The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1876-12-15
RoMEA T-ASr CEMETERY.

/ The ground on which the eternal city
! stands is such as a geologist would find
it hard to describe it's a mass Of ashes,
of vegetable. and auimal detritus, cor
rupted by contact with the filth of sew
er5, constructedatd different periods, with
out any regular plan or any regard to
the public health Immediately after
the fail OF the empire. tae law torbidding
burials within the walls was neglected.
and the city became vast cemetery.
where the living dwelt in perpetual con-
contact with the dead. First the burials
invaded the ancient ruins, and in long
experience Of archaeological research. /
have never yet found d single ancient
building which did not conceal corpses
often only few dozen, but sometimes
millions. The TACT that each explains
the greaterp part ofthe. dismal discoveries,
but sometimes one is obliged to betake
ones SELF to anothor hypothesis more or
less problematical The subsoil of the
plaza Colonna. THE gayest and most
lively spot in the cisy, is strewed with
corpses. il was the cemetery of the
church (now destroyed of St. Andrea,
first discovered in 1925, in digging in the
plaza for a water conduit The same
remark applies othe plaza del Pantheon
the former burying-ground Of the church
OF ot. Maria ad Martyros. Inl87l, when
I was experimenting the excavations in
the Forum and the Basilica Julia, 1 saw
carried away at least 10000 cubic feet
Of human bones which had been barred
az the side Of the chapel Of st. Marcia
della Grazie. A passage in Flaminio
Facca on the same subject is very char
acteristic: "In the Therme of Con
stantiue, says he, opposite the church
If san Siivestro, in garden belonging to
Bernardo Acceaguli, were found two
enormous subteuanean vaults. one hun
atec palms length, and thirty feet wide,
= - eIi seEztI eIiousstIit c5I I,ssss- .sac
enrance-to these dreadful vaults had
been carefully stopped up, and the bodies
were packed 50 close, one on top Of the
other that there remained hardly a
cubic foot of space free" I do not doubt
that buria-place 50 singular owed its
existence 70 one of those terrible ep-
idemics which ravased the city between
the twelfth and sixteenth centuries. 1t
Is. therefore, no wonder that during the
great heats of summer the excavations
have to be suspended from regard to
the public health, and that when under
exceptional circumstances something has
to be done, it Is often effected at the cost /
Of the life or health of the workmen. The |
construction has been commenced of a |
coiecting-drain, to connect the basin OF
the Coliseum with the Tiber, passing
through the Via Triumphalis and the
valley of the circus Maximus. In dig /
ging for this purpose, at the great depth /
of thirty-three feet, the workmen came /
upon a reservoir OF water OF the eighth
century, b. c. a young architect was
sent to sketch the monument. Some |
hours after he had an attack of fever,
which nearly cost him his life and the
same happened to one who had helped |
him At the beginning of last July, |
when the tenders for the construction OF |
the railway from Rome to Fiumicino
were adiudicated, this remarkable post
script was added: Cali the workmen !
who shall assist in the works have a |
right to an unlimited distribution OF
quinine. Those who work in the neigh
borbood of Fiumicino viii have right
to the gratuitous attendance Of the
doctor Of the place, as well as
Of necess ary) to an honorable place in
the cemetery. ."-Le'ter IN the London
AthnaeUW.