Les poussières (1953)

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DUST

The weight of free dust
contained in the universe...

is at least equal to the weight
of the celestial bodies.

Sun dust... Cloud dust...

Called aerosol,

dust in suspension
has covered the world.

The very ancient dust of the Sahara.

Saline dust given off
by the waves of the sea.

The living dust of pollen.

Heavy industrial dust.

Dust from the stations of Paris.

Dust of London fogs.

In many regions,

the quantity of dust spread
in the air by industry

is considerable.

Mining cities,
coated with dust, day and night,

by the uninterrupted work
of blast furnaces.

Village petrified
by the white dust of the lime-kilns.

Dust of the loom.

These fibrous shreds,
hanging like vermin,

indicate a company working with linen.

The threshing machine,
by breaking the linen fiber,

makes a dust through which
the natural light can hardly pass.

In this atmosphere, a spotlight
can play the role of a sun-ray.

This spearheaded vegetal dust,

seen here under the microscope,

causes one of the many
pulmonary infections

called pneumoconiosis.

Yet, among all varieties of dust,

the deadliest is the dust from silica.

If a living cell absorbs
a particle of silica dust.

noticeable here as white stains,

the poisoned cell is quickly
and totally destroyed.

By destroying the pulmonary tissue,
the silica dust

causes the most serious
of pneumoconiosis:

silicosis.

Some professions are especially
affected by this disease.

The sea, which turns the siliceous
rocks into shingle,

has caused the crumbling
of the cliffs of Normandy,

and left piles that have
originated an odd industry:

the grinding of shingle.

Man, imitating the sea,
turns the shingle into sand,

but this sand, useful to industry,
is dangerous for man.

The silica dust spread by the grinding
and the riddling of the shingle...

has made necessary,
after deadly accidents,

the wearing of protective masks.

Caught in the machines
by the filtration system,

a part of the dust is
taken away by a water flow.

This sand,
with its various destinations,

will be used for making rice powder,

As well as for foundry work.

Sanding down with a sand jet.

The grains break against a foundry casting
to sand it down,

releasing siliceous dust particles,

made even more toxic by being
fine and fresh.

It is a real break-out of the matter.

The porcelain of Limoges is made
of kaolin, of feldspar, and of pure silica.

Made traditionally by the same worker,

the crusting, the centring
and the calibrating of the soft paste,

will give its shape
to the porcelain plate.

After the drying, the plate is worked
by the edge-maker.

His position is one of the most exposed
of the porcelain industry.

With lathe and abrasive,

the worker takes off the streaks
and spreads an abundant siliceous dust.

Suction hoses struggle to get
more of the terrible dust

away from the pulmonary alveoli.

True acrobat,
a diverting character,

Here comes the kiln loader, carrying
his fragile porcelain to the oven.

Finishing work.

The polisher, grinds away,
using siliceous matter...

the most understated defects
of this enamelled porcelain...

of which the transparency
remains inimitable.

He may feel perfectly healthy,

the silicosis is here,
detected by radiography.

Silicosis nodules,
in the "Snow storm".

Mountains of the Alps, of which the
pure climate revivifies silicosis patients.

Mountains ringing out with
the thunder of landmines.

Crossed over by galleries,

its siliceous rock
is broken down with dynamite.

The expl*si*n releases a dust cloud,

the most dangerous of all dusts.

Some samples are taken,

with devices equipped
with special filters.

Sent to the laboratory,
the dust collecting filter...

is dissolved into a solvent.

The dust, remaining in suspension
in the liquid...

is isolated...

and examined under a microscope.

This permanent bustle of dust...

Is called the Brownian motion.

After being weighed,

the dust is counted
with a checkered scale.

It reveals that the expl*si*n clouds
in the tunnels

contain a record quantity of dust.

More than 200 millions particles
per liter of air.

The microscopic examination of the dust
shows that each of these particles...

could be absorbed by a drop of water.

This observation led to the technique
of wet drilling,

for the opening of the galleries.

Wet drilling.

The pneumatic drills allow,
thanks to hollow drill-bits,

the injection of pressurized water.

This cuts down the amount of dust.

The dust remained in suspension
in the gallery...

is suctioned by this conduit
or duct.

If the spider web is probably the first
dust filter Nature may have known...

This experimental room
of 2000 m3...

is certainly unique in the world.

It's used to test industrial devices
for filtering dust.

The combustion of these candles

creates a dust whose specifications
are precisely known,

and that are used to experiment
with reduction devices,

such as this Cyclone type extractor,

which has many industrial applications.

In the collieries,
dust removal is indispensable,

due to the large amount of dust spread.

The dust spread in the making
of coal nuts,

contains pitch,
a product dangerous to the skin.

Workers are protected
by covering their face with talc.

Silence - On Air
Les Misérables

In these workshops, the dust captured
is led to the extractor...

by suction conduits.

External view of the installation.

The trees of the forest
have disappeared from the valley,

Just like the wood-cookers.

And the coal industry has locked
its servants into mills.

But where there's locking,
there is dusting,

And modernization is used to fight
what it has partially been creating.

The very fine charcoal dust,
powerfully suctioned,

Falls here into the bags

of a filtering extractor.

The technical effort is completed
by manpower.

Dust coloured landscape.

It was black in the mines,
it is white at the cement works.

An important industrial achievement.

The electrostatic filter

electrifies the factory dust,
which goes into a chamber.

It then falls into an underpass approach,

from which only gas
is evacuated outside.

The power cuts,
that stop the extraction,

prove its usefulness

by thinking that this dusty cloud
now being rejected into nature,

was inside of the cement works.

In the fight against dust,

the wearing of an individual mask

must sometimes complete
or replace collective protection.

Before being used by workers,

the models are tested on a wooden head
with mechanical breathing.

Nevertheless, despite all these
professional security efforts,

the frightening question remains:

The hard working man,

the man of linen,

the man of the rock,

and his brother,
the man of the deep,

the man of fire,

man more powerful than
the elements he disciplines,

will he be preserved against the deadly
radioactivity of atomic dust,

this aerosol that threatens the world.