Report of the Medical Officer of Health of the City of London, upon the New River water, and the church yard of St. Andrew's, Holborn / presented to the Commissioners of Sewers, Tuesday, 11th December, 1855.

  • City of London (England). Commissioners of Sewers.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Medical Officer of Health of the City of London, upon the New River water, and the church yard of St. Andrew's, Holborn / presented to the Commissioners of Sewers, Tuesday, 11th December, 1855. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    elastic fluid ; they uniformly refused, declaring that it was only by an ^unlucky accident they interfered with dead bodies in that dangerous state. The hor- rible odour and the poisonous activity of this fluid announce to us that if it is mingled, as there is no reason to doubt, Avith hydrogenous and azotic gas, holding sulphur and phosphorus in solution, the ordinary and known products of putrefaction, it may contain also another deleterious vapour whose nature has hitherto escaped philosophical research, while its action on life is too strikingly evinced. These remarks were made as far back as the year 1787, when the burying-ground of the St. Innocents, of Paris, was the cause of so much danger to the community as to be made the subject of legislative interference; but even now we are in ignorance of the precise nature of this subtle and deadly agent. Lassaigne, who has examined the putrid matters of flesh, has found them to contain ammonia, pecuhar fatty acids, and a stinking volatile oil, which is probably the poisonous ingredient. To quote the words of the late talented author of the Chemistry of Common Life,— The true chemical nature and exact composition of many of the volatile and gaseous substances produced under these circum- stances, is still unknown; but both theory and experience prove that they are injurious to human health. They are so, even when from their extreme state of dilution the organs of smell are