With respect to the first and most important object, the decomposition of the dead, without the risk of injury to the living, there is, as we think, but one mode in which this can be effected, to which there can be no objection on the part of the living; and that is, interment in a wooden coffin in the free soil, in a grave 5 or 6 feet deep, rendered secure from being violated, in which no body has been deposited before, or is contemplated to be deposited thereafter.

Various circumstances, however, into which it is needless to enquire, have given rise to burying several bodies in the same grave in the free soil, and to modes of sepulture by which the decomposition of the body, or at least its union with the earth, is prevented; such as the use of leaden or iron coffins, and depositing them in vaults, catacombs, and other structures, in which they can never, humanly speaking, except in the case of some great change or convulsion, be mingled with the soil, or, in the beautiful language of Scripture, be returned to the dust from which they sprung. Though we are of opinion that the modes of burial which prevent the body from mixing with the soil, which, for the sake of distinction, we shall call the sepulchral modes, cannot, on account of the danger to the living, be continued much longer in a highly civilised country, yet, in considering the conditions requisite for a complete cemetery suited to the present time, the various modes of sepulchral burial at present in use must be kept in view. The expense of the sepulchral mode, however, confines it to the comparatively wealthy; and hence by far the greater part of burial-grounds always was, and is, necessarily devoted to interments in the free soil. In some churchyards where there is abundance of room, only one coffin is deposited in a grave; but in most cases, and particularly in the burial-grounds of large towns, the graves are dug very deep, and several coffins, sometimes as many as a dozen, or even more, according to the depth of the grave, are deposited one over another, till they reach within 5 or 6 feet of the surface. Interments in this manner are of two kinds. The first are made in family graves, in which the different members of the same family are deposited in succession, in the order of their decease; and to such graves there is always a grave-stone or some kind of monument. The second are what are called common graves, to which there is no monument, and in which the bodies of the poor and of paupers are deposited, in the order in which they are brought to the cemetery; probably two or three in one day, or possibly as many in one day as will fill the grave. Unless this mode were adopted in the public cemeteries, they would, from their present limited extent, very soon be filled up. Such graves, whether public or private, in the newly formed cemeteries, when once filled with coffins to within 6 ft. of the surface, are understood never to be reopened; but, in the old burial-grounds, they are in many cases opened after being closed only four or five years, and sometimes much

sooner.

When the parties burying cannot afford to purchase a private or family grave, the practice is, in some burial-grounds, to bury singly in graves of the ordinary depth of 6 or 7 feet, and these graves are reopened for a similar purpose in six or seven years; but, as this is attended with the disinterment of the bones, it is a very objectionable mode. In a burial-ground properly arranged and managed, a coffin, after it is once interred, should never again be exposed to view, nor a human bone be disturbed. At present this is only the case in the cemeteries of the Jews, where there is a separate grave for every coffin, and where the graves are never reopened. It is also the case in the cemeteries of the Quakers; though not, we believe, from religious principle, as in the case of the Jews, but rather from that general regard to decency and propriety which is a characteristic of that sect of Christians, and perhaps, as in the case of the Moravians, in consequence of their comparatively limited

number.

As data to proceed upon with reference to interments in the free soil, it is necessary to state that the muscular part of the body either decays rapidly,

or dries up rapidly, according to the circumstances in which it is placed; but that the bones do not decay, even under circumstances the most favourable for that purpose, for centuries.

The face of a dead body deposited in the free soil is generally destroyed in three or four months, but the thorax and abdomen undergo very little change, except in colour, till the fourth month. The last part of the muscular fibre which decays is the upper part of the thigh, which in some subjects resists putrefaction for four or five years. In general, a body is considered unfit for dissection after it has been interred eight or nine weeks. In a very dry and warm soil, especially where the body is emaciated, the juices are rapidly absorbed; and, no moisture coming near it, the solids contract and harden, and a species of mummy is produced. This may be observed in the vaults of various churches in Britain where the soil and situation are remarkably dry; and it has given rise to those appalling scenes which may be witnessed in the vaults of Bremen, Vienna, Rome, Naples, Palermo, Malta, and other places. (See Necropolis Glasguensis, p. 48. to 55. ; and Stephens's Incidents of Travel, as quoted in the Saturday Magazine, vol. xx. p. 141.)

