Interment and disinterment : a further exposition of the practices pursued in the metropolitan places of sepulture, and the results as affecting the health of the living : in a series of letters to the editor of the Morning Herald / by G.A. Walker.
- Date:
- 1843
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Interment and disinterment : a further exposition of the practices pursued in the metropolitan places of sepulture, and the results as affecting the health of the living : in a series of letters to the editor of the Morning Herald / by G.A. Walker. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![Letter V. [From the Morning Herald, December 12.] Sir,—Those of your readers who have perused the communications you have done me the honour of inserting in your journal, will be prepared for much I shall advance in the present. One cause—if not the greatest—of atmospheric impurity in large towns, will be found in the system of interment generally practised. Grave after grave is dug in soil frequently so overcharged with putrescent animal matter, that it is impossible to prevent the corruption of the atmosphere from the exhalations unavoidably arising (more especially during the warm season) from the frequent up-turning of the earth. In many instances bodies are placed one above another, and side by side, until the accumulated masses of corruption have reached a depth of 25 or 30 feet, the topmost coffins being but a few inches from the surface. The condition of the majority of the grave-yards and burying-places in London has been such, for many years, that they have not been capable of re- ceiving the annual mortality. There is scarcely a single grave-yard, vault, or re- ceptacle for the dead, in London, that is not overcharged. The burial-places of the metropolis and of the provinces have been under no superintendence ; public bodies or private individuals have been at liberty to allot grounds or to choose depositaries for the reception of the dead, without limitation as to number, without control as to locality, or the disposal of the charge with which they were entrusted; and it has been proved that individuals have availed themselves, to an alarming and most in- jurious extent, of the ignorance or poverty of survivors. In certain localities the most shameful practices are pursued by individuals, who (in the absence of peremp- tory legal enactments to the contrary) mutilate and displace bodies in various stages of decomposition, to the certain deterioration and destruction of the health of the living ; and it is worthy, Sir, the serious attention of your readers, that these acts are perpetrated principally in burying-places in densely populated districts—neigh- bourhoods, indeed, in which the filthy, ill-ventilated, condition of the streets and houses is such, that any additional causes of the corruption of the atmosphere should not be permitted to exist. If I can demonstrate that the dead, as at present disposed of, are sources of dis- ease and death to the inhabitants of the cities and towns of the empire—if many of our grave-yards have been crowded to an extent that would be absolutely astounding and incredible if it were not proved to exist, the question arises—What must be done? The answer, involving some deeply-important considerations, is brief. The necessity for active, persevering, and determined exertions being admitted, in- vestigation and inquiry will elicit further facts. The most sceptical will be con- vinced of the dangers incurred by themselves and the public, more especially during the warm season, from grave-yard emanations. The slightest reflection will con- vince them, that enormous magazines of animal malaria are day and night in ope- ration, and constantly diffusing their injurious products ; and that this malaria is produced by hundreds of thousands of bodies, in every stage of decomposition, which have been, and continue to be, deposited in places situated in the midst of human dwellings, whilst in some localities the living sleep within a few inches of the DEAD, I concluded my last latter with two most powerful testimonies against such practices. The evidence of the late Dr. Adam Clarke is particularly valuable, on account of the unflinching contrast it piesents to the pseudo-philanthropic, but really-interested, conduct of certain individuals, the supporters of the existing system. I recommend to every wavering but well-intentioned person yet unconvinced, a perusal of the Rev. Dr. Clarke’s words. If the evidence of a clerical witness does not remove their scepticism, I shall produce lay testimony, that I am sure will force conviction upon the mind of every honest and disinterested indivi- dual. In what strong, what energetic, language the Rev. Doctor expresses the in- tensity of his disgust at “ the iniquity of the abominable and deadly icork !” Acquainted as he was with the results, how would he have comprehended the means employed ? What would the good, the honest, man have thought of the an- swer to the question 1605—“ Were you in the habit of performing this grave-diaging without the use of spirits ?—No; we were obliged to be half groggy to do it, and ive cheered one another, and sung to one another ! ! ” 1G85. “ What quantity of spirits do](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21915441_0017.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
