London’s new system of sewers, constructed by the civil engineer Joseph Bazalgette (1819–91) between 1858 (immediately after the ‘Great Stink’, caused by noxious effluvia from the Thames, had closed down Parliament for several days) and 1865, was a great source of civic pride: the opening of the southern outfall down the Thames was attended by 500 guests, who dined on salmon as the effluvia of the great city rushed through the tunnel beneath them and fell into the river below.
