A RIVER RUNS PUTRID: A SUMMER OF FILTH, 1858

The city of London sweltered in the heat of summer, 1858. But it was not merely the sun that parched the metropolis. An even more unpleasant force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial discharges had transformed London's lifeblood into a nauseating odor. The stench was overwhelming, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone

On a blustery morning in the year, disaster befell Boston. A massive holding filled with sticky, sweet molasses ruptured sending a torrent of the thick liquid crashing through the streets. The impact was catastrophic, crushing buildings and trapping residents in a sticky mass. Hundreds of people were killed, and many more sustained injuries. Bost