, 1885-11-10
CITY CEMETERIES.
A MASS OF TESTIMONY TO SHOW
THEIR UNHEALTHFULNESS


Detroit Free Prsss.l
In his -Sepulture and its Methods"
1884 DR.. Stephen Wickes brings tA.
eether a great mass of fact and testi-
muny TO show the unhealthfulness Of
city cemeteries. Bishop Eatimer in LOSE
wrote 81 doe much marvel that London
being soc rich a cite. hath not n baryinge
pla c withoute. for no doubt It is an un
wholesom ihinge TO bury within The
elite. especialie ut such a time when
there be great s'cknesses. and mamie de
together And ! think no Jesse Int It is
the occasion OF great sicknesses aud dis.
ease. Adam Z larke IL o. advises that
M burying D lace he tolerated within
cities and towns. much less in or about
churches God. decency and health for
bid this abomination am assured
from long observation that churches
situated in gravevards are perfectly nm
wh0les me. and many b. attending such
places are shortening their , a-sage 10 the
house appointed for M living. Every
man should know that the gas Olsen.
gaged from n human ! ody is destructive
Of animal life "
DANGFR FRnN ~Vtv trinNs.
Rascom gives an account of the re.
moynl Of earth from the surface of a
churchyard IN Minchiuhamptnn In 1si;
to change its Grade and its spread upon
nd dining fields Immediately an cpl.
demic broke out in the neighbor
hood. Childrel on their way to
schoo took it, Seventeen deaths oc.
Cured. and more than 200 children
bad measles. scarlet fever. and various
eruptions. nr Wickes gives many in
stances of sudden death aud Of prolonged
and eriou Illness resulting from the in
halation Of gases cscnning from imper-
feet or open graves. lie Quotes Dr Lyon
lavfair thus "The ELECTS produced by
de aging emanations will vary according
10 their intensity or concentration Thus.
there NAV be elnrchyards and sewers
evolyinr dccaying matter aud yet no fever
occur in the l~oCnlir ono modified ef-
feet may he produced. such rs diarrhca or
even dysentery. or there may be no i'm
mediate effect though the blood may be
thrown into 4 disea ed state. which will
render It susceptible TO any specific con
tagion that approaches.
Nor is the danger obviated by deep
burials. The mnrhifc matter Is difused
through the suhsoil. If the intermenis
are so deep as 10 impede escapes at the
surface there is only The greatest danger
of escape by deep drainage and the polu-
ton Of springs and wells. DR.. Reid de-
tectcd the escape of deleterious miasmE
from graves more than twenty feet deep.
IN. Ieigh. of Manchester says the gases
would find ready exit from almost any
depth The effects OF these cscn-cs in an
otherwise saluhrir us locality attract no
tice. but their influence is not less scat.
tered over a town when they escape oh
servation.
POLLUTION np WELLS.
Much complaint was at one time made
in England concern ng the pollution of
wells by city cemeteries In Versailles,
France. the water Of the wells which lie
below the churchyard Of 81 Touis could
could not be used on account Of its pollu-
tion. Peep wells rave been found 10 he
polluted more than 600 feet from the Gene
teries. In France aud in some parts Of
Germany the opening of wells within 300
feet of a cemetery las lecn prohibited.
The reports Of the boards Of health of
Massachusetts and New Jersey give
abundant evidence that country grave
yards often polluie the water supply when
the wells are on a lower level. So does
the Michigan reports in a case at Grand
apids.
ir. Parton in his report on the yellow
fever in New Orleans in 1883 says that
the greatest mortality obtained in the
district where the principal cemeteries
were located declares that in no case
should a dwelling he permitted within
several hundred yards of a cemetery. -
and recommends that "all cemeteries
within city limits he closed against future
use. Dr. Bryant writing on yellow
fever at Norfolk in / -. also regards the
city cemeteries as a constant scource Of
danger in an epidemic and urges ~ihe
total f%orbidding Of iutra mural or even
near by suburban cemeteries. - When
the fever was in New York in 1872 the
report Of the board of health showed
that the morality in the vicinity of
Trinity church graveyard was as three to
one when compared with any other por.
tons of the city even where the streets
were narrower and closer. This church
yard was the center of very fatal prevail
ence Of cholera at every visit of that pest
from 1892 to 1854.
CHOLERA %TSFANTUM.
DIR. Ranch. of Iowa. writes that during
the prevalence of the cholera in Burling.
ton in 1850 "there were no deaths in the
neighborhood Of the cemetery until some
twenty had been buried there. After
ward, until the epidemic ceased, casos
were constant. and alwavs in the direc-
tion from the cemetery in which the
wind blew" Buck in his Hygiene,
writes; 1T is impossible for any one to
say how long the materies morbi may
continue 10 live under ground. If or.
ganic matter can be broiled and frozen
without losing its vitality. and seeds
=. 200 years old will sprout when planted.
II would be hardihood to assert that the
poison OF cholera. or small pox. or typhus
may not for years lie dormant. but not
dead. in the moist temperature OF the
grave
thadwick in his report on the sanitary
condition Of Great fritain writes THE
in urious effects Of cxhalations from the
decomposition in question on the health
and life Of man is proved by a sua'c ent
number Of trustworthy facts The in
curious Influence is man fest in proper
ton 10 the concentration Of the emana
tions. Sometimes II produces a~sphyxia
and sudden death. In a less concentrated
state the emanaiions produces ~fniniinr.
nausea, headache, la rurr II. however.
the are "'len repeated they produce
nerv " aud other fcecrs or imparl To
fevcrs arising from other causes q typhoid
type.