As the Court of Sewers have recently adopted some of the French
regulations concerning cesspoolage, I will now give an account of the
cesspool system of France.
When after the ravages of the epidemic cholera of 1848-9, sanitary
commissioners under the authority of the legislature pursued their
inquiries, it was deemed essential to report upon the cesspool system
of Paris, as that capital had also been ravaged by the epidemic. The
task was entrusted to Mr. T. W. Rammell, C.E.
Even in what the French delight to designate--and in some respects
justly--the most refined city in the world, a filthy and indolent
custom, once common, as I have shown, in England, still prevails.
In Paris, the kitchen and _dry_ house-refuse (and formerly it was
the fæcal refuse also) is deposited in the dark of the night in the
streets, and removed, as soon as the morning light permits, by the
public scavengers. But the refuse is not removed unexamined before
being thrown into the cart of the proper functionary. There is in Paris
a large and peculiar class, the chiffonniers (literally, in Anglo-Saxon
rendering, the _raggers_, or rag-finders). These men nightly traverse
the streets, each provided with a lantern, and generally with a basket
strapped to the back; the poorer sort, however--for poverty, like rank,
has its gradations--make a bag answer the purpose; they have also a
pole with an iron hook to its end; and a small shovel. The dirt-heaps
or mounds of dry house-refuse are carefully turned over by these men;
for their morrow’s bread, as in the case of our own street-finders,
depends upon _something_ saleable being acquired. Their prizes are
bones (which sometimes they are seen to gnaw); bits of bread; wasted
potatoes; broken pots, bottles, and glass; old pans and odd pieces of
old metal; cigar-ends; waste-paper, and rags. Although these people are
known as rag-pickers, rags are, perhaps, the very thing of which they
pick the least, because the Parisians are least apt to throw them away.
In some of the criminal trials in the French capital, the chiffonniers
have given evidence (but not much of late) of what they have found
in a certain locality, and supplied a link, sometimes an important
one, to the evidence against a criminal. With these refuse heaps is
still sometimes mixed matter which should have found its way into the
cesspools, although this is an offence punishable, and occasionally
punished.
Before the habits of the Parisians are too freely condemned, let it be
borne in mind that the houses of the French capital are much larger
than in London, and that each floor is often the dwelling-place of a
family. Such is generally the case in London in the poorer districts,
but in Paris it pervades almost all districts. There, some of the
houses contain 70, not fugitive but permanent, inmates. The average
number of inhabitants to each house, according to the last census,
was upwards of _twenty-four_ (in London the average is 7·6), the
extremes being eleven to each house in St. Giles’s and between five
and six in the immediate suburbs (see p. 165, _ante_). Persons who are
circumstanced then, as are the Parisians, can hardly have at their
command the proper means and appliances for a sufficient cleanliness,
and for the promotion of what we consider--but the two words are
unknown to the French language--the _comforts_ of a _home_.
“The greater portion of the liquid refuse,” writes Mr. Rammell,
“including water, which has been used in culinary or cleansing
processes, is got rid of by means of open channels laid across the
court-yards and the foot pavements to the street gutters, along which
it flows until it falls through the nearest gully into the sewers, and
ultimately into the Seine. If produced in the upper part of a house,
this description of refuse is first poured into an external shoot
branching out of the rainwater pipe, with one of which every floor is
usually provided. Iron pipes have been lately much introduced in place
of the open channels across the foot pavements; these are laid level
with the surface, and are cast with an open slit, about one inch in
width, at the top, to afford facility for cleansing. During the busy
parts of the day there are constant streams of such fluids running
through most of the streets of Paris, the smell arising from which is
by no means agreeable. In hot weather it is the practice to turn on
the public stand pipes for an hour or two, to dilute the matter and
accelerate its flow.”
“With respect to fæcal refuse,” says Mr. Rammell, “and much of the
house-slops, particularly those of bed-chambers, the _cesspool_ is
universally adopted in Paris as the immediate receptacle.”
By far the greater proportion of the wet house-refuse of Paris,
therefore, is deposited in cesspools.
I shall, then, immediately proceed to show the quantity of matter thus
collected yearly, as well as the means by which it is removed.
The aggregate _quantity_ of the cesspool matter of Paris has greatly
increased in quantity within the present century, though this might
have been expected, as well from the increase of population as from
the improved construction of cesspools (preventing leakage), and the
increased supply of water in the French metropolis.
The following figures show both the aggregate quantity and the
increase that has taken place in the cesspoolage of Paris, from 1810 to
the present time:--
Cub. Mètres. Cub. Feet.
