1783 Lettre de M. Janin de Combe Blanche a M. Cadet

Description

First Edition, Publishers' Original Binding, Very Scarce

A first edition of this eighteenth century letter written by Janin de Combe Blanche to Antoine-Alexis Cadet de Vaux, the Apothecary of Paris. Published in French. In 1780, the police chief made Cadet de Vaux the 'salubrity inspector' of Paris, requiring him to use muriatic acids, combustion of smoke, ventilation, and other innovative methods to disinfect insanitary workshops and public places. In particular, Cadet de Vaux published several treatises on 'mephitis', a disease carried by skunks, which led to the removal of the Cemetery of Innocents in the heart of Paris. In the present work, Combe Blanche takes issue with some of Cadet's cleaning methods and his research into 'mephitis'.