Note 166 — OF THE PRESERVATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH.

The peculiar gas to which this destructive quality is owing, is generally Sulphuretted Hydrogen, sometimes existing in combination with Ammonia (Hydro-Sulphuret of Ammonia). M. Dupuytren has also shewn that the Plomb is sometimes occasioned by Nitrogen gas. Hallé in his work entitled “Recherches sur le Mephitisme des Fosses d’Aisances” has proposed various methods for securing the nightmen from the dreadful effects of this gas, as by ventilation and fumigation. M. Dupuytren, however, has satisfactorily proved that Chlorine, by decomposing it, is its true antidote, by which Hydro-Choloric acid (Muriatic,) is produced, and Sulphur deposited.

In some cases the Sulphuretted Hydrogen has accumulated to such an extent, that explosions have occurred in privies on the introduction of a light. We have heard that dreadful ones have happened in the Fosses d’Aisances in the Rue St. Antoine, and in those of Gross Caillou, and Petit Bourbon; and very lately in that of the House of Correction at Clermont-oise, in which many lives were lost. A similar accident has happened in London; we copy the following paragraph from the Morning Advertiser of Friday Feb. 5, 1819.—“Singular Explosion,—A few evenings ago, at the Two Brewers Tavern, Redcross-street, Southwark, a person took a candle into the privy, and laid it upon the seat, the air confined underneath caught fire from the candle, and immediately exploded, the seat was forced up, and the person was burned considerably, but not dangerously.”