XXXIII.
In the parish of St. Clements in Colchester, a child of six months old, lying upon its mother’s lap, having had the breast, was seized with a strong convulsion fit, which lasted so long, and ended with so total a privation of motion in the body, lungs, and pulse, that it was deemed absolutely dead. It was accordingly stripped, laid out, the passing bell, ordered to be tolled, and a coffin to be made; but a neighbouring gentlewoman who used to admire the child, hearing of its sudden death, hastened to the house, and upon examining the child, found it not cold, its joints limber, and fancied that a glass she held to its mouth and nose was a little damped with the breath; upon which, she took the child in her lap, sat down before the fire, rubbed it, and kept it in gentle agitation. In a quarter of an hour she felt the heart begin to beat faintly; she then put a little of the mother’s milk into its mouth, continued to rub its palms and soles; found the child begin to move, and the milk was swallowed; and in another quarter of an hour, she had the satisfaction of restoring to its disconsolate mother the babe quite recovered, eager to lay hold of the breast, and able to suck again. The child throve, had no more fits, is grown up, and at present alive, i. e. 1803.
These means, which are certainly in the power of every person, were sufficient to restore to life an infant to all appearance dead, and who in all probability, but for the use of these simple endeavours would have remained so. There are however, many other things which might be done in case the above should not succeed; as rubbing the body with strong spirits, covering it with warm ashes or salt, blowing air into the lungs, throwing up warm stimulating clysters, or the smoke of tobacco into the intestines, and such like.
When children are dead born, or expire soon after the birth, the same means ought to be used for their recovery, as if they had expired in circumstances similar to those mentioned above.
These directions may likewise be extended to adults, attention being always paid to the age and other circumstances.
The foregoing cases and observations afford sufficient proof of the success which may attend the endeavours of persons totally ignorant of medicine, in assisting those who are suddenly deprived of life by any accident or disease. Many facts of a similar nature might be adduced, were it necessary, but these, it is hoped, will be sufficient to call up the attention of the public, and to excite the humane and benevolent to exert their utmost endeavour for the preservation of their fellow creatures.
In short, not only the ordinary signs are very uncertain, but we may say the same of the stiffness of the limbs, which may be convulsive; of the dilation of the pupil of the eye, which may proceed from the same cause; of putrefaction, which may equally attack some parts of a living body, and of several others. Haller, convinced of the uncertainty of all these signs, proposes a new one, which he considers as infallible.—“If the person (says he) be still in life, the mouth will immediately shut of itself, because the contraction of the muscles of the jaw will awaken their irritability.” The jaw however, may be deprived of its irritability though a man may not be dead. Life is preserved a long time in the passage of the intestines. The sign pointed out by Dr. Fothergill appears to deserve more attention.—“If the air blown into the mouth, (says this physician) passes freely through all the alimentary channels, it affords a strong presumption, that the irritability of the internal sphincters is destroyed, and consequently that life is at an end.”—These signs, which deserve to be confirmed by new experiments, are doubtless not known to Undertakers.
The difficulty of distinguishing a person apparently dead from one who is really so, has, in all countries where bodies have been interred too precipitately, rendered it necessary for the law to assist humanity. Of several regulations made on this subject, we shall quote only a few of the most recent; such as those of Arras, in 1772; of Mantua, in 1774; of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1775; of the Senuhausée of Sivrai, in Poitore, in 1777; and of the Parliament of Metz in the same year. To give an idea of the rest, it will be sufficient to relate only that of Tuscany. By this edict, the Grand Duke forbids the precipitate interment of persons who dies suddenly. He orders the magistrates of health to be informed, that physicians and surgeons may examine the body; that they may use every endeavour to recal it to life, if possible, or to discover the cause of its death; and that they shall make a report of their procedure to a certain tribunal. On this occasion, the magistrate of health orders the dead not to be covered until the moment they are about to be buried, except so far as decency requires; observing always, that the body be not closely confined, and that nothing may compress the jugular veins and the carotid arteries. He forbids people to be interred according to the ancient method; and requires that the arms, and the hands, should be left extended, and that they should not be folded or placed cross-wise upon the breast. He forbids, above all, to press the jaws one against the other; or to fill the mouth and nostrils with cotton, or other stuffing. And lastly, he recommends not to cover the visage with any kind of cloth, until the body is deposited in its coffin.
We shall conclude this article by subjoining, from Dr. Hawes’s Address to the Public on this subject, a few of the cases in which this fallacious appearance of death is most likely to happen, together with the respective modes of treatment which he recommends.
In apoplectic and fainting fits, and in those arising from any violent agitation of mind, and also when opium or spirituous liquors have been taken in too great a quantity, there is reason to believe that the appearance of death has been frequently mistaken for the reality. In these cases, the means recommended by the Humane Society for the recovery of drowned persons, should be persevered in for several hours; and bleeding, which in similar circumstances has sometimes proved pernicious, should be used with great caution. In the two latter instances, it will be highly expedient, with a view of counteracting the soporific effects of opium and spirits, to convey into the stomach, by a proper tube, a solution of tartar emetic, and by various other means, to excite vomiting.
From the number of children carried off by convulsions, and the certainty arising from undoubted facts, that some who have in appearance died from that cause have been recovered; there is the greatest reason for concluding, that many, in consequence of this disease, have been prematurely numbered among the dead; and that the fond parent, by neglecting the means of recalling life, has often been the guiltless executioner of her own offspring. To prevent the commission of such dreadful mistakes, no child, whose life has been apparently extinguished by convulsions, should be consigned to the grave, till the means of recovery above recommended in apoplexies, &c. have been tried; and, if possible, under the direction of some skilful practitioner of medicine, who may vary them as circumstances shall require.
