166 BAILLY. 



slaughter-houses still existed in the interior of the capital 

 in 1788 ; for instance, at 1 Apport-Paris, La Croix-Rouge, 

 in the streets of the Butcheries, Mont-Martre, Saint-Mar 

 tin, Traversine, &c. &c. The oxen were, consequently, 

 driven in droves through frequented parts of the town ; 

 enraged by the noise of the carriages, by the excitements 

 of the children, by the attacks or barking of the wander 

 ing dogs, they often sought to escape, entered houses or 

 alleys, spread alarm everywhere, gored people, and com 

 mitted great damage. Fetid gases exhaled from build 

 ings too small and badly ventilated ; the offal that had to 

 be carried away gave out an insupportable smell ; the 

 blood flowed through the gutters of the neighbourhood, 

 with other remains of the animals, and putrefied there. 

 The melting of tallow, an inevitable annexation of all 

 slaughter-houses, spread around disgusting emanations, 

 and occasioned a constant danger of fire. 



So inconvenient, so repulsive a state of things, awak 

 ened the solicitude of individuals and of the public admin 

 istration ; the problem was submitted to our predecessors, 

 and Bailly, as usual, became the reporter of the Academ 

 ical Committee. The other members were Messrs. Tillet, 

 Darcet, Daubenton, Coulomb, Lavoisier, and Laplace. 



When Napoleon, wishing to liberate Paris from the 

 dangerous and insalubrious results of internal slaughter 

 houses, decreed the construction of the fine slaughter 

 houses known by everybody, he found the subject already 

 well examined, exhibited in all its points of view, in 

 Bailly s excellent work. &quot; We ask,&quot; said the reporter of 

 the Academical Commission in 1788, &quot; we ask that the 

 shambles be removed to a distance from the interior of 

 Paris;&quot; and these interior shambles have disappeared 

 accordingly. Does it create surprise that it required more 



