The Sun.
London, England, 1802-01-07 00:00:00

AM-MEPHITIC' SPECIIF.

CITIZE:si .ANTOINE ALEXIS CADET DE VAUX
has lately addressed a Letter to the Minister of the
Interior, in which he communicates a cheap and
efficacious process, to , destroy, attl above all to
prevent, the mephitism with which walls are pene-
trated, wherever a number of people are, whether
in a state of health or sickness. Walls under such
-circumstances, become insensibly impregnated with
infcaictis exhalations,- which they re-exhale, where:.
ever there is an atmospberical motion ; in faft there
is both an aspiration, and a respiration. Currents
of ait, whepaadmitted, sweep and cleanse the at-
mosphere ;. but they do not carry away the mias-
mata concealed in the porosity of the 'walls, and
which retain the infedious humidity of the perspi-
ration of bodies, which gradually condenses cm their
' surface. In the Southern climates, and particularly
• in Italy, where the putt emary phthisis acquires a
chargter of energy. which renders it very cornmu-
nicative, experience has proved, that not only the
whole wardrobe should be burnt, all the moveable, :
-effeas placed in coptail with the phthisiS, but like-
- wise, that the superficial coating of walls aperof
floors should-be .done away; to prevent atheconta- '
gion whith• they' conceal and-re-exhale. - Citizen
CADET DE • VAUX is •of o '' ion, that quick_lime
pr
may be .substituted for :his purpose and become a
sufficient precaution, 'as being a powerful de. mephi;
tisator. • The most infected awns "and sieves lose '
their smell whei-Cinixed.with the whiting or size of
lime. Citizen CADET D. VAUX makes Mention of
haVing brought:-a vitrified carcase, to such a state,
as to be entirelr free from odour, which he had
been formerly authdrised by an arret of. Parliament
to exhume. This itnephitistn, he says, is so iohe-
renta that even time cannot dissipate it.; witness
the Daly-eon at Vincennes, when it ceased to be a
prison of State, under the Ministry of MALE-
SHERBES—the. ,persons, who had been prisoners in
it, were, among a multitude of Others,acurious to
-see it, and they found again the sames Cent which
had struck,them, on first entering it ; the.doors and
windows, howover,, had been removed, and the ele-
vation of-the Donjeon exposed it to the free aetion
of the air. . Workshops,. laat'ories, infirmaries, hos..
pitals, prisons, Ike.- have an atmosphere peculiar to
them-7-this atmosphere is fatal, or often becomes.
the germ of epidemical, and sometimes pestilential,
disorders, such as niiliopy, the hospital and prison-
fever, &c. See.: Plants 'deprived of air languish and
fade,' and by consequenCe much more animals, whOse .
lungs consume so large a mass of it. Citizen Guy,.
TON MO.IIV EAU has discovered a.metllod of purify- '
ing air, that contains in it the principle of epide-
mical or fatal disorders, by the help otmuriatic .gas,
and especially of muriatic gas oxygenated. He
purges •these atmospheres, and deprives them of -.
their miasmata, • which he confines, or rather de-
stroys. But this salutary means of purifj'irtg the
air cannot aft so . efficaciously on' walls Whicit•con7
ceal deeply, in the porosity of the stone, theraiap-
mata with which they are infetted; but the ,aaive .
power of lime produces this effect. titizcn CAD E T
DE VADx states the result of one of his. experi.
ments :—Being willing to try the eIFco of lin*as
a means of demephitisation, he removed frdiTrewall .
a thickness of pipelines (a French measure contain_
irig the twelfth part, of an inch) before lie arrived'
at the coating or layer not yet affeded. -The other
.portion of the same wall, reserved for an experi,
ment of comparison, was completely demephitised,
in the same thicknass, by three saccessive Applica-
tions of common white-wash, clean water and quick-
lime. But lime enters white-washing, and mayebe-
come the principal substance of 'it, by sabititating
it for Spanish white. This substitution is more .
economical, considering the cheap price of lime : a
toise of this White-washiog tvill only come to five •
't-litinies; as to the workmanshiP, hands, will ga'at be-:{
wanting• in houses .of so large establishments, where ,1
every' thing ought to be for: ceonotity.-IAS destroy
the mephitism of malls in .asylums 'of indigence and
misfortune, is'sdrne consideration ; but to prevent
the evil, riot to have to reined), it, is no less an ob-
jeet : but white-washing with lime,' as the principal
ingredient, • answers' this • purpose, .by preventing
Walls- from being impregnated with infeftious• inias- f
mata ; To the objection,' for what purpose 'is the
addition of the milk . and the Oil ?- the answer is,
that' lime -has no adherence on walls, that no body
Or substanCe can be given to' the layer; and lastly,
that the lightest rubbing with a simple pencil-brush
rubs is off, and leaves the Wall naked, whenee it
happens that the eontaft of walls so, whitened staips
' the clothes. The cheesy part of the milk, the ad-
dition of oil, which 'makes a soapy body with lime, '
form on the- contrary, after the evaporation of the
humidity, a dense, Coherent layer, susceptible of a
body : it is a sort of varnished plaster, which over- -
cbmes the porosity of stone, of plaster', of brick,
and of wood, and the dUst of which, may he re
moved,; without leaving the white-washed part
naked. This wash has another advantage, namely,
that of checking the nitrification of walls, which ,
the painting of them in water-colours aecelerates.
In facts glue is an animal substance, of which azote.
is one of the principal ingredients, but the decom-
position of .glue leaves the azote at liberty, which
• is likewise one of the constituent principles of nitric ,
acid; and consigns it to the oxygen with which it
forms this acid. White-washing formini-nb azote,-,
thete is one aliment less in the nitrification : it is'
not because the •cheesy.pait does-not also contain ;
azote, but as it is not alecomposed, this principle •
is not at.liberty to contra another union. More..
over this wash closes up the pores of the stone, .trid'i
is interposed between the walls and the-nitrifying
aftion. Citizen CADET DE Va.o x concludes a his:
' letter by observing that he has submitted his theory
• and experiments- to the two principal French Chy-:
mists, Citizens Fou a:: tioy and tnav ataux ; and tfiat;
supported by their authority, 'he can now recorne.
mend, especially for the useof Hospitals, his process,
of resinous white-Washing -(stibstituting, however,
lithe 'for Spanish white), as the most efficacious and;
economical means_ to destroy and to prevent the•
mephitisation of walls; the introduCtion of it, he
adds, will procure him the sweet satisfaction of;
having deserved well of Humanity and of ildineslic:
economy.: T ' ' .
. . .

1; and Published by WI Lir.t .m.c.A-Km c `Scitri'r s, ra.tfoise2terry-road. 1e tu~itist r);
for the Paper,Litteri for the Editor,, (iii.;viii)) LIMA ke•nad4resfgclf,