The city of London sweltered in the heat of summer, 1858. But it was not merely the sun that baked the metropolis. An even more detestable force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial waste had transformed London's lifeblood into a stench. The stench was overwhelming, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone and infused the

On a blustery afternoon in the year, disaster unfolded Boston. A massive reservoir filled with sticky, sweet molasses burst sending a tidal wave of the thick liquid flowing through the streets. The force was catastrophic, crushing buildings and trapping citizens in a treacly mire. Dozens of people were killed, and many more sustained injuries. Bo