New Parisian atmospheres during the First Empire: crafts and industry

André Guillerme (1)

1 CDHTE - Centre d'histoire des techniques et de l'environnement

The Napoleonic Empire turned Paris around from an administrative to an industrial city. A new atmosphere created by sulfuric oxide smells took possession of the Right Bank with sulfuric acid and coal, while mercury fumes and chloride, used respectively for gilding copper and felting hats, poisoned the neighbourhoods downstream and upstream as Paris became the first European producer of luxury items. Before 1789, smells came from fermenting materials and the putrefaction of nightsoil. After 1800, Montfaucon became the world's leading craft district and its stench crossed the Seine and spread as far as the Sorbonne. Along the Bievre River, tanneries and fine leather crafts were so polluted that neither flies nor mosquitoes could ever survive, workers never caught malaria but a lot of lung ailments.

Mots clés: Paris; Napoleon; smell; fermentation; putrefaction; mercury; lead

Domaines: Architecture, aménagement de l'espace; Sociologie

André Guillerme. New Parisian atmospheres during the First Empire: crafts and industry. Ambiances in action / Ambiances en acte(s) - International Congress on Ambiances, Montreal 2012, Sep 2012, Montreal, Canada. pp.537-542. ⟨halshs-00745955⟩