168 



F A R iM E R S ' REGISTER 



[No. 3 



lice to have gone to much extent. But as ills the 

 resuh ol" (supposed) necessity, it will increase with 

 the (jrowth of the towns; and as such receptacles 

 Avill be of course concealed as much as possible, 

 from ohservation, their existence will not be known, 

 nor the exteiji of the evil esliniaied, and scarcely 

 even suspected. 



In France, in past times, when there was neither 

 the refinement of manners, nor the knowledge of 

 the evils produced, that now would (brbid the in- 

 troduc'.ion of such a cisage, large and deep cover-' 

 ed pits, or Vaults, to privies, we're common in the 

 smaller towns, and which v/ere by no means kept 

 ii)r private use. In such public places (fosses 

 d'aisance) the rapid accumulatioii nmde it abso- 

 lutely necessary to removtj the msjtter sonnMiraes,. 

 thouo'h vevy rarely; and a description of the state 

 of thinirs at such times, and the effects prod'uced,., 

 on health, and even lite,.andthe necessity of guard- 

 inir atramst them, will serve to show to-our citizens, 

 who have never thought of any evils except that 

 of offensiveuess to the senses and to decency, that 

 effluvia, always hurtful and sometimes deadly in 

 effect, are actually evolved. And. it shoujd be 

 borne in mind, that the same effluvia must be ex- 

 tricated from smaller accumulations also, though 

 the effects are diminished according to the shialler 

 amount and more-iiradual extrication, of more di- 

 luted state of the doses inhaled by the surrounding 

 population. 



There is another and still more disgssting, and 

 still more evident effect of .accumulations of pu-^ 

 Irescent animal matters in ^owns, presented in the 

 infiltration of the fluid parts through pervious strata 

 of earth, and the consequent ajlraixture with the 

 water supplying springs and wells. This part of 

 the subject maybe resumed, and treated more.at 

 length iti a future number of these observations, so 

 ^s not now to interrupt the consideration of the 

 effects of gaseous or aeriform products of accurau- 

 iations of putrefying animal matters. 



No. III. 



The police of filth, in towns, continued. Facts 

 .and opinions on the subject from French authori- 

 ties. 



The f^-)Ilowing article, which I have translated 

 from Rozier's '^ Coins Complet d'' jjgricalture,^'' etc. 

 (Paris edition, of 1S15,) will serve to present in a 

 stronger point of view the dangers to health caused 

 by accumulations ol foecal matters in towns. The 

 reader may be instructed by its facts and' reason- 

 ing, as to the importance of the subject to health — 

 and he will also he amused by the display of, tech- 

 nical terms, and form of scientific arrangement and 

 classification, applied to such a subject. But this 

 manner of the French author, nevertheless, fur- 

 nishes additional evidence that the subject bds 

 been long studied in his country, and therefore, 

 that the results obtained, and the opinions derived, 

 are the more entitled to respect. 



It is proper to premise, that in France, and else- 

 where in Europe, the poorer cultivators and inhab- 

 itants of the country do not generally have sepa- 

 rate and isolated dwellings, as in the United States, 

 but are collected in villages, or hamlets, which are 

 surrounded by the fields which the inhabitants cul- 

 tivate, and the pastures on which their cattle graze. 

 This state of things, which was originally required 



for mutuaf securitj'^, and which old habits still re- 

 tain in use, has no existence in the United States, 

 except aniono; some cultivators of French descent, 

 on the Mississippi, and the laborers in cotton or 

 other large factories. It is to villages, and per- 

 haps crowded villages, that the author relisrs, in 

 the following piece, when speaking of the "coun- 

 try;'''' and the "fossts d^aisance'" oi which he treats 

 weVe common to the use of many persons. The 

 injurious effects described, like the 'circumstances 

 which produced them, are also (as yet) without 

 .parallel in tliis country. ' But we have no right 

 thence tosup[)ose that our diflijrent habits lead to 

 no |ianger, or to much less evil than the deep and 

 large vaulted ^fosses c?'«i'sflnce."'' In tlie latter, as 

 described' in the French account, the accumula- 

 tion' of foecal matter, and the concentration of the 

 energy of its poisonous products, serve to exhibit 

 its worst virulence bearing upon a Small space, and 

 upon the very liiw persons most exposed by near- 

 ness, or actual contact. But if the matter was dif- 

 fused, as by the. practices and haliits of our popula- 

 tion, the same kind of fermentation would proceed, 

 the same products be exhaled, and as much deadly 

 aerilbrm [)oison be evolved and breathed, but ren- 

 dered scarcely sensible in effect, by being widely 

 diffused over much spaces, greatly diluted, and 

 thus divided among a much greater number of 

 persons. 



[Translaiion.1 



Fo^se d'' /Usance. This subject relates directly 

 to agriculture, as furnishing one of the most excel- 

 lentmanures, at the same time that it interests the 

 health, and even the life of tlie cultivator; lor, how 

 many casualties occur in the country [villages] by 

 the, emptying of these pits, ibr want of knowing the 

 means of preventing them! 



We shall nor speak of their construction, which 

 makes an essential part of the art of building; but 

 we are goinff to enter upon some details in regard 

 to the various substances which compose the mat- 

 ter, or contents, of the pits. AVe have not to fear 

 exciting the dise;ust of the cultivator; accustomed 

 as he is to excfementitious matters, he will consent 

 that we shall instruct liim concerning tliat of which 

 he is less inlbrmed. 



These substances are distinguished by the names 

 of the crust, (croute) htcate, vanne, and scrapings 

 (gratin). The crust has often sufficient thickness 

 and firmness to sustain the weight of the laborers 

 walking on its suritice! The hecate is the pyra- 

 midal heaps. The vanne, is the liquid part, usu- 

 ally of a grfeen color, and is corrupted (ii facte). 

 The scrapings are the parts adhering to the walls, 

 and to the bottom of the pit. 



The crust is sometirhes pushed up (from the 

 mass below) by a sufficiently voluminous layer of 

 mephitic gas, so as to induce the belief that the 

 pit is full. In this case, the emptying of the pit 

 may be put off to a future time, by merely open- 

 ing into, and facilitating the escape of the inter- 

 mediary layer of gas, and thereby lowering the 

 crust. 



We proceed now to the accidents occasioned by 

 the emptj'ing, and often even by the mere opening 

 of a (covered) pit. Frequent as such accidents are 

 in the cities, tlieyare much more so in the country 

 [villages,] in consequence of the litde experience of 

 this operation. The two only means of preventing 

 tliem are quicklime and fire. 