Bones are chiefly composed of phosphate of lime deposited in gelatine, an animal tissue; and, unless acted on by powerful acids, they will endure, either in the soil or in the atmosphere, for many centuries. They are even found in the fossil state, and after ages of exposure often contain more or less of the original animal tissue, particularly if they have been embedded in clayey soil. In the ante-hominal part of the creation, there are bones daily discovered which have existed 6000 years at least. Dr. Charles Loudon informs us that he has seen numerous human bones in certain caves near to Naples, which are supposed to be those of the Grecian colonists who settled there before the Christian era, or perhaps those of an older race who inhabited Magna Græcia.* Dr. Loudon has seen several skeletons dug out of the ruins of Pompeii, the bones of which were as dry and entire as the bones of skeletons which we see in dissecting-rooms, though they must have lain there nearly 1800 years under the lava, which, around them, seemed to be a dry greyish kind of earth. Even while writing this, we read in the newspapers (Morn. Chron., Jan. 10.) of the workmen, while digging a deep sewer in Lad Lane in the city, having cut into what is supposed to have been a cemetery of the Romans, and dug up a number of human bones.

With respect to prejudices, there is, as every one knows, a decided prejudice in favour of being buried in dry soil, and against the placing of decomposing substances, such as quicklime, in coffins; and it is one of our principles to respect existing prejudices as well as vested rights. With regard to the use

* The desire to preserve the bones from decay seems natural to man, both in a rude and a civilised state. Dr. Dieffenbach informs us that the New Zealanders expose the bodies of their dead, in a sort of canoe-shaped coffin, among the foliage of trees, for several months, till the flesh is sufficiently decomposed; the bones are then washed and cleaned, and finally deposited in some secret spot in a wood, or in a limestone cavern, of which there are many, or in some chasm of the rocks difficult of access. The bodies of hereditary chiefs are dressed and ornamented, and preserved in mausoleums of elaborately carved work; but, even in this case, after a time, the tohunga, or priest, removes the bones to a place in the forest often known only to himself. (Travels in New Zealand, ii. p. 63.) The monks of the Convent of Mount Sinai, Mr. Stephens informs us, bury their dead for about three years, after which they take them up, clean the bones, and deposit them in one great pit; except those of the archbishops, which are preserved separately in an adjoining sepulchre, some in baskets, some on shelves, and others tied together and hanging from the roof. (Incidents of Travel.)

of quicklime; independently of the existing prejudices against its introduction in coffins, it is found to cause the solution of the softer parts of the body, which, unless the coffin is watertight, and this is rarely the case with the coffins either of the poor or of the middling class, oozes out to such an extent that the undertaker's men can scarcely carry the coffin, on account of the flow of matter and the odour.

