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which should be chosen for the outlet of so vast a
quantity of decomposing organic matter, but I do
say that it should be a very distant one; for whether
the powers of chemistry may hereafter come to our
aid in deciding on the economic use of this material,
or whether it is always to be let loose into the
ocean as a thing which defies our skill in usefully
appropriating it, in either case it must be manifest
that the locality for its outlet should be as distant as
possible from the metropolis; for, on the one hand,
we must avoid the tidal flux and reflux of a very sea
of putrifying matter, and in the other we must guard
against the noxious emanations which will assuredly
accompany any chemical manipulation of it. On
these points I venture, therefore, to speak emphatically,
because I know that there is a tendency, from
economical motives, to adopt measures of a somewhat
temporary and expedient character—measures
which will be found hereafter expensive and elaborate
disguises of a nuisance that is still untouched.
Eloquently and with truth has Mr. Simon described
the pernicious effects of the sewage miasms, and
has told you that "from the polluted bosom of the
river there steam up, incessantly, though unseen,
the vapours of a retributive poison; densest and
most destructive, no doubt, along the sodden banks
and stinking sewers of lowest level; but spreading
over miles of land—sometimes rolled high by wind,
sometimes blended low with mist, and baneful, even
to their margin that curls over distant fields. For