The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1872-05-30
What Shall be Done with the Deads

That provision In tne UeStalneIlG Vi L rluei
Puckler Muskau, recently deceased, relative to
the disposition of his remains, is significant
and will it is to be hoped, draw general atten-
nored. The prince commanded that after his
death his body should be either burned, or de-
stroyed by chemical agencies and gave his
reasons for this unusual request, his conviction
that sanitary laws demand the institution oil
such custom, and also his desire to avoid the
desecration of his remains through future dis"
interment. Americans, who are accustomed to
see large spaces devoted to burial-places, and to
whom the idea of want Of room is almost un-
known, can form no just conception Of the dlf-
ficulty of dsposing of the dead in Europe
And, as population increases, the problem be"
comes daily more hard to solve. 1t is evident
that the present system of lnterment cannon
continue much longer, without constant and
serious injury to the physical health and moraa
refinement of the people
1t is only within the present half-century
that the dead of London have been buried out
side the city limits; an arrangement rendered
actually necessary by the horrible condition OF
the churches, the cellars of which were full OF
bodies, and of the churchyards, the earth Of
which was used over and over again until it
vas fat with corruption. Dickens has drawn s!
forcible picture Of this disgraceful state OF
things in "Bleak House," where he describes
dear brother here departed to a hemmed-in
churchyard, pestiferous and obscene, whence
malignant diseases are communicated to the
bodies of our dear brothers and sisters who
have not departed. Into beastly
scarp of ground which Turk would reject as
savage abomination, and Caffre would shud-
der at, they bring our dear brother here depart
ed to receive Christian burial" Already the
new cemeteries are filling up so fast that other
means must soon be devised for the disposal OF
the harvest which death reaps daily out of o
population of more than three millions. And
since there is not now land enough in England
to nourish the living inhabitants, and the pop
ulation is steadily increasing, how can more be
spared for the dead7
In many continental cities it is customary to
keep pit open in the cemetery in which the
dead of the poorer classes ore deposited until
the pit is full, when it is closed and another
opened. In Naples, barren hillside at short
distance from the city is transformed into a.
burial-place containing three hundred and six
ty-fve tombs. One of these is opened every
day and after the interments are all made,
quick-lime is thrown in and the tomb closed
until the recurring anniversary. In Switzer-
and the remains hastily gathered together and
buried without ceremony in heap. In Ger
many, family burying place. instead of en-
bracing a large lot of ground, consists of one
deep grave capable of holding several cofins,
one above another. Not only so, but old graves
are continually being opened to receive new oc-
cupants. Even the solid blocks of granite
which serve as monuments in the old cemete~
ries of Nuremberg, and which it would seem
nothing less than an archangel's trump could
stir, are, in this our day, priced up by the des-
perate sections to give shelter to the dead for
whom there is no other place. In the old Jew
ish cemetery in Prague, the graves were origi"
nally dug deep enough to hold six cof6ns one
upon another, and when the enclosure had be-
come full, new earth was brought and the
ground filled in to sufficient depth to allow of
a tier of graves above the original surface
This device was resorted to at several different
periods, until, about century ago, the city
government forbade any more interments; and
the spot is now resorted to as one of the Curl
osities of Prague. The path leading from the
gate is several feet lower than the artificial ter
race, and the upright memorial-stones are
crowded close together in every direction, SO
that most of the graves appear to be represent
ed each by several tomb-stones, standing one
behind the other.
In view of the embarrassment which is ev-
erywhere felt by this condition of things, and
the mischief which is not less real, though it
may not always be so palpable, it would seem
that the public mind should be aroused to
consideration of the evil, that it may be led to
desire change in the prevalent customs.
There is no doubt that the proximity of the
dead is injurious to the living, and it is equally
a.. ,JoJ
tinue to be used for burial, the dead are not re.
moved beyond the power of doing injury
Casper Aauser's abnormally sensitive nerves
were 80 affected by the taint of death in the
air in the neighborhood of St. Johns cemetery
in Nuremberg, that in passing by he was seized
with chill succeeded by burning fever and
proflse perspiration, followed by dimness Of
vision, which lasted for several days. The slow
poison exists for others Us well, although its
presence cannot generally be detected.
There is but one, if indeed there be any, way
in which the dead can be buried without harm
to the living, and that is by using the surface
of the soil at once for purposes of cultivation.
Wherever, through accident or design, those
crops which require strong nourishment have
been allowed to grow on ground which covers
animal remains, as on the field of Waterloo
and other similar places, the harvest has al
ways been bountiful and exceptionally good.
AS q subsequent fertilizer of the soil which
has once sustained him, man, being dead, may
yet speak in fields of waving grain and vines
loaded with healing fruit but SO long as fallow
graveyards are allowed to pollute the earth, he
will continue to be sown sin corruption to be
raised in corruption, an avenging ghost at many
q sick bedside"
The ancient Romans, to whom all late civili-
zation owes SO much in the way of just laws
and suggestions of practical utility, burned
their dead. 1t is significant, too, that they
borrowed this custom from an older people, not
in the infancy of their nation, but only after
the increase of population had demonstrated
the impracticability of interment; while it is
fact that of all the plans devised by human
beings in all parts of the world, and under all
varieties of climate, habits and religions, for
the final disposal of dead bodies, that of burn
ing is at once the safest, the cleanliest, and the
l.. r l.