In 1810 the total
quantity of refuse matter
deposited in the
basins at Montfaucon
amounted to 50,151 = 1,770,330
In 1811 the quantity
was 49,545 = 1,748,938
In 1812 49,235 = 1,737,995
------ ---------
Giving an average
for the three years of 49,877 = 1,760,658
The quantity at present
conveyed to Montfaucon
and Bondy
amounts, according to
M. Héloin (a very good
authority), to from 600
to 700 cubic mètres
daily, giving, in round
numbers, an annual
quantity of 230,000 = 8,119,000
This shows an increase in 36 years of very nearly 400 per cent, but
still it constitutes little more than one-half the cesspoolage of
London.
The quantity of refuse matter which is daily drawn from the cesspools,
Mr. Rammell states--and he had every assistance from the authorities
in prosecuting his inquiries--at “between 600 and 700 cubic mètres;
(21,180 and 24,710 cubic feet), giving, in round numbers, the annual
quantity of 230,000 cubic mètres.
“Dividing this annual quantity at 230,000 cubic mètres (or 8,000,000
cubic feet) by the number of the population of Paris (94,721
individuals, according to the last census), we have 243 litres only as
the annual produce from each individual. The daily quantity of matter
(including water necessary for cleanliness) passing from each person
into the cesspool in the better class of houses is stated to be 1-3/4
litre (3·08 pints), or 638 litres annually. The discrepancy between
these two quantities, wide as it is, must be accounted for by the fact
of a large proportion of the lower orders in Paris rarely or ever using
any privy at all, and by allowing for the small quantity of water made
use of in the inferior class of houses. There can be no doubt that
this latter quantity of 1-3/4 litre daily is very nearly correct, and
not above the average quantity used in houses where a moderate degree
of cleanliness is observed. This proportion was ascertained to hold
good in the case of some barracks in Paris, where the contents of the
cesspools were accurately measured, the total quantity divided by the
number of men occupying the barracks, and the quotient by the number of
days since the cesspools had been last emptied; the result showing a
daily quantity of 1-3/4 litre from each individual.
“The average charge per cubic mètre for extraction and transport of the
cesspoolage is nine francs, giving a gross annual charge of 2,070,000
francs (82,800_l._ sterling), which sum, it would appear, is paid every
year by the house-proprietors of Paris for the extraction of the matter
from their cesspools, and its transport to the Voirie.”
Mr. Rammell says that, were a tubular system of house-drainage, such as
has been described under the proper head, adopted in Paris, in lieu of
the present mode, it would cost less than one-tenth of the expense now
incurred.
The principal place of deposit for the general refuse of Paris has long
been at Montfaucon. A French writer, M. Jules Garnier, in a recent
work, “A Visit to Montfaucon,” says:--“For more than nine hundred years
Montfaucon has been devoted to this purpose. There the citizens of
Paris deposited their filth before the walls of the capital extended
beyond what is now the central quarter. The distance between Paris and
Montfaucon was then more than a mile and a half.” Thus it appears that
Montfaucon was devoted to its present purposes, of course in a much
more limited degree, as early as the reign of King Charles the Simple.
This deposit of cesspool matter is the property of the commune (as in
the city of London it would be said to belong to the “corporation”),
and it is farmed out, for terms of nine years, to the highest bidders.
The amount received by the commune has greatly increased, as the
following returns, which are official, will show:--
A.D. Francs £
1808 the cesspoolage fetched 97,000, abt. 3,880
1817 „ 75,000, „ 3,000
1834 „ 165,000, „ 7,000
1843 „ 525,000, „ 21,000
It is here that the “_poudrette_,”[74] of which I have spoken
elsewhere, is prepared. Besides this branch of commerce, Montfaucon has
establishments for the extracting of ammonia from the cesspool matter,
and the right of doing so is now farmed out for 80,000 francs a-year
(3200_l_).
Montfaucon is on the north side of Paris, and the place of refuse
deposit is known as the Voirie. The following account of it, and of
the manufacture of poudrette, is curious in many respects:--
“The area, which is about 40 acres in extent, is divided into three
irregular compartments:--
“1. The system of basins.
“2. The ground used for spreading and drying the matter.
“3. The place where the matter is heaped up after having been dried.
“The basins, standing for the most part in gradations, one above
another, by reason of the slope of the ground, are six in number. The
two upper ones, which are upon a level, first receive the soil upon its
arrival at the Voirie; the four others are receptacles for the more
liquid portion as it gradually flows off from the upper basins.