When fevers arise in weak habits, or when the cure of them has been principally attempted by means of depletion, the consequent debility is often very great, and the patient sometimes, sinks into a state which bears so close an affinity to that of death, that there is reason to suspect it has too often deceived the by-standers, and induced them to send for the undertaker, when they should have had recourse to medicine. In such cases, volatiles, eau de luce for example, should be applied to the nose, rubbed on the temples, and sprinkled often about the bed; hot flannels, moistened with a strong solution of camphorated spirit may likewise be applied over the breast, and renewed every quarter of an hour; and as soon as the patient is able to swallow, a tea spoonful of the strongest cordial should be given every five minutes.
The same methods may also be used with propriety, in the small pox, when the pustules sink, and death apparently ensues; and likewise in any other acute disease, when the vital functions are suspended from a similar cause.
ACCOUNT
Of the various
MODES OF BURYING THE DEAD,
ADOPTED BY DIFFERENT NATIONS.
The primitive Christians buried their dead after the manner of the Jews. They first washed, then embalmed them, spending, (says Tertullian,) more perfumes, and aromatic gums, upon such occasions, than the heathens did in their sacrifices. They wrapt the corpse in fine linen, or silk, and sometimes put them on rich habits. They then laid them forth for the space of three days, during which they constantly attended the dead body, and passed the time in watching and praying by it. Then they carried it to the grave, with torches and flambeaus, singing psalms and hymns to the praise of God, and in testimony of their hopes of the resurrection. They recommended the dead likewise in their prayers, received the communion, and made their Agapæ, or love feasts, with the distribution of other charities for the poor.
At the end of the year, they made a fresh commemoration for them, and so from year to year; beside the standing commemoration for the dead, always joined with the eucharist, they frequently put into the grave several things, as marks of honour to the deceased, or to preserve his memory; such as the badges of his dignity, the instruments and acts of his martyrdom, an epitaph, or at least his name: and sometimes they threw in medals, laurel leaves, some crosses, and the gospel. And whereas the heathens, built stately tombs for their dead, either by the sides of great roads, or in the open fields; the Christians, on the contrary, disposed of their deceased, either after the common way of interment, or laying them in vaults under ground; such were the catacombs near Rome.—They had anciently, a religious ambition to be buried near the bodies of martyrs, and this is that which, at last, brought so many graves and tombs into the churches; which were frequently erected over the graves of martyrs: this was the occasion of burying in churches; for a long time it was the custom to bury the dead no where but without the walls of cities.
As to the old Greeks, after they had closed the eyes of the deceased, they used to make a great noise with a sort of bell, done as it is supposed either to scare away the furies and hobgoblins, or else to wake the person, in case he was only in a lethargy or apoplectic fit. Afterwards they put a piece of money into his mouth, to pay his passage over the Styx, giving him likewise a piece of meat to put Cerberus in good humour: they then put a bandage, or little scarf over his eyes, and his face was covered to his chin with cloth. This office was to be performed by the nearest relations, who were likewise obliged to wash the body with warm water and anoint it. This was properly the business of women. The corpse was likewise wrapt in fresh linen, or new cloth, made into a sort of straight gown. The body was afterwards crowned with chaplets, to intimate the deceased had conquered the misfortunes of this life. They likewise put some sweetmeats into his mouth, which was part of the entertainment of the Olympionces. The funeral being thus far prepared, they placed the corpse at the gate of the house, which was a sort of laying in state.
The day after, before sun-rise, the Greeks used to carry the corpse to the funeral pile. The expence upon this occasion, though moderate at first, grew afterwards to a great excess; therefore Solon made a sumptuary law, to oblige the Athenians to frugality. The relations used to attend the corpse to the funeral pile; women under three score years of age, unless pretty near related, were not permitted to come into the house where the corpse lay; however all of that sex were allowed to accompany the body to the place of sepulchre: at the latter end of the solemnity the company had a treat at the expence of the relations, at which time, if the deceased had done any thing remarkable, it was set forth in a speech; which privilege was afterwards granted to none but those who died in the field, for their country, or such as were buried at the charge of the state, which in such cases was done in the Ceramicus.
It was a custom among the Greeks, to bury persons of the best quality in raised grounds, till, at last, there were two public burying places appointed by the state, called Ceramici, one within, and the other without the wall. In the first of which, those who died in the field, were buried. If any person happened to die on their travels, or in another country, their way was to anoint the corpse with honey, to preserve it from putrefaction, till they could bring it home. And sometimes they wrapt them alive, in cerecloth for the same purpose.
The Egyptians of which we shall speak more fully hereafter, used to embalm their dead with a composition made of wine and odoriferous drugs, such as myrrh, cinnamon, cedar, &c. This embalming was a whole month in finishing, it being necessary to repeat the aromatic gums under the corpse a great many times. Herodotus observes, that the Egyptians used to dress the corpse in the same habit that the person wore, and put it into a transparent glass coffin.
The Romans paid the last offices to the dead, in the following manner: after they had closed the eyes of the dead, they called out to him several times, to see if he was not fallen into a swoon, or lethargical distemper.—After this, they washed the corpse with warm water, and rubbed it with perfumes. This being done, they put a sort of white gown upon him, and brought him to the door with his feet to the street, then they stuck branches of cypress before the house.
