DANGERS OF OUR SYSTEM OF BURIAL.
In order to form a comprehensive idea of the salutary benefits which
will accrue from a general observance of cremation, or even from
a limited adoption of the scheme--which, by the way, is nowhere
forbidden by the statutes of the land--it will be necessary to
review cursorily the positive evils for which past inhumation is
answerable. I will therefore attempt to point out from carefully
collected and other authentic sources, chiefly from the reports of
the Parliamentary Commissioners, how the dead have poisoned and
still poison the living.
It seems to be generally admitted that the fœtid air exhaled from
the dead is fatal if breathed in a concentrated state, and that,
even when dissipated by the wind, it lowers the vital powers of the
community.[104] Cases of instant death to grave-diggers, notably
to three in Paris in September 1852, from accidentally inhaling
the concentrated miasma which escapes from coffins, have been
recorded. Slower deaths from exposure to the same evil, through what
is designated low fever, are very common. Undertakers have given
evidence to the effect that they have suffered from faintness and
nausea, even when they have not been cognisant of any offensive
odour.
[104] 'The decomposition of bodies gives rise to a very large amount
of carbonic acid. Ammonia and an offensive putrid vapour are also
given off. The air of most cemeteries is richer in carbonic acid
(·7 to ·9 per thousand--Ramon de Luna), and the organic matter is
perceptibly large when tested by potassium permanganate.'--Dr.
Parkes, 'Practical Hygiene,' 4th edit. 1873.
Dr. Riecke reported that putrid emanations 'operate in two ways, one
set of effects being produced through the lungs by impurity of air
from the mixture of irrespirable gases, the other set through the
olfactory nerves by powerful, penetrating, and offensive smells.'
Dr. Southwood Smith says that, when present in the atmosphere,
morbific animal matter is 'conveyed into the system through the thin
and delicate walls of the air-vesicles of the lungs in the act of
respiration,' and instances how the vapour of turpentine, if only
inhaled when walking through a recently painted room, will exhibit
'its effects in some of the fluid excretions of the body even more
rapidly than if it had been taken into the stomach.'
So with the vapour which arises from an overcrowded and even from
any churchyard. People who are accustomed to reside near badly
regulated graveyards are mostly unable to detect the serious
nuisance by the sense of smell; but medical men, accustomed to the
dissecting-room, can recognise it directly, and can even distinguish
it from the foul odours arising from sewers. In a case at
Manchester, where a main sewer ran through the graveyard, the graves
drained into it, and the smell of the dead came into the houses
through the untrapped sinks. Mr. Roe stated on oath that he once
traced exudation from a churchyard in St. Pancras parish into the
road-sewer thirty feet distant, and that this would have resulted
even if the sewer had been cemented or concreted over. These
cases will prove that there are more sources of danger than from
surface-emanations. The rule seems to be that, where the graveyards
and roads are paved, and the stones laid horizontally, the escape of
the deleterious matter is either into the wells or sewers. If, as in
many instances, the surface of the burial-ground be above that of
the street, the loathsome matter may even be seen trickling down the
walls of enclosure. Some most sickening cases were published in 1851
in the report issued by the General Board of Health.
If the formation of a deep sewer will suffice to drain dry all the
wells near its line of march, then the sinking of a well near a
burial-ground must help to drain the latter. There is a complication
when drains in the neighbourhood of graveyards are tide-locked at
intervals; and an instance of this was given by Dr. Reid, who stated
that careful examination of the air in the Houses of Parliament,
thirty years ago, resulted in the discovery that it was very much
vitiated, both by night and by day, from their proximity to St.
Margaret's burial-ground.
The disorders commonly complained of in the neighbourhood of
burial-grounds are headaches, diarrhœa, and ulcerated sore throats.
