Pavement artists? SCIENCE

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only of those who stride in opentoed sandals with heads held high.

Nowadays, despite notices threatening fines of "40 shillings" to the owners of polluting pooches, the excrement remains where deposited until dispersed by the action of insects, wind and rain, or by people's shoes or vehicle tyres.

But in the squalor of London's dockland slums 150 years ago, upwards of 200 people made a living collecting and selling "pure", , as dog turds were known.

The "pure-finders" used to search out the valuable "pure" armed with a covered basket and (sometimes) one black leather glove.

They sold their collections to the 30 or so tanneries of Bermondsey, which paid 3 or 4 shillings a standard pailful at one time, though the price had fallen to between 8d and 1s 2d by the 1850s, according to Henry Mayhew.

Apparently, the tanners' workmen would rub the shit into goat-, lamb- and calfskins with their bare hands, to "purify" the leather. This made the high quality leather necessary for kidgloves, bookcovers and best quality uppers for boots and shoes.

The ordures were valued for their alkaline and astringent properties, which seemed to help get rid of the traces of moisture that remained in badly dressed leather.

The best faeces, according to Mayhew, were the "dry limylooking: sort" , though some tanners preferred the "dark moist variety". The average earnings were 5 to 6 bob a week, though some pure-finders grossed 15 shillings a week, living very comfortably.

The vast number of pet dogs in Britain presents a mounting problem. 18,000 tonnes of dog do's will not just I course what we're doing is wrong. ¡ that doesn't make it intesitti. go away, particularly when street-cleaning services are being run down. One result could be a rise in parasite diseases such as tapeworm.

The privatised solution in Britain is the "Sooper Dooper Pooper Scooper". However, in France, several municipal councils have set up fleets of "caninettes" - motorcycles which patrol the pavements, trailing a sweeper with a sanitised bag.

Offending

On locating a turd, the rider backs up to the offending object so that the four brushes can sweep it into the bag.

The 70 Caninettes of Paris can collect 1.5 tonnes of poo per day.

Meanwhile, in China, the government sees the urban dog population as a serious hygiene problem and has decreed their destruction.

Research in the West suggests however that a supposedly parasitic pet can actually have a ben ›ficial effect on its owner's henith. Old people leaving hospital after treatment seem to survive better if they own a pet.

SERA (Socialist Environment and Resources Association) and Green CND are holding a conference on 'Socialism and the Green Movement" at Coventry Polytechnic on 12-13 November. Further details: SERA, 9 Poland Street, London W1. 01-439 3749. THE two lives of the title are those of Louis Hodgkiss and his wife Winifred Haward. They were each born at around the turn of this century, and at first glance would appear to be a strange match. Louis went to work in the Lancashire coal mines at the age of fourteen, but a year after the outbreak of the Fighter pamphlet doI plus postage from Sickert Court, ion N1 2SY.

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Sociaiist 'Organiser no. 153 November 3 1983 Page

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