This ceremony continued seven days, and upon the eighth they carried the corpse to the place where it was to be burnt: amongst people of fortune, the bier, or coffin, was generally carried by relations: and at the funerals of Emperors and Consuls; the Senators, and Magistrates of the Republic did this office; but the common people were carried by Vespillones, or common bearers. When persons of high blood, or who were eminent for posts in government, or remarkable actions, were brought to the pile, the distinctions of their quality were carried before the coffin, as the consular fasces, the sword and mace, their ancestors in wax work, the plunder they had gained upon the enemy, the civic, mural, &c. crowns which they had deserved, and every thing else that might add to their figure. Servius observes, that in the beginning of the Republic, they buried their dead in their houses: but by a law of the twelve tables, it was forbidden either to bury, or burn any corpse within the city of Rome; but afterwards, the vestal virgins, and Emperors had a privilege of exception; as for other people they were either interred in the highways, or in their ground, out of the town. At the burning of the corpse, they laid it fast upon a pile of wood, of pines, yew, and other resembling trees, which lay one upon another in the figure of an altar. The corpse being dressed, and sprinkled with rich liquors, lay in a coffin, made on purpose, with his face upwards, and a piece of silver in his mouth to pay Charon for his fare. The pile was surrounded with cypress, an embalm of grief and death; after this some of the nearest relations, turning their back to the pile, set fire to it with a torch, which they held behind them; and the fire being lighted, they threw in the clothes, arms, and other rich goods, which the deceased person had the greatest fancy for. When the corpse was burnt, they wetted the bones and the ashes with milk and wine, and then put them into an urn, which they buried in a sepulchre for that purpose. Before this urn, they set a little altar, where they burnt perfumes.
Their mourning lasted ten months, which was Romulus’s year; but it was possible to shorten this term by some public success of the state, or any extraordinary good fortune, which happened to a private family.
Account of the opening of the Tomb of King Edward I. in Westminster Abbey, 467 years after its Interment.
The following interesting account of the effect produced by the mode of preservation, which, for many centuries, has been made use of upon the bodies of royal personages, will it is presumed, be found not unacceptable to our readers. It is extracted from Sir Joseph Ayloffe’s account of the opening of the Tomb of Edward the First, in Westminster Abbey 467 years after its interment. After describing the manner of opening the tomb and coffin, which was done with the utmost care, in the presence of the Reverend Doctor Thomas, then Dean of Westminster, two of the prebends, and the President of the Antiquarian Society, the writer says,
“On lifting up the lid, the royal corpse was found wrapped up within a large square mantle of strong, course, and thick linen cloth, diapered, of a dull, pale, yellowish brown colour, and waxed on its under side.”
The head and face were entirely covered with a sudarium, or face cloth, of crimson sarsenet, the substance whereof was so much perished, as to have a cobweb-like face, and the appearance of fine lint. The sudarium was formed into three folds. When the folds of the external wrapper were thrown back, and the sudarium removed, the corpse was discovered, richly habited, adorned with ensigns of royalty, and almost entire, notwithstanding the length of time that it had been entombed. Its innermost covering seemed to have been a very fine linen cerecloth, dressed close to every part of the body, and superinduced with such accuracy and exactness, that the fingers and thumbs of both the hands had each of them a separate and distinct envelope of that material. The face, which had a similar covering, closely fitted thereto, retained its exact form, although part of the flesh appeared to be somewhat wasted. It was of a dark brown, or chocolate colour, approaching to black, as were the hands and fingers. The chin and lips were entire, but without any beard; and a sinking or dip, between the chin and underlip, was very conspicuous. Both the lips were prominent, the nose short, as if shrunk; but the apertures of the nostrils were visible. There was an unusual fall, or cavity, on that part of the bridge of the nose which separates the orbits of the eyes; and some globular substance, possibly the fleshy part of the eye-balls, was moveable in their sockets, under the envelope. Below the chin, and under jaw, was lodged a quantity of black dust, which had neither smell nor coherence; but, whether the same had been flesh or spices, could not be ascertained. One of the joints of the middle finger of the right hand was loose, but those of the left hand were quite perfect. The corpse, from the waist downward, was covered with a large piece of rich figured cloth of gold, which was loose over the lower part of the tunic, thighs, legs and feet, and tucked down behind the soles of the latter. There did not remain any appearance of gloves; but, on the back of each hand, and just below the knuckle of the middle finger, lay a quatre-soil, of the same metal as those in the stole (i.e. of fillagree work, in metal gilt, elegantly chased in figure.) The feet, with their toes, soles, and heels, seemed to be perfectly entire; but, whether they have sandals on them, or not, is uncertain, as the cloth tucked over them was not removed. On measuring the body by a rod, quadrated into inches, divided into quarters, it appeared to be exactly six feet and two inches in length.
The following remarkable fact is translated from the Imperial Gazette of Petersburg, dated December 17th, 1798.
“In 1796, a coffin was found at the Convent of Sumovin, in the city of Trotma, in the eparchy of Volgoda, containing a corpse, in the habit of a Monk. It had been interred in 1568, yet was in a state of perfect preservation, as were also the garments. From the letters embroidered on them, it was found to be the body of the most memorable Feodose Sumovin, founder and superior of the Convent, and who had been acknowledged as a saint during his life, for the miracles he had performed.”
The Emperor Paul, on hearing this report caused the following proclamation to be issued.
