Caption Michael Faraday. Caricature of Michael Faraday (1791-1867), British chemist, giving his business card to Father Thames, a figure representing the River Thames in London, Britain. Father Thames is covered in sewage and surrounded by dead, floating animal carcasses. Faraday had written to a newspaper, The Times, complaining that the water in the River Thames was so polluted that pieces of white card could not be seen 3 cm (1 inch) below the water's surface. The cause was the untreated sewage which was discharged into the river. Sewers were built to deal with the sewage during 1859-75 by Joseph Bazalgette. Cartoon taken from an 1855 edition of Punch, a British satirical magazine.