face became visible. It was at once seen that there was no jest in this; the laughter died away, and at once several carriages conveyed men and women from the ball to the Hôtel Dieu, the Central Hospital, where they, still arrayed in mask attire, soon died. As in the first shock of terror people believed the cholera was contagious, and as those who were already patients in the hospital raised cruel screams of fear, it is said that these dead were buried so promptly that even their fantastic fools' garments were left on them, so that as they lived they now lie merrily in the grave.
It was amid unparalleled trouble and confusion that hospitals (Sicherungs-anstalten) and other institutions for preserving public health were organised. A Sanitary Commission was created, Bureaux de Sécours were established, and the ordinances as regards the salubrité publique were promptly put into effect. In doing this there was at once a collision with the interests of several thousand men who regarded public filth as their own private property. These were the chiffoniers or rag-men, who pick their living from the sweepings from houses piled up in dirt heaps in odd corners. With great pointed baskets on their backs and hooked sticks in their hands, these men, with pale and dirty faces, stray through the streets, and know how to find and utilise many