“We Paul, &c. having been certified by a special report of the most holy synod, of the discovery that has been made in the Convent of Spasso Sumovia, of the miraculous remains of the most venerable Feodose, which miraculous remains distinguish themselves by the happy care of all those who have recourse to them with entire confidence, we take the discovery of these holy remains as a visible sign, that the Lord has cast his most gracious eye in the most distinguished manner on our reign. For this reason, we offer our fervent prayers and our gratitudes to the Supreme Dispenser of all things, and charge our most holy synod to announce this memorable discovery throughout all our empire, according to the forms prescribed by the holy church, and by the holy fathers, &c. the 28th, September 1798.”
OBSERVATIONS
ON THE
DANGER OF BURYING IN CHURCHES
AND
CONFINED CHURCH-YARDS.
It is to be feared that the ancients had juster and more rational ideas, relative to the disposal of the dead, than the moderns seem in general to possess. The cemeteries in populous and crowded cities are, for the most part, not only offensive, but destructive, and engender diseases. Quiet, remote, and unfrequented places, if properly secured, are certainly the most suitable for the purposes of interment. The practice of burying in churches, or near them, has not the least foundation in holy writ; on the contrary, we know, that under the Mosaic dispensation, the bodies of the dead were considered as a pollution to the priest and the altar; and the custom which prevails at present, was introduced by the Romish clergy, who pretended that the defunct enjoyed great and peculiar privileges by having their remains deposited in consecrated ground.
The Germans have begun to remove the burying-place a mile or two from every city or town, by which means they have abolished, or paved the way towards abolishing, all the nonsensical epitaphs and laughable inscriptions, which generally abound in church-yards, and too often disgrace the memory they mean to celebrate; and have substituted for the offensive cemetery an agreeable kind of garden, more calculated to inspire calm devotions than sentiments of horror.
Vide Render’s Tour through Germany.
In the voyages and travels of Dr. Hasselquist, a Swedish physician, he observes, concerning burials in churches and towns: “The burying places of the Turks are handsome and agreeable, which is owing chiefly to the many fine plants that grow in them, and which they carefully place over their dead. The Turks are much more consistent than the Christians, when they bury their dead without the town, and plant over them such vegetables as by their aromatic smell can drive away the fatal odours with which the air is filled in such places. I am persuaded that by this they escape many misfortunes which affect Christians from wandering and dwelling continually among the dead.”
The great Sir Matthew Hale was always very much against burying in churches, and used to say, “that churches were for the living, and the church-yards for the dead.” He himself was interred in the church-yard of Alderley, in Gloucestershire.
In Mold church, in Flintshire, is an epitaph on Dr. William Wynne, written by himself; in which are these words:
In conformity to an ancient usage,
From a proper regard to decency,
And a concern for the health
of his fellow-creatures,
He was moved to give particular directions for being buried in the adjoining church-yard,
“and not in the church.”
In 1776, The king of France prohibited the burying in churches.
“Two respectable correspondents,” observes a writer, in one of the early volumes of the Monthly Magazine, have very properly censured and exposed the indecency, and even danger, of burying in churches and in towns. In addition to their remarks and anecdotes, allow me a place, if you can, for an extract from a very scarce discourse, by that learned and eminently pious prelate, Joseph Hall, preached at Exeter, August the 24th, 1637, on the consecration of a new burial place. The text, which is very applicable, and admirably elucidated, is Genesis, the 23rd chapter, 19th and 20th verses.—“And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field Machpelah, before Mamre, the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure to Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the sons of Heth.”
After making several pertinent observations on the subject, the excellent Bishop says: “Hitherto that there must be a meet place, a place fixed and designed for the burial of the dead; now let us a little look into the choice of the place; it was a field, and a cave in that field; a field not sub-tecto, but sub-dio; a field before Mamre, a city that took its name from the owner, Abraham’s assistant in his war; before it, not in it; and indeed both these are fit and exemplary: it was the ancientest and best way that sepultures should be without the gates of the city; hence you find that our Saviour met the bier of the widow’s son as he was carried out of the gates of Nain to his burial; and hence of old was wont to be that proclamation of the Roman funerals, allus cefertur feras. And we find that Joseph of Arimathea, had his private burial place in his garden without the City, (for it was near to Calvary) and so was Lazarus, his sepulchre without Bethany. Our Saviour staid in the field, till the sisters came forth to him, and the neighbours came forth after them: so they went together to the sepulchre. And certainly much might be said to this purpose for the convenience of our funerals, without respect of those Jewish grounds, who held a kind of impurity in the corpses of the dead; but that which might be said, is rather out of matter of wholesomness and civil considerations, than out of the grounds of theology. In time, this rite of burial, did so creep within the walls, that it insinuated itself into churches, yea, into the Holy of Holies,—Choirs, and chancels, near unto the holy table, God’s evangelical altar; but I must tell you, this custom hath found entertainment only in the Western churches, that is, those that were of correspondence with the Roman; for the Greek church allows no such practice, and the Roman at first admitted it very sparingly, so as (elim episcopi, et alii principes sépelie bantur in ecclesia) none but princes and bishops (as Martinus Vivaldus) were of old interred in churches; afterwards the privileges grew larger, to other eminent benefactors into the church, and none but them: and now that it is grown so common, both in our churches and the Roman, we may thank partly superstition, partly ambition and covetousness; superstition of them that think the holiness of the place doth not a little avail the soul; ambition of those that love these (πρωτοκλισιας) both living and dead: covetousness of those greedy hucksters of the church of Rome, who upon the sale of their suffrages, raise the prices of their holy ground to their unreasonable advantages. But to speak freely, what I think concerning this so common practice, I must need say, I cannot but hold it very unfit and inconvenient, both, first in respect of the majesty, it is the Lord’s House, the palace of the King of Heaven; and what prince would have his court made a charnel-house? How well soever we loved our deceased friends, yet when their life is dissolved, there is none of us but would be loath to have their corpses inmates with us in our houses; and why should we think fit to offer that to God’s house which we should be loath to endure in our own.—Secondly, in regard of the annoyance of the living; for the air (kept close within walls) arising from dead bodies, must needs be offensive, as we find by daily experience, more offensive now than of old to God’s people: they buried with odours, the fragrancy whereof was a good antidote for this inconvenience; (“she did this to bury me,” saith our Saviour). Not so with us; so as the air receives no other tincture than what arises from the evaporation of corrupted bodies. But though I approve not common buryings within the church, as not deeming that a fit bestowage for the dead; yet forasmuch as the church is a place of most public resort and use, I cannot mislike that in some meet parts, whether floors, or pillars, or walls, (especially of the side chapels pertaining thereto) there be memorials or monuments of worthy and well deserving Christians, whereby their knowledge and precious remembrances may be perpetuated to posterity.”
