The air of sewers

Abstract

Owing to the complaints which had been made of bad smells in the House of Commons, a Select Committee was appointed in the spring of 1886 to inquire into the ventilation of the House. In consequence of the experience we had gained in the course of an extensive examination of the air of houses and schools in Dundee (see ‘Phil. Trans.,’ vol. 178 (1887), B, p. 61), we were instructed by the Committee to make a series of analyses of the air in the sewers under the Houses of Parliament, and to report thereon (see ‘ Second Report of the Committee,’ Appendix). Since then we have examined the air in a considerable number of sewers in Dundee.