The health of the living is chiefly affected by a certain description of gas, respecting which it is necessary to enter into some detail. The decomposition of the muscular part of the human body takes place with different degrees of rapidity in different soils, and at different depths in the same soil. It is most rapid in sandy soils somewhat moist, within 3 or 4 feet of the surface, and in a warm climate; it is next in rapidity in chalky soils; much slower in clayey soils; and slowest of all in peaty soil, saturated with astringent moisture. In general, dry soil, and a moderate distance of 5 or 6 feet below the surface, are favourable both to decomposition and human prejudices. In such soil, in the climate of London, the muscular part of the human body will have become a black mould in between six and seven years; but, practically speaking, the bones may be considered as indestructible. In the progress of decay, the first change which takes place immediately after death is, the escape of a deleterious gas from the mouth and nostrils, but generally in so small a quantity as not to be perceptible for three or four days. In some cases, it is perceptible in a much shorter period; and in all a gas accumulates within the body, which escapes sooner or later according to the progress of the putrescent process. If the body is buried in the free soil, in a wooden coffin, to the depth of 5 or 6 feet, the gas escapes into the soil, and is, in part at least, absorbed by it, and consequently does not contaminate the air above the surface; but, if a leaden coffin is used, and the body is deposited in a vault, catacomb, or brick grave, the gas escapes within the coffin, and either remains there till the coffin decays, or escapes through crevices in the lead, and through small holes bored on purpose by the undertaker in the outer wooden coffin and leaden inner coffin, and concealed by the name-plate. (Report on the Health of Towns, Walker, &c.) By the last mode the gas begins to escape before the corpse is taken from the house; and its effect is often felt there, as well as when the service is being read over it in the chapel, and even after it is deposited in a vault, the catacombs of which, though apparently hermetically sealed, are seldom air-tight. Sometimes the body, especially of a corpulent person, swells so much before it is removed from the house, that it is ready to burst both the inner and the outer coffin; and in that case it requires to be tapped, and the gas burnt as it escapes, or the operation performed close to an open window. Even in some of the public catacombs of the new London cemeteries explosions have been known to take place, and the undertaker obliged to be sent for in order to resolder the coffin; which shows the disgusting nature of this mode of interment, and its danger to the living. To inhale this gas, undiluted with atmospheric air, is instant death; and, even when much diluted, it is productive of disease which commonly ends in death, of which there is abundant evidence in Walker's Grave-Yards and the Parliamentary Report quoted. The gas abounds to a fearful extent in the soil of all crowded burial-grounds, and has been proved to be more or less present in the soil thrown out of graves where bodies have been interred before. Even in the new London cemeteries, when interments are made in family graves, or common graves, which have been filled in with earth, such is the smell when the grave-diggers arrive within 2 or 3 feet of the last deposited coffin, that they are obliged to be plied constantly with rum to induce them to proceed. This is more particularly the case when graves are dug in strong clay, because the gas cannot escape laterally as in a gravelly or sandy soil, but rises perpendicularly through the soil which has been moved. The remedy for this evil is, never to allow a family grave, or a common grave, in which an interment has been made, to be excavated deeper than within 6 ft. of the last

deposited coffin; and, to make sure of this, there ought to be a protecting stone, or slate, to be hereafter described, deposited when the grave is being filled, at the height of 6 ft. above the last coffin, under a severe penalty. It is only by some regulation of this kind, that burying several coffins in deep graves can be conducted without injuring the health of grave-diggers; and without the gas, which escapes from the earth brought up, endangering the health of those who may be occasional spectators.

In the years 1782 and 1783, when the disinterment of the burying-grounds of Les Innocents in Paris took place under the direction of some eminent French chemists, these philosophers endeavoured to analyse this gas, but were unable to procure it. Fourcroy, speaking in their name, says :-" In vain we endeavoured to induce the grave-diggers to procure any of this elastic fluid. They uniformly refused, declaring that it was only by an unlucky accident they interfered with dead bodies in that dangerous state. The horrible odour and the poisonous activity of this fluid announce to us that if it is mingled, as there is no reason to doubt, with hydrogenous and azotic gas holding sulphur and phosphorus in solution, ordinary and known products of putrefaction, it may contain also another deleterious vapour, whose nature has hitherto escaped philosophical research, while its terrible action upon life is too strikingly evinced. These Paris grave-diggers know," Fourcroy adds, "that the greatest danger to them arises from the disengagement of this vapour from the abdomen of carcasses in a state of incipient putrefaction." (See Annales de Chimie, vol. v. p. 154., as quoted in Walker's Grave-Yards, p. 86.; and Ure's Dictionary of Chemistry, art. Adipocere.)

While this inflation from gas is going forward, the aqueous part of decomposition, a "fetid sanies," exudes from the body, and sometimes, when interinent is delayed too long, to such an extent as to drop from the coffin before it is taken out of the house. This exudation, as already observed, is greatly accelerated and increased by putting quicklime into the coffin. In the free soil this fetid sanies is diffused by the rain in the subsoil, and carried along in the water of the subsoil to its natural outlet, or to the wells which may be dug into it; and thus, while the gas of decomposition poisons both the earth and the air, the fluid matter contaminates the water.*

*Speaking of the infectious agency in the houses in the neighbourhood of that part of London called Fleet Ditch, Dr. Lynch observes :-" The great primary cause is, that the privies are in general under the staircase of the wretched hovels of the poor, and the sulphuretted hydrogen, and the carbonated hydrogen, and the noxious gases there generated, are the same gases as are generated from the dead bodies in a state of decomposition; for the evacuations from the body are decomposed animal and vegetable matter, and a dead body is the same, it is decomposition of the dead body, or a general state of disorganisation, and that produces exactly the same kind of gases. There have been instances mentioned, where people have fallen down dead from a rush of those gases in a concentrated form." (Report on Health of Towns, &c., p. 161.)