Thus far the worthy Bishop, on this indecent and unwholesome practice: to which I shall only add (observes the writer) a quotation from Mr. Strutt, who informs us, “that before the time of Christianity, it was held unlawful to bury the dead within the cities, but they used to carry them out into the fields hard by, and there deposit them. Towards the end of the sixth century, Augustine obtained of king Ethelbert, a temple of idols, (where the king used to worship before his conversion) and made a burying place of it; but St Cuthbert afterwards obtained leave to have yards made to the churches, proper for the reception of the dead.”
At a funeral in St. Mary’s church, at Montpellier, a porter happened to tumble into the vault, where several corpses had been deposited; and, not returning again, his brother, who perceived that his candle had gone out, went down to help him up, but neither did he return, nor made the least outcry; a third did the like, without uttering a syllable; at length a fourth, perceiving they were all in the dark, ventured to be let down by a rope, with a light in his hand, to see what was the matter. This man finding himself attacked with a noisome vapour, when he was half way down, begged to be drawn up again, and upon being let blood, recovered. The other three were hawled out with hooks fixed to the ends of poles, having no remains of life. The sexton affirmed that something of the like nature had formerly happened in another vault. These dead men were in a manner covered over with a wet mud, whose stench was such, that nobody cared to touch them. A few days after, (says Mr. de Sauvage, the writer of this account) I went to the place, and by a line let down cats of different ages, birds and dogs, about seven feet deep into the vault. The young cats died convulsed, in about three minutes; the old ones in half a minute, or less. Lighted flambeaus went out before they were well under the surface of the ground, as though they had been dipped in water.
In order to examine (observes this gentleman) into the nature of this vapour, I drew some of it up from the bottom of the vault, in a glass bucket, as if it had been water; candles were extinguished, and birds suffocated in it in an instant. If any of it was conveyed into a phial, an exhalation issued out of the orifice, to which a candle being applied, it was not extinguished; but if introduced within the mouth, went out immediately. It was considerably heavier than air, for if the phial was inclined, the vapour yielded to the position, and laid horizontally; and if the vapour was poured into another phial, to whose bottom a bit of lighted wax candle was fixed, it put it out as soon as it arose as high as the flame. This vapour, after having been kept in phials, well stopped, for several months, retained its poisonous quality as strong as at first. Is not this a proof of the perniciousness of burying vaults in churches, and do not many popular diseases very probably arise from this filthy custom?
THE
FATAL CONSEQUENCES
Of opening
TOMBS OR GRAVES TOO SOON.
The people of Challons upon the Marne, in France, having resolved some years since, to enlarge the yard or square before their town house, by adding to it a part of St. Alpin’s church-yard, and for that purpose, to remove all the bodies lately buried there, were diverted from the execution of their design, by a dissertation wrote by M. Navier, a physician and member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, for shewing the dangerous consequences of opening graves before the bodies are quite dissolved; and as such practices are too frequent in this country, it may be of service to lay before the public an abstract of what this celebrated physician has said upon the subject.
The doctor divides his dissertation into two parts, in the first of which he describes the several degrees of corruption which a dead body successively undergoes, and which bring it at last to a total dissolution. From these principles he concludes, that the terrible mixture which results from putrefaction, by raising itself in the form of infectious exhalations, may penetrate even to the inside of the tender and delicate organs of living bodies, and may infallibly occasion their destruction. These exhalations will convey themselves, more or less, into all those who happen to be within their atmosphere; and our fluids being once impregnated with these virulent particles, cannot, without difficulty, disentangle themselves, so that notwithstanding the redoubled efforts of nature, to free itself from the grasp of such a formidable enemy, multitudes must succumb. The misfortune resulting from hence, may not confine itself to that short space of time, during which the air continues infected; for a part of these corrupting impurities which have passed themselves into living bodies, may continue there for a long time, and may be communicated to others, or may lie concealed, even for a considerable time, before they begin to exert their virulence.
