the gases generated during the process
passed out of the holes and crevices in the iron doors, and the
wind at the time blowing from the north west, drifted them down
Rotherhithe Street, and they could be distinctly smelt some distance
below the Pageants. Clouds of white vapour issuing from the
factory filled the neighbouring streets and wharfs, settling on the
ground like snow, and tarnishing all metallic substances, so that
the yellow metal freshly nailed on a ship's bottom in Globe Dock
looked as if it had been roughly coated over with brown paint.
The inhabitants and passengers who breathed these vapours experienced
a burning sensation in the throat, difficulty of respiration,
and a feeling of constriction about the chest.
On my arrival at Globe Wharf the nuisance had somewhat
abated. The manufacturer called on me next day, declaring that
the whole was the result of accident, the furnaces being badly
constructed, and that such an occurrence should not take place
again. I recommended more caution, but did not cause a notice to
be served, thinking that the Vestry would be satisfied with the
suppression of the nuisance.
There exists in the house 54, Lower Queen Street, an exceedingly
unpleasant smell, which appears to be produced by the state
of the cesspool and the imperfection of the drainage. A notice has
been served.
In wet weather, from the accumulation of the rain-water in
parts of Wellington Street, Deptford Road, the street becomes
almost impassable. It would be highly desirable that some means
of superficial drainage be employed to carry off the fluid which
during the summer months may become putrid and injurious to
health.
Fifty-four deaths were registered last month, of which six were
from hooping cough, no other epidemic disease being at present
prevalent in Rotherhithe.
Yours respectfully,
April, 1861.. W. MURDOCH.