The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1893-09-07
WEALTH FROM REFUSE.
A Singular Industry Of the Great
City Of Paris.
Dead Animals Fished from the Rivers
and Sewers Treated with Chemicals
and Converted Into Useful Articles
of Commerce.

of Commerce.
The following account is given by
Charles CASTOR, who has for years
been connected with the famous firm
of Souffrice ct Gle, who have been win
ming wealth from the scwcr3 of Paris,
says the San Francisco Examiner.
Mr. CASTOR has not come to San
Francisco with the idea of suggesting
the adoption of the Paris system in
connection with the sewers here, but,
as an expert in his line, he has discov-
cred in a day that San Franciscos sys-
tenn of sewerage is at least several de-
grees short of the Partisan ideal
1.-The work done by the Maison Souf-
frice in Paris" said Mr.. CASTOR, could
not be carried on so well in San Fran
cisco or in Chicago as in New York, or
Philadelphia or Washington. 1t needs
stream, and Paris has the advantage
of the Seine, where there is no tide.
| With the help of the Seine MN. Souf-
frice have made an immense fortune,
and they have won it all from the waste
of great city. All the sewers of Paris,
| you must know, center in one great
| sewer which empties into the Seine
just below the bridge of Asnieres. All
the refuse, the greasy and dirty water,
the unclean waste of the shops and
| streets, pass into this and out upon the
river again in one form or another,
and it is from this we reap our har-
vest"
Mr.. CASTOR said the firm had never
asked sou for scavenging the city and
| found themselves fully repaid by
what they collected in the streets
and in the waters of the Seine. The
founder of the firm, as early as 1886,
began the study of how all waste ma
terial might be utilized. He afterward
| associated his sons and then his grand
| sons with him, and early in the eos
they took the job of keeping Paris
clean. They built big factory at
Bourget and had the chiffoniers bring
there the rags and refuse of the city
and they turned it into gold
The next step was the development
of a speciality in the utilization of the
waste of the butcher shops and sham
bles. This was all boiled in great vats
and the scum was made into oil and
candles and other merchantable com
modities One set of men collected the
rags and waste that engineers and ma
chinists used around the factories and
machine shops. The grease was ex-
trated from these and purified the rags
were sorted, the woolen stuff reduced
to powder for fertilization purposes,
and the cotton turned into paper stock.
Mr.. Gastons personal superintendent,
when at Paris, has been directly in con-
nection with the collection of things
found floating on the water. The firm
got permission to construct short piers
out into the Seine below the point
where the great sewer empties, and on
these men stand with huge forks or
spoons, lifting out everything that
floats along. 1t is all carted to Bour'
get and boiled and squeezed and sorted.
The grease is treated with lime, and is
transformed into soap and glycerine.
The wood, hay, stubble, eorks and pa.
per, when dry are used to feed the
factory furnace.
"You would probably be surprised
said Mr.. CASTOR, ito know how many
animals are picked up in the. Seine in
the course of year. l can give you
some figures that will astonish you
but / can assure you they are less thar
the actual records. have knowr
more than eight Thousand dogs to be
fished out of the Seine in a single year
Calves, sheep. goats and pigs come
aloug every day or two. Scarcely 9
day passes without goose, or a duck
or chicken being found, and rats arr
very plentiful.
"Next to the dogs, however, come
the rabbits. The poor people Of Paril
all haye dogs, and most Of them raise
rabbits in Q back yard or on the roof
The latter breed SO fast that many o.
them are thrown into the sewer, ant
then they are part of the fish that
come to the Souffrice net. Cats come
under the same category. All these
bodies are treated with chemicals, ant
the different parts are utilized to the
best advantage"
An incidental industry developed II
this connection was referred to by Mr.
CASTOR as asticots. The eggs of the
myriads of flies that congregate OF
: decayed matter at the Bourget factory
produce SO many grubs that it wal
found possible to supply them as bal
!, for the entire fishing contingent O
Paris, and it is not unusual for the firm
to sell five Thousand dollars worth O.
: these grubs during single fishing
season.
"Those connected with the Souffric'
establishment are often told," said h,
in conclusion, "that the original ides
of the great business was suggested
by Victor Hugo's remark in Les Mis-
cradles that Paris throws into th'
water every year twenty-five million
francs.'"
A Chinese Bill of Fare.
Here is the bill of fare for banque
lafalv rivap 70 tho foraiop diploma T.