This poison, the doctor observes, may convey itself into living bodies by more ways than one; for example, through the pores of the skin, along with the breath we draw, along with our food of any kind, &c. And to prove that dead bodies must lie a long time buried, in order to give time to the corrupted particles with which the surrounding earth is impregnated, to dissipate themselves, or to be entirely converted into the first elements of matter, he mentions, first, an interment of several bodies in a church-yard of Challons, in the year 1724, which, though they had been four years under ground, were nevertheless very far from being near consumed, and which still emitted such an infectious stench, that the people could hardly bear it, notwithstanding the great quantity of incense they kept burning. Secondly, he mentions the report of several grave-diggers, all of whom declared, from experience, that it was dangerous to open tombs in less than four years; and that, by moisture or rain, dead bodies were kept from being consumed. And, Thirdly, he mentions a fact, of which he himself was a witness. A grave-digger, in digging a grave, shewed him the skeletons of three bodies which had been buried one above another, every one of which had some of the hair and some of the entrails remaining, and something of a fleshy substance upon the bones, though the lowermost had been twenty, the second eleven, and the third eight years under ground.
In the second part, the doctor proposes the methods he thinks most proper for guarding those who are exposed to the bad air of interments, from this almost inevitable contagion. He advises the putting them off as long as possible, as being the most certain: but when extreme necessity will admit of no delay, he proposes these precautions: The first, and most essential, consists in making a number of small trenches in the church-yard, then filling them with unslacked lime, and taking care to pour upon it a large quantity of water; for the water being impregnated with the ignious, and absorbing particles of the lime, penetrates the earth, and the remains of the interred bodies, and thereby destroys, in whole, or in part, the corrupting impurities. This operation he advises to renew, more or less, often, in proportion to the number and condition of the bodies buried in the ground. The second precaution is, to chuse for the removal the coldest time of the year, and when the north winds prevail most; and the third, is to make great fires round the church-yard, to fire cannon, or some other instrument charged with fulminating powder, at least three or four times a day. These last methods, says he, have the property of correcting, and effectually destroying the putrid exhalations with which the air may still remain impregnated, and of accelerating the currents of air, &c.
The custom of burying in churches, and of depositing the bones of dead bodies in charnel houses, gives M. Navier occasion to make observations upon this two fold abuse; and in a second dissertation, which is a sort of appendix to the first, he, with great reason, declares against burying in churches, which is too frequently permitted under the specious pretext of raising thereby a revenue for the support of the fabrick. He observes, that this custom of burying in churches was never allowed before the ninth century; and that ever since it has been allowed, it has, from time to time, produced unfortunate consequences; several of which he relates, both ancient and modern, that have happened at Chalons, at Montpelier, at Paris, and in foreign countries. As the earth which is thrown up by digging new graves, is impregnated with a great quantity of corrupt particles, conveyed into it, by the bodies before interred therein. It is not at all surprising, says he, that such unlucky effects should ensue; for if the bodies of dead animals left in the open air, often occasion contagious diseases, though the free air to which they are exposed is continually carrying off, and, as it were, sweeping away those putrid impurities which arise from dead bodies, by degrees, as they become corrupted, what have we not to fear from churches where great numbers of people are interred? It is these poisoned particles, he adds, with which the earth is impregnated, that has caused the death of great numbers of grave diggers, even upon their opening ground where no vestige of any dead body was to be found; and it is for this reason, that they are generally obliged to dig a grave at several intervals; for if you ask them why, they will tell you, that they feel themselves, as it were suffocated; if they continue at it for any long time; and their breathing in these infected vapours, is what makes such men generally but short lived.
According to M. Navier, the most effectual remedy for this abuse, would be, not to permit any, or but very few persons to be buried in churches; and when it is allowed, to slack a large quantity of lime upon the body, there being no more certain method for destroying it speedily, and as one may say, before it can pass through any one degree of corruption.
But, as in spite of all these precautions, the air in churches may often be a little vitiated, M. Navier, proposes a very easy method for restoring it to its natural purity, which, is to take out, in the day time, some of the upper panes of the glass windows, near the vaults; which little openings cannot render the church too cold, and at the same time will make a free communication between the external and internal air.
And as to charnel houses, he tells us, that he has often visited them in the several places where he has happened to reside, and that among the bones he has always found some that had still a sort of corrupted fleshy substance upon them. Ought not, says he, such an abuse to be prevented: ought it not to be forbid under pain of exemplary punishment, to expose the bones of dead bodies to the open air, which must always be corrupted by their unwholesome exhalations, even when they have nothing of this fleshy substance upon them; for we cannot be too watchful in preserving the air in its utmost purity, since upon it depends the life, and health of man. Therefore he concludes, that all charnel houses ought to be suppressed, as they appear to him to be more hurtful than useful; and that all grave-diggers ought to be strictly enjoined to collect carefully all the bones thrown up in digging a grave, in order to be again thrown into it, and well covered with earth.
Further corroboration of the aforesaid subject.
In the month of September, 1784, a poor woman died in the Hospital at Aberdeen, and was buried in a church yard in the neighbourhood. A company of young Surgeons, agreed with the grave digger, to set some mark on the grave, as a direction for them to find the body for anatomical purposes; but some person in order to disappoint the grave-digger’s employers, moved the signal to another grave, that of a woman who had been buried about three or four months. The party came, and directed by the mark agreed upon, dug up the grave, drew out the coffin, and carried it home. But upon opening it, a vapour like flame of brimstone came forth, and suffocated them in an instant. Two women also going past the room, fell down dead, and it was said, that eleven persons thus perished from the baneful effluvia.
