The Hickman courier., 1871-08-05
MISCELLANY.
A Ride Through the Sewers Of
Paris.
BY DR.. H. W. BELLOWS.

Descending a winding staircase, we
found ourselves at twenty feet below the
surface in stone tunnel, through the
csntre Of which ran a channel of ten feet
wide, and perhaps five deep, through
which a stream of almost iDoffensive
sewage was just about emptying itself
into the Seine. Suspended in the air on
iron posts, ten feet above the floor, were
t&o great pipes, of the diameter Of six
feet each, through which the water flows
that supplies certain wants of the city.
Telegraph wires, enclosed in lead pipes,
were also hung on the sides of the vault
of the sewer Gas pipes | looked for,
but did not find, and why, cannot sur
mise, as there was room for them and
much more The long hall-for 1t seem
ed such-opened in several directions,
end was lighted quite brilliantly with oil
lamps aud re1ectors. We found our
selves 10 what may be called the Depot,
IL the midst of seventy five ladies and
gentlemen Cat least half ladies' who had
come on the same errand, and then learn
ed. for the first time, that the sewers
were cue of the great attractions OF PARIS,
and had daily some hundred of visitors
The authorities had provided with
French system for their proper reception
and conveyance, but under very strict
railroad Surveillance. Six open cars, hold
ing twelve persons each, nicely and even
elegantly baiIt, cushioned, and with
carcel lamp at each corner, were soon
filed with passengers. But do not i'm
agius the passengers got into them when
they pleased nr as they pleased. Ii they
had been dolls they could not have had
less freedom ia their motions. They
were ordered in and out, packed in pairs
and superintendent generally to very
offensive extent, but finally got their
places The rails are placed on the edge
Of the channel of the sewer, so that the
cars run directly over it. A path OF two
feet is left on each side, on which the
men ruu who propel the train. Ii moves
at the rate of perhaps five miles an hour.
We soon left the larger tunnel, and were
switched, ear by car, on circle oil on
a narrower track. We kept passing the
numbered openings of smaller sewers,
matching the streets above, and into
each of these were apparently openings
from each building in the street. 1t Is
Of these sewers, and if all Paris is brought
into the system, there is nothing extrav-
agant in the statement. The plan seems
20 be TO make the sewers so large and
high and light, and to pour 50 much
water continually through them, that IL
viii be possible ios q necessary force Of
men to live constantly in them (there IS
day and a night watch, twelve hours
each), watching and preventing any stop
page or accumulation, any leakage or
injury of any kind, either to the sewer
itself or to re pipes that carry the wa
ter, the telegraph wires, or any gas pipe
that may exist in other parts of the sys
tenn The 0.t outlay in the plan Of
these sewers Il is indeed overwhelming
10 consider; but the economy in their
management, after the original cost, is
equally vast, and no greater wisdom could
mark the z9jtary arrangements Of the
city. For, SO lou., as there are crowded,
clogged and filthy sewers under a city,
as in New York for instance, there will
be dreadful smells coming out OF their
mouths into the streets as IN New York.
Until the sewers themselves are built on
such rapid decline as to secure a swift
flow, and are foeSed often enough to
keep the gifs in them IN a thoroughly
LIQUID forni>there can be no adequate
security for pure air, andra healthy and
inoHesSiye atmosphere above ground
Now, the proof of the thorough purity of
Paris above ggund is the essential sweet
ness of the sewers themselves; and this
is proved by the fact that hundreds ct
workmen live here twelve hours of every
day without sickness or Developing any
local disease, and still more by the daily
evidence that troops of ladies and gen
tlemen go through the sewers without
spotting their garments or disgusting
their senses.
The boat, as it foated, aroused no
odor, / will not say the air of the sewer
was not damp, heavy and sitting, for ii
was very hot day. It was not an at
mosphere one would choose for July
noon, but it was far pufer than the air
above ground in many of the streets OF
New York in August or September.