LONDON'S RIVER TURNED MURKY: A SUMMER OF FILTH, 1858

The city of London sought in the heat of summer, 1858. But it was not merely the sun that scorched the metropolis. An even more unpleasant force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial waste had transformed London's lifeblood into a foul-smelling mire. The stench was all-consuming, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone and

On a blustery afternoon in the year, disaster befell Boston. A massive tank filled with sticky, sweet molasses ruptured sending a wall of of the thick liquid crashing through the streets. The force was catastrophic, smashing buildings and entombing residents in a sticky mass. Scores of people were fatally injured, and many more sustained injuries