“There is a great difference in the character of the soil brought; that
taken from the upper part of the cesspools, and amounting to a large
proportion of the whole, being entirely liquid; while the remainder is
more or less solid, according to the depth at which it is taken. The
whole, however, during winter or rainy weather, is indiscriminately
deposited in the upper basins; but in dry weather, the nearly solid
portion is at once thrown upon the drying-ground.”[75]
“The quantity of poudrette sold in 1818 was:--
At the Voirie 50,000 setiers[76]
Sent into the departments 20,000 „
------
Total sale 70,000 „
at prices of 7, 8, and 9 francs the setier.
“This is equal, at the average price of 8 francs, to 22,400_l._
sterling.
“The refuse liquids, as fast as they overflow the basins, or are passed
through the chemical works, are conducted into the public sewers, and
through them into the Seine, nearly opposite the Jardin des Plantes.
_They thus fall into the river at the very commencement of its course
through Paris, and pollute its waters before they have reached the
various works lower down and near the centre of the city, where they
are raised and distributed for household purposes, for the supply of
baths, and for the public fountains._
“Rats are found by thousands in the Voirie, and their voracity is such,
that I have often known them, during a single night, convert into
skeletons the carcasses of twenty horses which had been brought thither
the evening before. The bones are burnt to heat the coppers, or to get
rid of them.
“Speaking of the disgusting practices at the Voirie, Mr. Gisquet
says, ‘I have seen men stark naked, passing entire days in the midst
of the basins, seeking for any objects of value they might contain.
I have seen others fishing for the rotten fish the market inspectors
had caused to be thrown into the basins. Two cartloads of spoilt and
stinking mackerel were thrown into the largest of the basins; two hours
afterwards all the fish had disappeared.’
“The emanations from the Voirie are, as may well be supposed, most
powerfully offensive. To a stranger unaccustomed to the atmosphere
surrounding them it would be almost impossible to make the tour of
the basins without being more or less affected with a disposition to
nausea. Large and numerous bubbles of gas are seen constantly rising
from a lake of urine and water, while evaporation of the most foul
description is going on from many acres of surrounding ground, upon
which the solid matter is spread to dry.”
The late M. Parent du Châtelet, a high authority on this matter, stated
(in 1833) that the emanations from the Voirie were insupportable
within a circumference of 2000 mètres (about a mile and a quarter,
English measure); while the winds carried them sometimes, as was shown
when an official inquiry was made as to the ravages and causes of
cholera, 2-1/2 miles; and in certain states of the atmosphere, 8 French
miles (not quite 5 English miles). The same high authority has also
stated, that in addition to the emanations from the cesspool matter at
the Voirie the greater part of the carcasses of about 12,000 horses,
and between 25,000 and 30,000 smaller animals, were allowed to rot upon
the ground there.
To abate this nuisance a new Voirie was, more than 20 years since,
formed in the forest of Bondy, 8 miles from Paris. It consists of
eight basins, four on each side of the Canal de l’Ourcq, arranged
like those at Montfaucon. The area of these basins is little short of
96,000 square yards, and their collective capacity upwards of 261,000
cubic yards. The expectations of the relief that would be experienced
from the establishment of the new Voirie in the forest have not been
realized. The movable cesspools only have been conveyed there, by boats
on the canal, to be emptied; the empty casks being conveyed back by
the same boats. The basins are not yet full; for the conveyance by the
Canal de l’Ourcq is costly, and in winter its traffic is sometimes
suspended by its being frozen. In one year the cost of conveying these
movable cesspools to Bondy was little short of 1500_l._
In the latest Report on this subject (1835) the Commissioners, of whom
M. Parent du Châtelet was one, recommend that all the cesspool matter
at the Voiries should be disinfected. M. Salmon, after a course of
chemical experiments (the Report of the Commission states), disinfected
and carbonized a mass of mud and filth, containing much organic matter,
deposited (from a sewer) on the banks of the Seine.
The Commissioners say, “The discovery of M. Salmon awakened the
attention of the contractors of Montfaucon, who employed one of our
most skilful chemists to find for them a means of disinfection other
than that for which M. Salmon had taken out a patent. M. Sanson and
some other persons made similar researches, and from their joint
investigations it resulted that disinfection might be equally well
produced with turf ashes, with carbonized turf, and with the simple
_débris_ of this very abundant substance; and that the same success
might be obtained with saw-dust, with the refuse matter of the
tan-yards, with garden mould, so abundant in the environs of Paris, and
with many other substances. A curious experiment has even shown, that
after mixing with a clayey earth a portion of fæcal matter, it was only
necessary to carbonize this mixture to obtain a perfect disinfectant
powder. Theory had already indicated the result.”
This disinfection, however, has not been carried out in the Voiries,
nor in the manufacture of poudrette.
From the account of the general refuse depositories of Paris we pass to
the particular receptacles or cesspools of the French capital.