The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-04 00:00:00

THE SANITARY CONDITION OF PARIS.

We quoted, some months ago, a clever article on
this subject from the pen of Louis Lazare, chief
editor of the Revue Ilunicipale. Some time after,
Dr. Rigaud impugned M. Lazare's arguments, and
endeavoured to show that Paris, in 1760, was much
more unhealthy than Paris in 1860. In his opinion,
the nauseous exhalations emitted whenever the
ground has to be dug up for the purpose of re-
pairing a gas-pipe do not affect the general
health; the smoke from the tall chimnies of the
various ftctories encircling Paris is carried away,
harmless by the slightest breeze; the vast agglo-
meration of workmen in and around Paris is
the cause of its wealth and magnificence ; and,
litEtly, the streets are wider, and the sewerage in-
finitely better than in former days. To this M.
Lazare replies by reminding his adversary that a
hundred years ago the population was scarcely a
fourth of what it is at present, that the city was
girt with 97 magnificent parks belonging to as
many princely palaces, and intersected with the
gardens of numerous convents, all tending to fur-
nish a vast supply of pure air. Instead of this, Paris
is,now surrounded with quarters consisting of nar-
row streets, containing miserable houses, inhabited
by upwards of a million of working people closely
packed together, without the slightest attention
being paid to their comfort or cleanliness, or
to their due share of pure air and sun light.
" In permitting the establishment of numberless
factories within the capital," he says, " the ad-
ministration of the city Las done more harm
than good to the working classes. During
each visitation of Paris by cholera the scourge
was sure to reap the largest harvest in
those quarters where the working popula-
tion was most densely agglomerated. For one rich
tuan,the cholera in Paris has always carried off 42
poor people. Hence, therefore, in the interest of
the working-classes themselves, Paris ought not to
be transformed into a workshop of Vulcan. As re•
garde public security also, the capital should not
lose her character of Queen among the cities of
France. Beware of letting yourselves be blocked up
by a girdle of factories—it would soon become the
rope destined to strangle you was a saying of the
Comte de Chabrol. The more these great agglomer-
ations increase, the greater is the attraction they,
exercise on the provincial towns and country. Un-
less the evil be stemmed, the department of the
Seine will be inundated by all the poor of France ;
and at the beginning of the 20th century, if the
unheard•of, and astonishing progression of the last
15 years is to continue, that department will
count four millions of inhabitants, three-fourths
of whom will summon you to give them permanent
work, no matter at what sacrifice, to provide for their
daily food."

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