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: 
‘public offence. 
- APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 
the Jury. He observed, that the 
question was one of the most vi- 
tal importance, not alone to the 
individuals who were experimen- 
tally engaged therein, and to the 
public generally, but more parti- 
cularly to that class of society, 
whose fate it was to reside in the 
. precincts of the manufactory 
which was now so justly prefer- 
red to the consideration of the 
court as a common nuisance and 
The utility of 
the gas lights none would have 
the hardihood to deny—its beauty 
and brilliancy were equally appa- 
rent. The lucrative advantages 
derived from its establishment 
were, no doubt, very considera- 
‘ble; yet, under all these circum- 
‘stances, it was highly necessary 
that the comfort, the health, and 
the lives of their fellow-creatures 
were not to be endangered. The 
gas manufactory of the defend- 
ants was first established in Fet- 
‘ter-lane. There it was conducted, 
as now, by a joint-stock company; 
but the inhabitants of that dis- 
trict finding it necessary to have 
‘the ‘establishment indicted as a 
‘nuisance, the proprietors removed 
their manufactory to Dorset- 
street, where it was commenced 
upon a more extensive scale. 
Here the process became equally 
offensive, and in proportion as 
the system enlarged, so the effects 
became more obnoxious and dan- 
gerous. It appeared, that in the 
present manufactory there were 
four retorts of considerable size. 
‘Beneath these there were fires 
constantly burning, the vapour 
from which was conducted by se- 
veral iron tubes into a globular 
‘vessel, called a Gasometer. The 
‘smell which issued from’ this part 
301 
of the manufactory was of a most 
offensive nature. There was also 
a process of coke, which likewise 
produced an insufferable stench 
by means of tubes, which carried 
off the effluvia, and was conducted 
to the river Thames. This was 
not alone offensive to the inhabi- 
tants and passengers, but even to 
the bargemen upon the river, in 
that quarter. Complaints of the 
evil were made on all sides, and 
while, in some instances, the most 
shameful inattention was mani- 
fested; in others, the injured ap- 
plicants were received in a cava- 
lier sort of way: and although 
promises had been made of reme- 
dying the nuisance so bitterly felt, 
still nothing had been effectually 
done to remove it, and it remain 
ed in all its pernicious force. 
An indictment, however, being 
preferred in May last, by the in- 
habitants of the district, the de- 
fendants, it was understood, had, 
at a considerableexpense, adopted 
experiments by way of improve- 
ment. These, however, had not 
the desired effect, and the nuis- 
ance still existed ina minor de- 
gree, but still with such conta- 
gious effects, that the comfort, 
the health, and the lives of the 
inhabitants, were exposed conti- 
nually to danger. Under these 
circumstances, he was convinced 
the court would feel it their duty 
to pronounce a verdict of condem- 
nation upon the party, and if the 
latter could not succeed in so far 
improving their manufactory, as 
to obviate the evil in question, 
they must then abandon their 
scheme altogether, however lu- 
crative to themselves, or however 
beneficial to an admiring public, 
with whom the lives, the safety, 
