Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-10-25
A HORRIBLE INDUSTRY.
Boiling the Bodies and Homes OF Hsen and
Animals Tor Scientific Purposes.
4 ottn 10. IrA

~ AAOAhhAO11 ANDU0AhNs
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Boiling the Bodies aud Homes OF nRen and
Animals Tor Scientific Purposes.
Paris Letter In Boston journal
This is the time OF year when the ordi-
nary sweetness Of the Paris atmosphere is
disturbed by odors plainly pcrceptible
even in the most palatial ahodee, and
which detract no little from the charm OF
residence in the capital In the summer.
Whenever the Director Of Public Works,
NJ Alphapd--who has had sort OF
tyrannical authority over everything re.
latlng to public improvements In Paris
for the last twenty or twenty-five years.
Is question on this. delicate topic he says
there are certain chemical establishments
in the suburbs which always give forth
disagreeable smells IN midsummer. The
travelling public, unaware OF the fact that
Paris is the best drained city in the uni
verse, attribute these 90 rs TO emanations
from the sewers, but NJ. Alphand is UNI
deuhtedlY rlgh', only he tells but half the
truth. Paris has been surrounded for the
last two years with ring OF vilely-
smelling glucose and cider factories,
where all sorts Of denominations are made
up into drinks which the poor classes lind
very pallatable, but which probably do
them great harm morally and physically
One OF those enterprising people who is
always peering into ont-of-the-way places
has Just given his contribution TO the sub
iect OF these odors, aud IL Is not entirely
inviting, although it Is curious enough.
lie says that during long walks through
the plain OF ST. Denis he came one day
upon looking range OF build
ings, carefully protected from outside OBJ
servation, and from this establishment
issued odors which ought to have driven
him away, but which so piqued his curl
oslty that he set about finding means OF
entrance. II CHANGED that he was In the
habit not only Of walking In the plain OF
St. Denis, but Of promenadlng the wards
of hospitals in his quality Of medical stu.
dent; and being present one day at the
dismissal OF patient who had had what
the doctors call an "lnteresting diseese,n
he said TO this patient "What are you
| going 10 turn your attention TO now that
| you are quite welf" 81 am going back
10 my old business" sad the woman, for
| IL was woman, with little hesitation In
her speech. Sand what WAS your bust
ness?n clam preparer OF skeletons.n
This declaration OF such an unusual pro-
fession led to long interview, in the
course Of which our explorer discovered
| that the woman was one OF numerous
band OF employees who worked night and
day in the mysterious range OF buildings
| In the plain OF ST. Denis, aud transformed
| the bodies brought from the hospitals and
prisons, not only Of France but OF foreign
countries, into skeletons for the students
| OF anatomy aud for the cabinets Of sur
geons. BY judicious bribery this cur
iously-minded person obtained entrance
into the establishment of St. Denis, whore
he saw things which he has described at
much length and which are sufficiently
startling.
In one OF the buildings Is an immense
row OF cauldTons, In which are boiled the
bodies not only OF men and women but OF
various animals whose bodies are needed
for the purpose OF study. Thither In
ghastly procession come at night carts
from the prisons and hospitals, and the
youthful assassin fresh from the scaffold
and the oyerworkcd cid drudge who has
found his final resting-place Ia hospital
ward are placed in the cauldron TO have all
the flesh boiled OF their bones. IL Is we'll
known that the burial OF mprderers is
only polite fiction, as the bodies are
almost Immediately removed from the
cemetery OF the condemned and taken
either to the dissectlng rooms Of hospi-
tal or TO this peculiar place which | am
now describing. Our explorer was In
| formed by the person who introduced him
to this lugubrious place that large num-
bers OF bodies have been brought for the
last few years from AUSTRIA and the sup
position IL that they are disinterred from
| the battehelds which have been so
numerous-since 1877 in Southeastern
Europe. The view Of this cauldron-room
at night, with the quiet and respectable