“At present the question is not an urgent one, but if peace continue, and if the population of Europe increase, it will become so in another century or two.
“Already in this country we have seen, in our own time, a great change; the objectionable practice of interment under and round churches in towns has been given up, and the population is buried at a distance from their habitations. For the present that measure will probably suffice, but in a few years the question will again inevitably present itself.”[252]
[252] Parkes.
Since however, for the reasons above specified, earth-burial seems to be the only means of disposing of the dead likely to prevail for many years to come, the question arises as to how its attendant evils can be as much as possible minimised. The following suggestions, that may assist to effect this, are offered:—As quickly as possible after death the body should be covered with sawdust, to which carbolic acid has been added, a precaution which not only prevents the escape of fetid gases, but also of putrescent fluids from a badly jointed coffin. Charcoal, although an excellent disinfectant, from its colour, could not out of consideration for the feelings of the relatives or friends, be used until the coffin with its contents had been screwed down.
It is always desirable (save for some special reason) that the corpse should be interred within three or four days of the demise. If a body has to be kept above ground for some time, Mr Herbert Barker recommends a thin layer of sawdust and sulphate of zinc to be placed over it, in the proportion of two parts of the former to one of the latter. The coffin should be made of a material impervious to the air, and of such strength as to withstand the pressure of the overlying earth.
Mr Wynter Blyth, in his ‘Dictionary of Hygiène,’ recommends a coffin described by Mr Baker in his evidence before the sanitary commission. “The body being first of all placed in a common shell, this shell is placed in the coffin; the interval between the two is filled with common pitch, and then the outside coffin is coated over with pitch; so that it is as perfectly air-tight as a leaden shell. If desired a glass can be placed so as to leave the face exposed to the view of a jury when necessary with regard to the interment.
“The advantages of deep over shallow burying are obvious. The greater the mass of superincumbent earth into which the gaseous products of decomposition diffuse, the better the chance of their absorption and removal by the soil, and the less risk of their consequent escape into the contiguous atmosphere, as well as of the danger of contamination to the water of wells, &c. The depth of the grave varies in different countries. In Austria it is 6 ft. 2 in.; in Hesse Darmstadt, from 5 ft. 7 in. to 6 ft. 6 in.; Munich, 6 ft. 7 in.; Stuttgard, 6 ft. 6 in.; Russia from 6 ft. 10 in. In our country the practice is generally to make the depth about 6 feet, but then coffins may be placed one on the other, so that, as an actual fact, they often very closely approach the surface. The regulations followed at Stuttgard are much to be commended. In the cemeteries there the space allotted for each grave is an oblong piece of land 10 feet in length and 5 feet broad. In France the graves vary in depth from 11⁄4 metres (4·921 feet) to 2 metres (6·561 feet). They are 8 decimètres (2·264 feet) in breadth, and distant the one from the other from 3 to 4 decimètres (11·911 inches to 1·132 feet.)” (Blyth.)
To render a cemetery therefore as little prejudicial as possible to a community, not alone should deep burial be enforced, but only one body should be permitted to be deposited in a grave, at least, till after the lapse of some years. Some sanitary authorities recommend the use of quicklime or charcoal, advising them to be thrown into the grave previous to its being closed. Of the two, charcoal is the preferable disinfectant, although it does not entirely prevent putrefaction, nor the evolution of bad-smelling gases. No more efficient means of absorbing organic matters, and carbonic acid given off by the decaying corpse in the earth, can be devised than that of rapidly growing trees and shrubs in abundance around the graves.
For the funereal cypress and yew, which are slowly growing trees, why should a needless sentiment prevent the substitution of the much more sanitary and less sombre-looking eucalyptus in countries where this plant will flourish?
Old burial-grounds which have become offensive may be best disinfected by covering the ground with fresh earth to the depth of several inches, and by planting it with trees and sowing it with grass seed. Twenty-six city graveyards covering a superficial area of about 48,000 square yards, and in which, according to moderate calculation, there were not less than 48,000 tons of human remains, were successfully dealt with in this manner.