1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



167 



This article, in Rozier, occupios much exieni, * 

 and coiilaiiis a Menwirc sur les Posses iVAisance, 

 which I hail prejiaretl \vh(An [ was cn<j;ago-d in iii- 

 vestiiratinijj the subject, in concert with Lahorie 

 and M. Parnientier. ' The cniploymftnt of quick- 

 lime consists in slaKinf; it to put it in a stale 61' 

 powder, or to make a lluid by mixinn; it with very 

 little water, and to introiluce it into the contents ol" 

 the pit, by stirrini:^ it wilh a pole: then the aiephitic 

 exhalations are destroyed or confined. The |iro- 

 portion ot" lime required, depends on the mass of 

 matters, and the cessation of the existence of 

 mephitic gas, of \Vhich we may be assu/'ed by let- 

 ting down a lighted candle to the surface. If the 

 flame is extinguished, or even burns dimly, there is 

 still mephitic air undecomposed, and more quicks 

 lime is to be added. 



As to fire, there are many modes of applyioiff it. 

 Either a chafing-dish of burning coals is placed in 

 the pit, and left there to burn out completely, or 

 dr}' straw is lighted on it. It is useful to niake- 

 (in the walls) air holes; they may serve for the 

 escape of the lightest gases; but how little do 

 they draw, when the atmosphere weighs on their 

 orifices! For it is of the fosse cVaisance as of the 

 barometer — or rather it is one of the most faithful 

 of barometers. The weather wilT continue clear, 

 as long as, from the holes over the pit, there arises. 

 amynonia, that purgent odor so sensible to the ej'es, 

 and to the smell. 



The crust is sometimes firm enough, ! have said, 

 for the workman, without inconvenience, to walk 

 upon its surface. This surface is commonly cov- 

 ered with sulphur, as is also" often the vault (or 

 arched covering) of the pit to which the sulphur 

 sublimes, and fixes on. Sulphur is a very abun- 

 dant product of the tij'rmentatiort of animal sub- 

 stances; under these circumstances it is formed in 

 the humid mode. When charged with the exca- 

 vation of the half-moon of the gate of Saint-Anto- 

 ine, which, from a very remote period, had been 

 made a common receptacle of filth, (voirie,) I was 

 struck with the enormous quantity of sulphur with 

 which the earth was impregnated. It is to this 

 sulphur, or rather to the sulphuretted hj^drogen 

 gas, which is formed in the pits, vanu is the most 

 mephitic of known gases, that are principally 

 owing the accidents produced by the operation of 

 emptying these receptacles. M. Dupuytrein has 

 thrown much light upon the different gases held 

 by the matter of the fosses (Vaisance. At the time 

 when I was occupied in this investigation, Lavois- 

 ier, the Abbe Fontanes, whom I had invited to 

 repeat or examine the experiments, could not pro- 

 nounce upon tlie diversi'y of emanating gases; of 

 which one kind, the mitfe, [as vulgarly termed,] 

 which limits its effects to causing to the workman 

 a momentary blindness, seeming to affegt merely 

 the system of optic nerves — whilst the other oc- 

 casions the painter's colic, and conducts its victim 

 to the state of paralysis, to asphyxia, and finally 

 to death. The experiments of M. Dupuytrein, 

 though interestmg in their relation to science, have 

 changed nothing in the preservative means which 

 we have stated, to wit, quicklime and fire, as the 

 destructive or ventilating agents. It is to the neg- 



* It is the writer of this article, Cadet de Vaux, who 

 ■speaks, and probably in reference to the previous edi- 

 tion of Rozier's Cours Complet. — Ed. Far. Reg. 



ligence of these means, I repeal, to which is to be 

 attributed the accidents that, occur from time to time. 



Lime is the most energetic disinfecting ajient. 

 Throw it into the putrid fluid (vanne) ol^a fosse, 

 and if becomes instantly inodorous; it fixes, (en- 

 chaine,) it decomposes all the mephitic gases, [t 

 is thus, that when thrown into a fosse, it suspends 

 the extrication bf infectious emanations, at the 

 same time thai it arrests the tumescejice and fer- 

 mentation of the matter, which is lowered, and the 

 space of time before the emptying becomes abso- 

 lutely necessary, is thereby prolonged. It is recom- 

 mended by many to throw snow into the pits, on 

 the pretence of its econoniizing the emptying, be- 

 cause).,as it is said, the snow consumes the excre- 

 raentitious matter. If the soil in which a pit is 

 sunk is so pervious as to permit the infiltration of 

 the liquid portion of its contents, then the adding 

 of snow (that is, water,) by giving more fluidity, 

 will facilitate the imbibing by the soil. But if the 

 pit is well and solidly constructed, and loses noth- 

 ing by filtration, the addition of snow does but aug- 

 ment the mass, and hasten the time of emptying. 

 It is thus that people assert every thing, because 

 they believe every thing — and ignorance loves 

 best that which is the most improbable. 



There is a phenomenon which it is suitable to 

 mention in this article, as sometimes causing acci- 

 dents. It often happens that children throw light- 

 ed papers dovvn through the orifices of the seats 

 over the fosses. When our barometer-fosse, in 

 plade of ammonia, exhales sulphuretted hydroden, 

 this gas, the most combustible of all, takes fire, witli 

 explosion; and if a sufficient quantity of sulphur is 

 formed upon the crust, or upon the arched roof, the 

 bursting of the roof of the pit may be tlie result. 

 This gas oi' fosses is also met vvith in mines, and 

 takes fire there fi-om the lamps of the workmen- 

 But in the mines, the explosion is seldom attended 

 with injut'y, because there is communication by 

 galleries, or by the ceiling, with the atmosphere: 

 the workman throws himself flat on the floor, and 

 it is as nauch if his hair is singed by the meteor- 

 like fire, which burns but little, and very rapidly,. 



But why should fosses be peraiitted to exist, 

 when their contents occasion so many accidents? 

 Their cleaning, out is the profession the most 

 abject and most disgusting; and it is difficult to 

 conceive how men can devote themselves to it 

 voluntarily. Certainly, humanity would not per- 

 mit that a legislator should inscribe such a pun- 

 ishment on the penal code. The workman em- 

 ployed in this wretched business,' raises the stone 

 that serves to close the entrance to the vault, and 

 often there immediately exhales a mofeite, or 

 gas, dangerous or mortal. Another m(feite is 

 found under the crust into which he cuts, which 

 escapes at the first stroke of the hoe. He puts 

 down his ladder, and descends into this gulf; he 

 makes the reign of the cross, asking the protec- 

 tion of Heaven. He draws out the putrid fluid ; 

 at the end of some minutes, it is the mitfe* which 

 reaches him; he is struck with blindness; he is 

 drawn dut, if not blind, at least deprived of sight 

 for more or less time. Or perhaps it is the plomb;* 

 his knees fail, he staggers, and has a universal 



*These are provincial names given tothe different ex- 

 halations, for mofelfes,) as distinguished by their dif. 

 ferent poisonous effects on these exposed to their great- 

 est power. — Ed. 



