[78] The quantity was two gallons and a quart, wine measure.
[79] Dr. Priestley thinks water is an essential in the composition of air.
[80] Irwin’s Voyage up the Red Sea p. 335.
[81] At the time of writing his treatise Dr. Fordyce informs us, that he had been “for upwards of twenty years one of the three physicians of St. Thomas’s Hospital (in London) whose walls have contained nearly four thousand patients every year, where the proportion of fevers to other diseases is much greater than the general proportion.”
[82] “An intense head-ach, uncommon giddiness, and a sudden loss of strength, were the first complaints of those who were seized with this distemper.”
(Russel on the Plague at Aleppo, p. 230.)
[83] This is expressly denied by Dr. Hodges, who had innumerable opportunities of seeing the distemper.
[84] Though the writer of this Treatise was not at that time on the spot where this event took place, yet he has as good evidence as any one can have of what has not fallen under his immediate inspection, that these graves were opened, that the father of one of the young men died; and the mother of another, and one of the young men himself was taken ill with the eruption of boils on some parts of his body; but whether there was any person previously affected with fever in the neighbourhood from whom it might have been derived, or any thing which might have strongly predisposed those people to it, is unknown. It is indeed no easy matter to discover who was the first person affected with an epidemic, as no body chooses to own that either they, or any of their relatives were the authors of mischief, however involuntary, to the community. M. Chaptal, however, in his Elements of Chemistry, has some curious, as well as useful observations on the propriety of burying bodies in a sufficient space and at a sufficient depth; and on the accidents which may arise from opening vaults and burying grounds. An instance of this he gives of the ground of a church in Paris being dug up, which emitted a nauseous vapour, affecting several people in the neighbourhood.
From M. Chaptal’s observations it appears, that bodies do not soon dissolve in such a manner as to emit no disagreeable or noxious effluvia, when buried. M. Becher, he says, “had the courage to make observations during the course of a year upon the decomposition of a carcase in the open air. The first vapour which rises, he says, is subtle and nauseous: some days after, it has a certain sour and penetrating smell. After the first weeks the skin becomes covered with a down, and appears yellowish; greenish spots are formed in various places, which afterwards become livid and black; a thick glosey or mouldy substance then covers the greatest part of the body: the spots open and emit a sanies.” In such as are buried the decomposition is much more slow; our author thinks four times at least. According to M. Petit, a body buried at the depth of four feet is not decomposed in less than three years, and, at a greater depth the decomposition is still more slow. This decomposition is favoured by the presence of water, and likewise by some kinds of earth more than others. It has been proved by Lemery, Geoffroy, and others, that argillaceous earths have very little effect in this way: porous and light earths much more: the roots of vegetables also by absorbing the putrid effluvia contribute greatly to the final decomposition of bodies buried in places exposed to the open air; but in churches and other covered places the case is vastly different. “Here, says our author, is neither water nor vegetation; and consequently no cause which can carry away, dissolve or change the nature of the animal fluids: and I cannot but applaud the wisdom of government which has prohibited the burying in churches; a practice which was once a subject of horror and infection.
“The decomposition of a body in the bowels of the earth can never be dangerous, provided it be buried at a sufficient depth, and that the grave be not opened before its complete dissolution. The depth of the grave ought to be such that the external air cannot penetrate it; that the juices with which the earth is impregnated may not be conveyed to its surface; and that the exhalations, vapours, or gases, which are developed or formed by decomposition, should not be capable of forcing the earth covering which detains them. The nature of the earth in which the grave is dug, influences all its effects. If the stratum which covers the body be argillaceous, the depth of the grave may be less, as this earth difficultly admits a passage to gas and vapour; but, in general, it is admitted to be necessary that bodies should be buried at the depth of five feet to prevent all these unhappy accidents. It is likewise necessary to attend to the circumstance, that a grave ought not to be opened before the complete decomposition of the body. The term of decomposition is various; according to M. Petit of three years in graves of four feet, and four years in those of six feet. The pernicious custom which allows a single grave to families more or less numerous, ought therefore to be suppressed; for, in this case the same grave may be opened before the time prescribed. It is likewise necessary, to prohibit burying in vaults, or even in coffins.”
[85] American Museum vol. xi, p. 148.