LONDON'S RIVER TURNED MURKY: 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 repellent force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial waste had transformed London's lifeblood into a nauseating odor. The stench was oppressive, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone and satu

On a blustery morning in 1919, disaster befell Boston. A massive tank filled with sticky, sweet molasses burst sending a tidal wave of the thick liquid flowing through the streets. The force was catastrophic, smashing buildings and trapping citizens in a treacly mass. Scores of people were fatally injured, and many more suffered. Authorities face