A manual of practical hygiene, for students, physicians, and medical officers / by Charles Harrington.
- Harrington, Charles, 1856-1908.
- Date:
- 1902
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A manual of practical hygiene, for students, physicians, and medical officers / by Charles Harrington. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.
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![dangerous to health, for if they were, their effects should be most marked among grave-diggers, a class, who, like the workmen in sewers, are obstinately healthy in spite of all a priori reasoning to the contrary. AVhether the soil becomes seriously polluted, is a question which bears on the possible contamination of the ground-water. This possibility may exist, but it is as nothing in comparison with the pollution of the soil and its contained water by leaching cesspools, into which man casts yearly several times his weight of liquid and solid excreta from his own body, and there is recorded no single well-authenticated case of outbreak of disease due to water contaminated by the drainage of a graveyard. On general principles, the drainage of a cemetery should not be allowed to run into streams used as water supplies, and wells should not be located in close proximity to the boundaries of land used for interments. While burial too near the surface should be av^oided on account of the possibility that the body may be exhumed by dogs and other animals, it is to be borne in mind that the nearer the body is to the surface, the more rapid ^vill decomposition occur. In order to shorten as much as possible the time required for complete resolution, the coffin, which sliould not be of too permanent material, should be placed in immediate contact with the earth, and not in a bricked enclosure or vault. The use of wicker coffins is urged, since they offer less ol>stacles to the natural processes of resolution than any other. Metallic coffins which retain the products of decomposition indefinitely should be prohibited. The top of the grave should be a mound of earth cajxible of supporting a fairly luxuriant growth of vegetation, which assists in draining the soil and makes use of the products of decay. Sites for Cemeteries.—In the selection of a site for a cemetery, particular attention should be given to the nature of the soil. This should be dry and permeable to air; the ground-water level should normally be ^vell below the bottom of the deepest grave; the surface should be of rich loam, which acts as a powerful deodorant and provides for an abundant growth of vegetation. Clay soils are objectionable on account of dampness and impermeability, which prevent rapid decom- position of the bodies. Rocky soils are objectionable on account of their drainage and the obstacles to the digging of graves. ]Much has been written concerning the danger of pollution of water supplies by the drainage of cemeteries, and this danger should be kept in mind, but it is unlikely that, Avith jiroper locations well away from habitations, serious pollution will occur. Where land is abundant and cheap, the immediate neighborhood of cemeteries for purposes of resi- dence is generally avoided, but it is always well to pay attention to the proper drainage of lands devoted to burial purposes, and to consider the possibility of the fouling of any wells already present or likely to be sunk in the surrounding^ soil. Cremation.—Disposal of the dead by burning was practised in very](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21219692_0772.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
