The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-11-03
DANGER FROM GRAVEYARDS.
Their Presence In Settled COmmuni-
ties a Menace to Health, as
Shown by Scientists.

IHe ITeHCH LII. IdSleur, snow Indt
earth retains instead of destroying the
germs of disease contained in body,
and that in some degree it will vitiate
its surroundings. Since Hannibal's
army was decimated by effluvia from
an ancient graveyard he unwittingly
demolished history has repeated itself.
The cholera in London in 1854 was as
cribed to the upturning of the earth
where victims of previous plague had
been buried.
The French Academy of Medicine
located the origin of diseases of the
lungs and the throat in putrid emana
lions from the Partisan cemetery Fere
la Chaise. OF the older churchyards
of Paris, once honeycombed with
graves, that of the Innocents is re-
! markable. Established on the pres
ent site of the market called Halles
| Centraies, it bred pestilence for cen
| TUNES without hindrance. Finally it
became notorious as a nuisance, SO
| that it had to be abolished. Innumer-
able skeletons were unceremoniously
carted to the catacombs on April Z,
1856. Lyon Playfair asserts that
Roman fever originates not in the
Pontine marshes, but in decaying
| bodies of the millions buried in the
eternal city. DR.. Domingo Freire
| found in cemeteries of Rio Janeiro
myriads of microbes in corpses, identi-
| cal with those in persons stricken with
| yellow fever, year after burial.
Drainage from cemeteries in Phila-
| delphia has polluted water of the Fair
mount reservoir. The centennial
dysentery of 1876 has been attributed
| to this cause. A continued prevalence
of typhoid fever in this sparsely in
habited city must be ascribed to the
same cause. Mortality by yellow fever
was twice as large in portions of New
Orleans where large cemeteries are To-
Gated as elsewhere.
In Cuba this plague RACES almost
| continually. Bodies of the victims of
| disease and Spanish cruelty, estimated
to number 100000, are inadequately
| protected against high temperature
| and moisture; their carnations are a
| menace to our soldiers more terrible
than Spanish guns. American officers
should be delegated to destroy these
| bodies before they do harm. The Aus
| trian government permits the de-
| struction of those who have fallen on
the field of battle by the erection of
pyres, a practice which ought to be
| made obligatory on the military au-
| thOrities of all civilized nations. Over
100000 bodies of Napoleon's army of
| invasion were cremated in 1912 by Rus
slams. More men died before Sebasto-
pol by inhaling miasma of purified
| bodies than were killed by the enemy.
Some 10000 corpses poisoned the air
after the battle of Sedan, until inhab-
itants of adjacent Belgian villages pre-
vailed on their government to appoint
in 1871 an officer to relieve the distress.
By saturating them with naphtha, he
succeeded in burning 300 bodies in an
| hour, until all were consumed. Long
| experience in the East Indies has
| shown that danger increases with
moist heat. Neither burial nor disn-
fectants can sufficiently protect the
health of our army. DR.. Samuel La
| than Mitchell said in a report to our
common council May 30, 1925: Earth
| purifies contents of graves on the prin-
ciple that water in cleansing clothes
becomes itself foul"
| y commission recently appointed to
| investigate sanitary conditions of all
| graveyards in Denmark was obliged to
| Of o+o1 e
$50. German authorities have forbid
| den the use of water from any we'll
situated within 300 yards of grave
| Experience has shown that cemeteries
should by law be banshed far outside
the limits of any city; that no grave
should be opened before complete de-
composition of the body, and that
therefore only one body should be
permitted in one grave. Graves not
less than ten feet deep should be To-
Gated in dry porous soil only.
| Precautions like these would lessen
the danger, but no method other than
cremation will absolutely destroy all
germs of sickness in a cast-off body
none by which. without giving offense
1t can swiftly be converted into ashes.
Our veneration for Alexander Ham
ilton did not originate with his hand
some memorial in Trinity churchyard
No statue in Westminster abbey can
express the love Englshmen cherish
for Gladstone. DISCOVERIES of the hid
den powers of nature, composers Of
our sweet melodies, teachers of NOR
ais and religion need no lettered
stones to remind posterity of their ex-
| istence.
Since 30 years ago cremation has
| been reintroduced in civilized com
munities. many thousand bodies have
thus been disposed of, including those
of Hans Won Bulow, George Du Maur-
Ter. Jacob Moleschott, F. Gregorovius
| and Anton Seidl. Instead of con-
demning their memory because they
refused to allow their corpses to be-
come offensive, let us follow their
noble example and help to remove one
of the most odious stains on our civil
cation. Then we may hope some day
to enjoy the pleasures of life without
fear of the dead.-North American
Review.