According to a report of the French Academy of Medicine, the putrid
emanations of Père-la-Chaise, Montmartre, and Montparnasse, have
caused frightful diseases of the throat and lungs, to which numbers
of both sexes fall victims every year. 'Thus a dreadful throat
disease which baffles the skill of our most experienced medical men,
and which carries off its victims in a few hours, is traced to the
absorption of vitiated air into the windpipe, and has been observed
to rage with the greatest violence in those quarters situated
nearest to cemeteries.' An officer once stated to Mr. Chadwick, that
when a building looking over a certain Liverpool churchyard was used
as a barracks, he and his men always suffered from dysentery. It was
related by Messrs. Houlier and Fernel that, during the prevalence
of the plague in Paris in the beginning of the eighteenth century,
'the disease lingered longest in the neighbourhood of the _Cimetière
de la Trinité_, and that there the greatest number had fallen
a sacrifice.' In such desperate plight also were the houses which
abutted upon the churchyard of St. Innocent, that the vapour was
_seen_ to rise from the soil, and the stench was unbearable. It is
on record, too, that, when a large common grave, fifty feet deep,
was dug in the same cemetery in the following year, candles would
not burn in the cellars of the adjacent houses, and those who only
approached their apertures were immediately seized with alarming
attacks. The walls of the cellars streamed down also with an
offensive moisture. Numerous other instances might here be quoted.
It was proposed by M. Fourcroy to analyse the foul gases evolved
from bodies which had been interred in this oversaturated soil;
but no grave-digger would venture to assist in its collection,
because it resulted in almost sudden death if inhaled in the
concentrated form near the body, and even at a distance, 'when
diluted and diffused through the atmosphere, produced depression
of the nervous system and an entire disorder of its functions.' As
a rule, the grave-diggers there had a cadaverous appearance and
all the other signs of slow poisoning. M. Patissier also noticed
several cases where death resulted from digging the graves. Doubts
have been expressed as to the baneful effect of putrid emanations
upon grave-diggers; but, as Mr. Chadwick has observed, if a number
of these men be compared with a number of men following healthier
occupations, it will be found that the mephitic influences entail
a loss of at least one-third of the natural duration of life and
working ability. As a rule, none but the healthiest and most robust
men choose this trade, and they drink very freely, in order to
overcome the nervous depression caused by unhealthy emanations, live
on stimulating foods, and work but for a few hours per day.
Professor Parkes has described and named the offensive gases and
putrid vapours given off by churchyards.[105] Professor Pettenkofer
has also proved the presence of carbonic acid gas in the ground-air
under houses, and the effects produced by this pulse-lowering gas.
Dr. Reid examined at Manchester some graves which had been dug some
hours previously, and found that it was necessary to have recourse
to mechanical or chemical ventilation before the men could descend
into them. The carbonic acid gas simply flowed into these deeply dug
graves from the porous surrounding soil, like so much water. In the
same way also this poisonous gas finds its way into the churches
whose floors are below the level of the churchyards. Professor
Selmi, of Mantua, has lately discovered in the strata of air which
has remained during a time of calm for a certain period over a
cemetery, organisms which considerably vitiate the air and which
are dangerous to life. This was proved after several examinations.
When the matter in question was injected under the skin of a pigeon,
a typhus-like ailment was induced, and death ensued on the third
day.[106]
[105] See foot-note, p. 53.
[106] Dr. De Pietra Santa.
The dangers of inhaling the atmosphere of churches or chapels under
which burial-vaults are made use of or interments made, have been
repeatedly pointed out.[107] In other lands besides our own have
these dangers been suspected and detected. The Tuscan Government
requested Signor Piattoli to thoroughly investigate the subject, and
his report has been confirmed by eminent men of various nations.
As having taken place in our own land, Dr. Copeland mentions the
case of a gentleman who was poisoned by a rush of foul air from the
grated openings on the sides of the church steps, and who died from
a malignant fever in a few days' time, communicating the same to his
wife with a fatal result. The same fever has been known to seize
pew-openers when cleansing and shaking the mattings of the floor.
After a vault had been opened, the smell was at times overpowering.
It was the opinion of Mr. Chadwick, after examining some hundreds
of witnesses of all kinds, that entombment in vaults was a more
dangerous practice than interment in the earth, because of the
liability of the coffins to burst.
[107] 'In vaults the air contains much carbonic acid, carbonate
or sulphide of ammonium, nitrogen, hydrosulphuric acid, and
organic matter. Fungi and germs of infusoria abound.'--Dr. Parkes,
'Practical Hygiene,' 4th ed.
