278 PETER SPENCE 



It is mournful to contemplate, that in the 

 very year, 1857, when he published the 

 pamphlet referred to, he was himself being 

 assailed by a number of the residents of 

 Pendleton, for permitting gases to issue from 

 his works, which they asserted were noxious 

 and injurious to health and vegetation. 



The trial of Regina v. Spence, which 

 occupied three days of August, 1857, when 

 the firm was proceeded against on the charge 

 that they had so conducted their works as to 

 be a public nuisance, is one of those notorious 

 cases long to be remembered. Baron Channell 

 was the judge, Mr. Wilde, O.C., was leading 

 counsel for the plaintiff, and Sir Frederick 

 Thesiger, Q.C., for the defendant. A large 

 number of witnesses were called on both 

 sides, and eminent experts in chemistry, 

 horticulture, and botany gave evidence for 

 and against. 



Dr. E. Frankland, who at that time was a 

 professor at Owens College, and who had 

 been employed by Spence to superintend his 

 processes, so as to be able to suggest, if 

 possible, any apparatus or arrangement that 

 might prevent any nuisance arising, was 

 induced to give evidence for the plaintiff. 



Spence felt this very much. Having 