It is very common, observes Doctor Buchan, in this country, to have church-yards in the middle of populous cities. Whether this be the effect of ancient superstition, or owing to the increase of such towns, is a matter of no consequence. Whatever gave rise to the custom, it is a bad one. It is habit alone which reconciles us to these things; by means of which the most ridiculous, nay pernicious customs, often become sacred. Certain it is, that thousands of putrid carcases, so near the surface of the earth, in a place where the air is confined, cannot fail to taint it; and that such air when breathed into the lungs, must occasion diseases.
In most Eastern countries it was customary to bury the dead at some distance from any town. As this practice obtained sanction among the Jews, the Greeks, and also the Romans, it is strange that the Western parts of Europe should not have followed their example in a custom so truly laudable.
Burying in churches is still more detestable. The air in churches is seldom good, and the effluvia from putrid carcases must render it still worse. Churches are commonly old buildings with arched roofs. They are seldom open above once a week, are never ventilated by fires, nor open windows, and rarely kept clean. This occasions that damp, musty, unwholesome smell which one feels upon entering a church, and renders it a very unsafe place for the weak and valetudinary. These inconveniences might in a great measure, be obviated, by prohibiting all persons from burying within churches, by keeping them clean, and permitting a stream of fresh air to pass frequently through them, by opening opposite doors and windows.
The practice of burying the dead, says the doctor, in the centre of populous neighbourhoods, is still too generally continued. Churches and church-yards are made the chief places of interment, in direct opposition to reason, and to the example of the most enlightened people of antiquity. The first words of the old Roman inscriptions on tomb stones, “Siste viator,” Stop, traveller, shew that the dead were buried by the side of public roads, not in temples, nor in the heart of towns and cities. One of the laws of the late Joseph II. relative to this point, will do him immortal honour. After strictly prohibiting the interment of dead bodies in any church or chapel. “It is horrid,” says the Emperor, “that a place of worship, a temple of the Supreme Being, should be converted into a pest-house for living creatures! a person who, upon his death-bed, makes it a condition of his will to be buried in a church or chapel, acts like a madman: he ought to set his fellow-creatures a good example, and not to do all in his power to destroy their constitutions, by exposing them to the effluvia arising from a corpse in a state of putrefaction.”
The admirable sentiment expressed by one of our own country-women, who died a few years since, afford a striking contrast with the superstitious folly so justly stigmatized by the Emperor.
This extraordinary female, whose mind was superior to the weakness of her sex, and to the prejudices of custom, being fully sensible, as she herself expressed it in her last will, “that the bodies of the dead might be offensive to the living,” ordered her body to be burnt, and the ashes deposited in an urn, in the burying ground of St. Georges, Hanover-Square, where the remains of the sentimental Yorrick, are also interred.
To prevent the dreadful contagion in future, that might otherwise arise from thoughtless and wicked people, prematurely stealing dead bodies from their graves, the following easy method of securing the same, is strongly recommended as an effectual preventative.
As soon as the corpse is deposited, let a truss of long wheaten straw be opened, and distributed in the grave in layers, as equally as may be, with every layer of earth, till the whole is filled up. By this method the corpse will be effectually secured, as may be found by experience; for it is certain that the longest night will not afford time sufficient to empty the grave, though all the common implements of grave-digging be made use of for the abominable purpose.
ACCOUNT
OF
REMARKABLE TOMBS,
AND EVER-BURNING
LAMPS OF THE ANCIENTS.
Among the papers of Dr. Parsons, in the Bodleian Library, is the following very extraordinary story. It is dated 1685.
In a piece of ground within two miles of Cirencester, in the county of Gloucester, commonly known by the name of Colton’s Field, as two labourers were digging a gravel pit at the foot of a hill, which they had now sunk four yards deep, they observed the ground on that side next the hill to be loose, and presently discovered an entrance into the belly of the hill, which appearing very strange to them, and rather the work of art than nature, one of them ventured a little way in, and by the light from the hole, discovered a large cavity; whereupon they got a lanthorn and candle to make a further search into it. By the advantage of this light, the first place they entered, appeared to have been a hall, which was large, and in it two tables with benches on each side, which they no sooner touched, to feel their substance, but they crumbled into dust. From thence they saw a passage into another room, which, by the furniture, had been a kitchen. Several utensils proper to it, as pots, kettles, &c. being of brass or iron, continued somewhat firm, but eaten through with rust and canker.
Beyond the hall, they went into a parlour furnished, according to the fashion of those times, with carpets richly wrought, and other furniture agreeable: these also fell to pieces upon their touching them. At one corner of the room, there appeared to have been a pair of stairs; but the earth had fallen in, and stopt the ascent. Going back into the hall, they observed another opening, which led them into a square room, ornamented with carved work in several parts, supposed to have been a place of worship and devotion, by images in the wall; and at the upper end of it, they found several urns, some of which had only ashes in them, others were filled with coins and medals, of gold, silver, and brass, with Latin inscriptions, and heads of several Roman Emperors.
As they went searching about this room, they spied a door, which had been strongly patched with iron, but the wood being rotten, with a little force it fell in pieces; and looking in, to their great astonishment, they saw the image of a man in full proportion, with a truncheon in his hand, and a light, in a glass like a lamp, burning before him. This very much affrightened them at first, imagining it to be a devil in that shape, or a guardian spirit set there to defend some hidden treasure; the hopes whereof so far encouraged them at last, that one of them ventured a step in, but upon his first descent, the image seemed to strike at him; at which they were both so terrified, that they durst proceed no further; but went back, and taking many of the medals and coins with them, out of the urns, at night acquainted a gentleman, who is a famous antiquary, with the discovery they had made, what they had seen, and the money they had found; shewing him several pieces; upon which he ordered them to keep the matter private; promising to go with them the next morning, which he accordingly did.
