The National Hotel in Washington D.C.

Miasthmatic disease was suspected at the national hotel in 1856. Certain parts of the hotel were really bad due to a problem with the hotel sewer lines. Winter in washington during 18 56 57 had been particularly brutal, and this led some to speculate that above ground sewage drains leading from establishments and homes had frozen. Others suggested a quite different cause for the sewage back up. In early january, the cold weather had given way briefly to a warm period of rain and snow melt, which caused the potomac river to rise again. The combination of frozen drains and closed windows,. this account concluded, led to a poisonous atmosphere in the hotel - especially in those rooms such as b