1818.] M. de Morveau. 403 



distinguished himself professionally as a hamster and a magis- 

 trate, and at the opening of the session of the parliament of 

 Burgundy pronounced a discourse " Sw les Mceurs," much 

 admired for its eloquence, and truly valuable for the liberal spirit 

 which it breathes. 



The year 1773 produced two memoirs on controversial che- 

 mistry from the pen of Morveau, entitled " Defence dc la vola- 

 tilite de Phlogistiqae," and " Parallth du Phlogistique et du 

 Causticum," in which, however, we perceive no great novelty, 

 either in the facts or arguments. He also laid before the 

 Academy of Dijon an analysis of a mineral water from Mont 

 Cenis. 



His two most important communications, however, in this 

 year, remain to be noticed. 



The workmen employed in clearing out some of the vaults 

 below the cathedral of Dijon, finding themselves much annoyed 

 by the putrid exhalations, were induced from some vague notions 

 of their own to spread quicklime on the corrupted and half 

 decomposed animal matter in the hope of destroying the effluvium. 

 The consequence, however, of their experiment, was the disen- 

 gagement of a prodigious quantity of excessively fetid ammo- 

 niacal gas, which, penetrating through the pavement into the 

 body of the church, filled the whole cavity of the building, 

 preventing the performance of religious service, and even ex- 

 tending its putrid odour to the adjacent houses. Brasiers, full 

 of burning charcoal, into which were thrown from time to time 

 aromatic resins, vinegar, nitre, &c. were found insufficient to 

 dispel the odour. In this dilemma M. de Morveau offered his 

 services, which were readily accepted. From an examination of 

 the circumstance which occasioned the annoyance, he concluded 

 that it arose from the disengagement of ammoniacal gas holding 

 fetid oil in solution, and that the most effectual way of getting 

 rid of it would be by the use of some very volatile acid which 

 would neutralize the alkali and thus dispose the oil to collect in 

 small drops and fall to the ground. He accordingly arranged 

 some large basins of common salt on the floor of the cathedral, 

 and after pouring into each of them a quantity of sulphuric acid, 

 caused the church doors to be closed for several hours. The 

 muriatic acid gas thus liberated diffused itself through every part 

 of the building, and entirely freed it from the odour by which it 

 had been infested. The public prisons of the town were some 

 time after, it is said, purified by the same means from an 

 infectious fever, which raged among their inhabitants. Of 

 this, indeed, there is no mention in M. Morveau's memoir; 

 but the analogy is so easy from its efficacy on one occasion to its 

 application in the other (especially considering how generally, 

 even by professional and scientific men, putrid exhalations are 

 confounded with infectious miasmata), that we may ascribe to 

 M. Morveau the merit of original discovery on this important 



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