In 1858 the Thames smelled so bad that Parliament fled and Disraeli called it a 'Stygian pool'

In eighteen fifty-eight, London discovered that a three-million-person city flushing sewage directly into its river was a bad idea. By summer, the Thames had become an open sewer. A heat wave pushed temperatures to forty-eight degrees Celsius — one hundred eighteen degrees Fahrenheit — and the water level dropped, leaving raw effluent exposed on the banks. The stench was so overwhelming that Parliament abandoned the city entirely. Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli called the river a 'Stygian pool' — a reference to the mythical river of the dead. The crisis forced a complete overhaul of London's sewage infrastructure. According to Boing Boing, it's a humbling reminder that basic infrastructure neglect isn't a modern problem — it just hits different when Parliament smells it.

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