We may, therefore, for our purpose, assume that, even under the most
favourable circumstances, hurtful emanations must perforce rise out
of burial-grounds, there being no more natural escape for the gases
of decomposition than by levitation. These gases will rise to the
surface through eight or ten feet of gravel, just as coal-gas will
do, and there is practically no limit to their power of escape. The
danger is always persistent in the cases of dry and porous soils,
exactly those which are most fitted for cemetery purposes. In a
churchyard at Stuttgart, in which only five hundred bodies were
interred yearly, and not more than one in each grave, the north-west
wind rendered the emanations from the dead perceptible in houses
two hundred and fifty paces distant. It will thus be seen that
the soil best fitted to ensure decay is exactly the worst one for
neighbouring houses. Unless there can be some artificial means taken
to bring about the slow combustion of these gases, as, for instance,
by layers of charcoal, the gases must continue to escape in a foul
condition. But who would recommend so extraordinary a procedure as
this?
The dangers resulting from improper burial have of late been
intentionally slighted, but there is abundance of evidence to
prove that the air in the neighbourhood of choked-up graveyards is
inimical to public health. Some sensitive people are even taken ill
when walking past a cemetery.[108] I know myself a gentleman who
can detect an unwholesome smell half a mile distant from a certain
cemetery in the N.W. district of London. It is unfortunate that so
little weight is attached to the report of the last Commissions upon
Interments. The question of the poisoning of the air in the vicinity
of burial-grounds is just now, however, undergoing a searching
investigation at the hands of the Massachusetts State Board of
Health, and an analysis will be prepared[109] of the answers
elicited. Water believed to be contaminated with cemetery washings
is sought for analysis. Questions are also asked as to the induction
or aggravation of disease in houses contiguous to cemeteries, and
whether the sickness was attributable to poisoned wells or foul
air, or both. The report will, without doubt, confirm all that our
leading physicians say as to the evils of injudicious burial. There
must be something radically wrong where fresh meat becomes tainted
in a single night.[110]
[108] Raulin.
[109] By Dr. Adams, of Pittsfield.
[110] Frazer.
What shall we say of the poisoning of our wells and water-supplies
by too adjacent burial-grounds? Professor Brande has instanced a
case of a well near a churchyard, the water of which had derived not
only odour, but colour, from the soil, and gave it as his opinion
that the water in all superficial springs near burial-grounds is
simply filtered through accumulated decomposition. Some wells near
a churchyard in Leicester were disused some time ago because of a
perceptible taint in the water, and, in Versailles, several wells
which were situated below the churchyard of St. Louis stank so much
as to require shutting up. During the Peninsular War, our troops
suffered greatly from low fevers and dysentery, caused by being
obliged to drink the water from wells which were sunk too closely
to the interred sick. Troops have often been compelled to change
their encampments owing to this kind of water-poisoning. Cases
are on record where men have been seriously injured by excavating
amidst some water which had drained from graves. In Paris M. Ducamp,
not long ago, discovered a spring which was entirely derived from
the rain which fell in the cemeteries and from the liquids of
decomposition; and the foolish people, discovering that it possessed
the peculiar sulphur-like taste which is always concomitant with
decaying organic matter, purchased it as a mineral water!
Dr. Mapother has visited the churchyards of many Irish towns, and
has 'generally found them placed on the highest spot near the most
central part, whence of course all percolations descend into the
wells.' One churchyard he particularly describes 'as lying so low
that the water from the river overflows it in wet weather, and,
notwithstanding this circumstance, from 30,000 to 40,000 people are
supplied from this river.'[111]
[111] The cemeteries at Finchley, according to Mr. Lowe, are drained
into an open brook, and the drainage eventually runs into the River
Brent. The cemetery at Tooting at the present moment discharges into
an open ditch, and this flows into the River Wandle, from which many
of the inhabitants in its vicinity are accustomed to draw supplies.
