Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Steam-power, Pollution, Public Health, Government, Meteorology, Morality

    Noting contemporary praise of steam power, questions the efficacy of Mr Spooner's expensive steam-powered machines for ventilating the House of Commons, specifically, the use of burnt air in the process and the connection of the machines to a sewer. Likens the House of Commons to 'a huge monster breathing foul air' whose members breathe the monster's 'unsavoury gases', and criticises the strong gusts of air that flow through the building. Following the notion that 'things natural and moral' are connected, wonders whether the changing temperature inside the House of Commons is connected to the 'climate of England'