In the case of church vaults they should be first opened, a quantity of quicklime thrown into them, and thus freely exposed to the external air. The coffins should then be rearranged crossways like bricks in a building, and filled in with dry earth or masons’ rubbish, mixed with about 5 or 10 per cent. of vegetable charcoal. The vaults should next be ventilated by means of an upcast and downcast shaft of the size of a rain-water pipe, and the whole should then be closed in. In 1860, two hundred and fifty vaults in seventy-one city churches were thus disinfected.[253] These vaults contained the coffins and remains of at least 11,000 dead bodies, which, previous to the adoption of the above measures, were very offensive.[253] When bodies are removed from the vaults to other places, Dr Letheby recommends them to be in closed coffins and in cases containing an abundant supply of carbonate of lime powder.
[253] Letheby.
The disposal of the dead frequently becomes
a matter of considerable difficulty in time of war or during a siege. Under these circumstances cremation may be found the most desirable method of getting rid of them. If the bodies are buried they should always be at as great a distance as possible from one another, and as deep as they can be. If procurable, charcoal should be thrown over them; if it cannot be obtained sawdust and sulphate of zinc, or carbolic acid, may be employed. Quicklime is also commonly used, but it is less useful.
At Metz, in 1870, the following plan was adopted:—A pit of about 17 feet in depth was filled with dead disposed of as follows:—A row of bodies was laid side by side; above this a second row was placed, with the heads laid against the feet of the first row; the third row were placed across, and the fourth row in the same way, but with the heads to the feet of the former; the fifth row was placed as No. 1, and so on.
Between each layer of bodies about an inch of lime, in powder, was placed. From 90 to 100 bodies were thus arranged on a length of 61⁄2 feet, and reached to about 6 feet to the surface; the pit was then filled up with earth, and though 8400 bodies were put in that pit there were no perceptible emanations at any time.
Around Metz the graves of men, horses, and cattle were disinfected with lime, charcoal, and sulphate of iron. Immense exertions were made to clean and disinfect the camps and battle fields, and in the month of May, 1871, from 1200 to 1600 labourers were employed by the Germans. Wherever practicable the ground was sown with oats or barley or grass. The hillocks formed by the graves were planted with trees.
In many cases at Metz bodies were dug up by the Germans, when there was any fear of water-courses being contaminated, or if houses were near. On account of the danger to the workmen, graves containing more than six bodies were left untouched, and the work was always done under the immediate superintendence of a physician. The earth was removed carefully, but not far enough to uncover the corpse; then one end of the corpse was uncovered, and as soon as the uniform or parts of the body were seen, chloride of lime and sawdust, or charcoal and carbolic acid, put in; the whole earth round the body was thus treated, and the body at length laid bare, lifted and carried away. The second body was then treated in the same way.
Near Sedan, where there were many bodies very superficially buried, burning was had recourse to. Straw mixed with pitch was put into the graves, and was lighted; one ton of pitch sufficed for from 15 to 20 bodies. Opinions as to this practice were divided, and it is not certain how many graves were thus dealt with. It seems probable that only the surface of the body was burnt, and when many bodies were together in the grave, some were not touched at all. On the whole the experiment appears to have been unsuccessful.
The Belgian experience at Sedan was in favour of employing chloride of lime, nitric acid, sulphate of iron, and chlorine gas. Carbolic acid did not answer so well. The sulphate of zinc and charcoal, which Barker found so useful, was not tried.[254]