Ceri Crossley
108
volved, lists the anticipated benefits and explores how the project
could be financed. A key proposal involved pumping treated human
sewage to the fields through a system a pipes. Jersey already had a
drainage system but this dispersed human refuse and abattoir waste
into the sea (p. 45). If only the waste could be filtered and distributed
in the form of liquid manure then, Leroux claimed, the island’s agricultural production could be massively increased. Indeed, Jersey had
the potential to supplant France and Belgium when it came to supplying London with early vegetables, flowers and fresh fruit. His programme was ambitious since it envisaged that fresh water, sea water
and liquid manure would all be made available throughout the island.
Leroux shared the enthusiasm of his contemporaries for improved hygiene, sanitation and public health. The introduction of new
systems of waste disposal was held to mark the triumph of civilization.
8 In Aux Etats de Jersey Leroux commented on the situation in
both Paris and London. He discussed various initiatives supported by
Prince Albert, quoted at length from the Report of the General Board
of Health and took note of the contribution made by Charles
Kingsley.
9 He explained to his readers that his attention had first been
drawn to the subject in 1834. During a visit to the then failing Fourierist agricultural colony at Condé sur Vesgre he suddenly realised that
the fortunes of the troubled establishment could easily be turned round
if only fresh supplies of manure could be found. Shortly afterwards,
while visiting one of his sons who was studying at the agricultural college at Grignon,
10 his mind became focussed on the idea that every
creature produced enough excrement to sustain its own existence. This
led Leroux to conclude that increased agricultural production required
___________________________
8 See Donald Reid, Paris Sewers and Sewermen: Realities and Representations,
(Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1991); Martin Monestier, Histoire et
bizarreries sociales des excréments des origines à nos jours (Paris: Le Cherche midi,
1997).
9 For a discussion of the obsession with excretion common among the French middle
classes see Alain Corbin, Le Miasme et la jonquille (Paris: Aubier-Montaigne, 1982),
p. 169. For the situation in Britain see Christopher Hamlin, Public Health and Social
Justice in the Age of Chadwick (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998). For
questions of cultural impact see Jonathan Ribner, “The Thames and Sin in the Age of
the Great Stink: Some Artistic and Literary Responses to a Victorian Environmental
crisis”, British Art Journal, 1 (2), 2000, 38-46.
10 Presumably the Institution Royale Agronomique established in 1826 on the site of
Mathieu de Dombasle’s model farm.
108
volved, lists the anticipated benefits and explores how the project
could be financed. A key proposal involved pumping treated human
sewage to the fields through a system a pipes. Jersey already had a
drainage system but this dispersed human refuse and abattoir waste
into the sea (p. 45). If only the waste could be filtered and distributed
in the form of liquid manure then, Leroux claimed, the island’s agricultural production could be massively increased. Indeed, Jersey had
the potential to supplant France and Belgium when it came to supplying London with early vegetables, flowers and fresh fruit. His programme was ambitious since it envisaged that fresh water, sea water
and liquid manure would all be made available throughout the island.
Leroux shared the enthusiasm of his contemporaries for improved hygiene, sanitation and public health. The introduction of new
systems of waste disposal was held to mark the triumph of civilization.
8 In Aux Etats de Jersey Leroux commented on the situation in
both Paris and London. He discussed various initiatives supported by
Prince Albert, quoted at length from the Report of the General Board
of Health and took note of the contribution made by Charles
Kingsley.
9 He explained to his readers that his attention had first been
drawn to the subject in 1834. During a visit to the then failing Fourierist agricultural colony at Condé sur Vesgre he suddenly realised that
the fortunes of the troubled establishment could easily be turned round
if only fresh supplies of manure could be found. Shortly afterwards,
while visiting one of his sons who was studying at the agricultural college at Grignon,
10 his mind became focussed on the idea that every
creature produced enough excrement to sustain its own existence. This
led Leroux to conclude that increased agricultural production required
___________________________
8 See Donald Reid, Paris Sewers and Sewermen: Realities and Representations,
(Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1991); Martin Monestier, Histoire et
bizarreries sociales des excréments des origines à nos jours (Paris: Le Cherche midi,
1997).
9 For a discussion of the obsession with excretion common among the French middle
classes see Alain Corbin, Le Miasme et la jonquille (Paris: Aubier-Montaigne, 1982),
p. 169. For the situation in Britain see Christopher Hamlin, Public Health and Social
Justice in the Age of Chadwick (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998). For
questions of cultural impact see Jonathan Ribner, “The Thames and Sin in the Age of
the Great Stink: Some Artistic and Literary Responses to a Victorian Environmental
crisis”, British Art Journal, 1 (2), 2000, 38-46.
10 Presumably the Institution Royale Agronomique established in 1826 on the site of
Mathieu de Dombasle’s model farm.