If the public were fully aware of the dangerous nature of the gases which proceed from the decomposition of dead bodies in crowded churchyards, and in vaults and catacombs, and of the poisonous nature of the water of decomposition,

1. They would not live in houses bordering on churchyards, which, though already full, are still used as burying-grounds.

2. They would not drink the water of wells dug in the vicinity of burialgrounds, whether in town or country; because, though the filtration of the soil will purify the water from matter suspended in it, it will not free it from what is held in solution.

3. They would not attend service in any church or chapel whatever, in

With regard to the destruction of human bones, we assume that to be impracticable, otherwise than by means which are altogether out of the question. The most favourable soil for their decomposition is a coarse gravel, subject to be alternately moist and dry; but, though such a soil, so circumstanced in regard to water, might be found naturally, or might be composed by art, yet these cases may be considered as equally impracticable.* Instead, therefore, of endeavouring to destroy the human skeleton, let us limit our endeavours to preventing it from being desecrated by disinterment and exposure. This may be effected in various ways; but by far the most simple, effectual, and economical, as it appears to us, would be to place over the coffin, after it was deposited in the grave, a stone or slate of the same dimensions as the coffin, or even as many flat 12-inch tiles, say six, as would extend from head to foot. As the coffin and the muscular part of its contents decayed and sunk down, the stone, slate, or tiles, would follow it and press close on the bones. In consequence of this arrangement, when the ground was at any future period opened to the depth of the stone, slate, or tile, guard, it would be known that a skeleton was beneath, and the operator would cease to go farther; or, at all events, it should be rendered illegal for him to do so. If a name and date were graven in the stone, being protected from atmospheric changes, it would remain uninjured for ages, and, like the foot-marks which geologists have found in the red sandstone, might, in some far distant age, become part of the geological history of our globe. We prefer stone or tile guards, to guards of metal, because iron would soon rust, and cease to be a guard, and lead or any equally durable metal would offer a temptation to stealing. A layer two or three inches thick of stucco, Roman cement, or a plate of asphalte or oropholithe, might be used as a substitute; but stone, slate, and tiles are decidedly preferable. The slate might even be introduced within the coffin, without rendering it heavier to carry than if a lead coffin were used. Burying in a coffin made entirely of stone or slate we do not consider so likely to prevent desecration as a stone or slate guard; because there is a temptation to dig up the lower part of the stone coffin, and use it as a drinking-trough for cattle, or a cistern for a flower-garden, which is done in various places in the vicinity of old abbeys. A stone hollowed out on the under side might be better than a flat stone; because the depending edges would

the vaults of which there were coffins, or in the floors of which interments had taken place. They would absent themselves from all such places, even if there were no immediate danger, in order, by such means as were in their power, to contribute to the discountenance of a practice by all parties allowed to be attended with disgusting and injurious results.

4. Nor would they live in houses in which the privies were not either rendered water-closets, or placed detached from the house.

5. Nor in a house adjoining an open sewer.

6. Nor would they keep a dead body in the house more than five days, or at the most a week.

"The

* If the bones were to be destroyed in the case of a single grave, a hint might be taken from the following passage in Fellowes's Asia Minor. outward marks of respect are scarcely visible in their burial-grounds, little more being left to mark the place of interment than a row of stones indicating the oblong form of the grave; but a pipe or chimney, generally formed of wood or earthenware, rises a few inches above the ground, and communicates with the corpse beneath; and down this tube libations are poured by the friends of the deceased to the attendant spirit of the dead." (Vol. xi. p. 16.) Were the libations withheld for five or six years, till the muscular part of the body was completely destroyed, and then diluted muriatic acid employed as a libation, the result would probably be obtained in the course of a year

or two.