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 repellent force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial discharges had transformed London's lifeblood into a stench. The stench was oppressive, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone and infused th

On a blustery January in 1919, disaster befell Boston. A massive holding filled with sticky, sweet molasses gave way sending a torrent of the thick liquid crashing through the streets. The impact was catastrophic, flattening buildings and trapping citizens in a sticky mass. Scores of people were killed, and many more were wounded. The city faced