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
Catalogue details

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 I. [From the Morning Herald, November 4.] Sir,—At the present period, when the Parliamentary recess gives a sort of breathing-time from political discussions, an opportunity offers of investigating cer- tain evils of our social system, which are, or ought to be, totally unconnected with personal interest, or with party or political bias. It may, perhaps, appear superfluous to refer to a subject of so unpleasant a nature as the atrocities of the grave-yard system in crowded towns—a subject which has been treated of by persons far more capable of doing justice to it; but expe- rience shows, that unless even acknowledged grievances are reiterated and exemplified, it too often happens that they are totally lost sight of. It has been with me matter of serious reflection, whether any further exposition should be made of the practices pursued in many of the metropolitan grave-yards. Evidence, proving the dis- gusting, immoral, and unhealthy tendencies of intra-mural burials in confined spaces, has very recently been adduced before a Committee of the House of Commons. With the details of that evidence I am intimately acquainted, and moreover with many of the sources of its truth. It is much to be desired that our conservators of morality and decency should inform themselves of its disclosures, which, in truth, are a “ recital of deeds the most inhuman, revolting, and abominable, that were ever per- petrated by the most depraved, brutal, and monstrous class of the human species.” The truth of the statements made before Mr. Mackinnon’s Committee, ap- pointed to inquire into this subject, having been denied—and that, too, in lan- guage ill-befitting the high, the paramount, importance of a subject in which the interests of a great nation, as well as those of individuals, are concerned, and the ex- ceptionable clauses of a Bill to remedy such a state of things as I know, and will prove, to exist, having been seized hold of to excite the prejudices of a highly respectable body of religionists, who are, if I mistake not, very capable of forming their own judgments on the subject of intra-mural interments, if the facts were fairly set before them ; it is from a conviction that it is necessary to challenge opposition, to invite discus- sion, and to reveal what may be necessary for the further elucidation of this most im- portant subject, that I have ventured to request your powerful co-operation. I alone am answerable for my opinions. In the absence of a better advocate, I pro- pose occupying his place, and all I request from you, as the Editor of an influential journal, is that you will grant me “ a fair field and no favour.” It has been said, by the organ of the religious body already referred to, that a “ system of deceptive agitation has been carried on ever since the opening of the cemeteries,” that “ the two great Leviathans of the daily press, and the hebdomadal reptiles of the Sunday, the foul fraternity that live by pandering to the low passions of the low-minded multitude,” have been enlisted in the services of the cemeteries. So sweeping a charge certainly does not affect me. I have never been connected, directly or indirectly, with any cemetery ; I have nothing to gain, nothing to lose, by the agitation of the question of intra-mural interment. If at any time during my (I take leave to say, honest and disinterested) exertions in this cause, I have made assertions which I cannot prove, after having for years taken all the pains of which I am capable in assuring myself of the correctness of my facts, before I drew from them my deductions; if I have endeavoured to lay open the workings of the system without good and sufficient cause, I deserve censure ; if, on the other hand, I can now demonstrate that I have understated the entire case, your readers, Sir, will agree with me that the results of a man’s convictions, if sincere on any subject, but more especially on such a one as this, are entitled to respect; B