In 1859 Parliament actually had to be suspended for a short time because of the unbearable stench. For several sultry days, the Thames River seethed, seeped, and nearly boiled under the burning sun of an unusually hot season. Parliament was suspended as window blinds saturated with lime chloride and other disinfectants failed to subdue the odor and revulsion. It was so revolting that one foreign newspaper bannered twin headlines to catch the calamities of the day: "India is in Revolt, and The Thames Stinks."