Instances of water-poisoning have been several times noticed of
late years. The monumental cemetery of Milan, for example, is
situated upon a hill some 180 yards to the north of the city, and
Professors Parvesi and Rotondi have discovered in the wells of the
Place Garibaldi, the water of which is collected from the valleys
below the cemetery, undoubted traces of organic matter. Professor
Reinhard also relates that during the murrain some cattle which fell
victims were buried near Dresden at a depth of twelve feet, but that
during the following year the water of a well some 100 feet distant
from the pit gave off a fœtid odour, and showed the unmistakable
presence of deleterious matter. At even twenty feet distance the
analysis discovered considerable impregnation. During the Prussian
occupation of Chalons, the city was visited by an outbreak of
typhus, and to arrest the progress of the epidemic the dead were
massed together in a corner of the city cemetery and interred, being
first covered over with a quantity of quick-lime. At the end of
some weeks, and after an episode of wet weather, the drinking water
in the neighbourhood was affected by the influx of matter from the
interred bodies and the lime, as was proved by an analysis made by
M. Robinet.[112]
[112] Dr. De Pietra Santa.
The latest authenticated case of water-poisoning from infiltration
of this kind is given by Dr. De Pietra Santa. He confines himself to
quoting the example of the hamlets of Rotondella and Bollita, the
cemeteries of which, placed upon the summit of a wooded hill, and at
a considerable distance from the houses, have still been the means
of carrying contagion into their midst. At the foot of the hill
upon which the cemetery was perched emerged the springs destined
for the daily use of the inhabitants, and these being the products
of pluvial waters which had once spread over the surface of the two
cemeteries, the water had filtered through the earth and become
impregnated with the elements of the dead bodies. This contaminated
water eventually produced a fearful epidemic. Dr. Pappenheim says
that, if organic chemistry had made more progress, if, above all,
the organic matters contained in drinkable waters were known,
springs would be easily found containing putrefied substances, to
the great injury of those who use the water, and it would be easily
discovered that the evils came from a distant cemetery. People,
however, are now more and more alive to the danger of subterranean
infiltration from dead matter, and the use of wells in towns and
cities is now nearly unknown. In Paris a law forbids the sinking of
a well within one hundred yards of any cemetery, but in some cases
two hundred yards has proved an insufficient distance. In parts of
Germany, again, the minimum distance allowed by law is one hundred
yards.
A great many cases could be raked up against the present mode of
burial; but I will not act the part of a special pleader. One
might, however, point out that instances have occurred in which
burial-grounds have been washed away by the bursting of reservoirs.
In 1854, at Herrenlauersitz, upwards of one hundred bodies, the
majority still encoffined, were washed out of their resting-places
by an inundation, and floated into gardens, harvest-fields, and
houses, nor were they wholly recovered until a fortnight after the
calamity.
It would be manifestly unfair to charge against proper interment
the loose manner in which it is practised in many parts of the
globe. But the evil is so persistent a one that I cannot refrain.
It might be forgiven to the poor heathens of Eastern Australia to
bury their dead in shallow graves, for there predatory animals
are scarce, and want of civilisation could be pleaded for them.
But how can we overlook the practices in the Mahomedan cemeteries
of Calcutta? I am informed by a gentleman[113] who was for thirty
years Church missionary there, that these burial-grounds of Islam
'have long been a crying evil, and the nurses of cholera, fever,
and dysentery.' The bodies are also frequently devoured by jackals.
So, for the matter of that, are the bodies of the Ainos.[114] But
then the Ainos are heathens and the Mahomedans are--well, people
who ought to know better. They are incorrigible, however, as I have
myself seen. Even in Syria at the present hour many modern Moslem
graves, although lined and roofed with slabs of basalt, are open and
their inmates exposed.[115] But a travelled Osmanli would perhaps
retort and point out that Père-la-Chaise was visited by a monomaniac
who was able nightly to tear up a number of bodies.[116]
[113] The Rev. S. Long.
[114] Lieut. Holland.
[115] Burton.
[116] In 1849.
I will conclude with one more example of the laxity with which
interments are conducted. In the streets of Valparaiso, in Chili, a
large and flourishing city of 75,000 inhabitants, many of whom are
British and French, may be seen the Cerro de la Concepcion, a hill
long since constructed into a cemetery, which is so saturated with
decomposition that it has lately rent asunder and exposed the city
to the foulest of all exhalations. And what is the consequence? Why,
the coffins and the contents have now frequently to be submitted to
the flames, in the full view of the population.