After he had viewed the other rooms with wonder and delight, they conducted him to the place where the image was, which he supposed might, by some great artist, be made to strike at certain times; therefore without any apprehension of danger, went in; and, as before, upon his first step, the image made an offer to strike; so at the second step, but with a greater force: at the third step, it struck a violent blow on the glass, where the light was, which broke it in pieces, and quite extinguished it (the light) that, had they not been furnished with a lanthorn and candle, their condition would have been desperate. The image appeared to have been the effigy of some Roman General, by those ensigns of martial honour which lay at his feet. On the left hand lay two heads embalmed. The flesh was shrivelled up, and looked like parchment scorched, of a dark complexion. They had long hair on the chin; one seemed to be red, and the other black.
Upon further search were found several other passages leading to other houses, or different rooms of the same house; but a hollow voice, like a deep sigh or groan, prevented any other discovery. Our adventurers hastily quitted those dark apartments, which they had no sooner done, than the hill sunk down, and buried all the rarities, except those medals and coins taken out the night before, which are now shewn for the satisfaction of the curious and ingenious, who in great numbers flock to see them, and purchase them at great rates, as most valuable relics of antiquity.
Kommanus tells us, that in Valentia, a city of Spain, there was found the body of Adonizam, the servant of King Solomon, together with his epitaph in Hebrew. It appeared, that he had laid buried above two thousand years, yet was he found uncorrupted: so excellent a way of embalming the dead were those skilled in, who lived in the Eastern Countries.
He also mentions the body of Cleopatra, which had remained undamaged for an hundred and twenty-five Olympiads, viz. five hundred years, as appears by the letter of Heraclius the Emperor to Sophocles the philosopher.
I remember not, continues Kommanus, to have read any thing like this amongst the Romans, unless of the body, as some say of Tulliolæ, the daughter of Cicero, which was found entire and uncorrupted (as some have computed) one thousand and five hundred years, the particulars of which are described as follows from Houghton’s collections, volume the 2nd, page 346.
In the papacy of Paul the Third, in the Appian way, where abundance of the chief Heathens of old were laid, a sepulchre was opened; where was found the entire body of a fair virgin swimming in a wonderful juice which kept it from putrefaction so well, that the face seemed no way damnified, but lively and handsome. Her hairs were yellow, tied up artificially, and kept together with a golden circle or ring. Under her feet burnt lamps, which vanished at the opening of the Sepulchre. By some inscriptions it seems she had lain 1500 years. Who she was is not known, although many thought her to be Tulliolæ, the daughter of Cicero.
Cedrenus makes mention of a lamp, which (together with an image of Christ) was found at Edessa, in the reign of Justinian the Emperor. It was set over a certain gate there, and privily enclosed, as appeared by the date of it, soon after Christ was crucified: it was found burning (as it had done for five hundred years before) by the soldiers of Cosroes, king of Persia, by whom also the oil was taken out and cast into the fire; which occasioned such a plague, as brought death upon almost all the forces of Cosroes.
At the demolition of our monasteries here in England, there was found in the supposed monument of Constantius Chlorus (father to the great Constantine,) a burning lamp which was thought to have continued burning there ever since his burial, which is about three hundred years after Christ. The ancient Romans used in that manner to preserve lights in their Sepulchres a long time, by the oil of gold, resolved by art into a liquid substance.
Baptista porta, in his treatise on Natural Magic, relates, that about the year 1550, in the island Nesis in Naples, a marble sepulchre, of a certain Roman was discovered, upon the opening of which, a phial was found containing a burning lamp. This lamp became extinct on breaking the phial, and exposing the light to the open air. It appeared that this lamp had been concealed before the advent of Christ. Those who saw the lamp reported, that it emitted a most splendid flame.
The most celebrated lamp of Pallas, the son of Evander, who was killed by Turnis, as Virgil relates in the tenth book of his Æneid, was discovered not far from Rome, in the year 1401, by a countryman, who digging deeper than usual, observed a stone sepulchre, containing the body of a man of extraordinary size, which was as entire as if recently interred, and which had a large wound in the breast. Above the head of the deceased, there was found a lamp burning with perpetual fire, which neither wind nor water, nor any other superinduced liquor could extinguish: but the lamp being bored at the bottom, and broke by the importunate enemies of this wonderful light, the flame immediately vanished. That this was the body of Pallas, is evident from the inscription on the tomb, which was as follows:
Pallas, Evander’s son, whom Turnis’ spear
In battle slew, of mighty bulk, lies here.
A very remarkable lamp was discovered about the year 1500, near Atestes, a town belonging to Padua, in Italy, by a rustic, who digging deeper than usual, found an earthen urn, containing another urn, in which last, was a lamp placed between two cylindrical vessels, one of gold, and the other of silver, and each of which was full of a very pure liquor, by whose virtue it is probable, the lamp had continued to shine for upwards of 1500 years, and, unless it had been exposed to the air, might have continued its wonderful light for a still greater period of time. This curious lamp was the workmanship of one Maximus Olybius, who most probably effected this wonder, by a profound skill in the chymical art. On the greater urn, some verses were inscribed in Latin, which may be translated as follows: