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The influence of soil in earth burial
684
Influence of Soil in Earth Burial
Er~bac,~e~ath
THE INFLUENCE OF SOIL IN EARTH BURIAL. THE suitability or otherwise of a soil for the site of a cemetery depends on the same conditions viz., the presence or absence of nitrifying bacteria, its permeability to air, and its humidity and drainage--that determine its fitness or unfitness for the treatment of sewage. I n the one class of soils bodies undergo desiccation, and the soft parts " r e t u r n to d u s t " in the course of a few years ; in the other they putrefy, and instead of decomposition and disintegration they remain for y e a r s - - i n fact, for indefinite periods--festering masses of corruption. An official inquiry in Germany some years ago showed that in the "loess" four years sufficed for the disappearance of everything but the bones and hair, whereas in stiff wet clays the bodies still presented stinking putrid masses; and in excavating the churchyard of St. Andrew's, Holborn, pre-eminently a " d e a d " earth, there was little difference to be seen between the interments of twenty and of two hundred years previously. :Yet with few exceptions the situation of the cemeteries around London makes it clear that, whatever considerations determined the choice of the localities, the nature of the soil was not taken into account. That of the Necropolis at Woking is indeed an ideal one, but the district ought rather to have been developed into a health resort and been appropriated to sanatoria than converted into a city of the dead. These reflections have been suggested by reading the graphic description by Dr. A. Riedel in the Mi~nch. Mad. Woch., June 6, 1889, of two exhumations, at which he was present, carried out by order of the judicial authorities, the one a year after buria~ in a stiff wet clay, and the other after eighteen months in a loose and welldrained sandy soil. I n the latter, the body was dry and little changed in appearance. On opening the abdomen the odour emitted was not unpleasantly aromatic from the abundant formation of adipocere, and the internal organs were in such preservation that the uterus could be unhesitatingly pronounced that of a virgin, the allegation of pregnancy disproved, and the charge against a suspected party dismissed. The other case was that of a woman who had been buried twelve months in a stiff wet clay. I t being midwinter, and the snow lying deep, it had been arranged tG conduct the examination of the body in a room at the workhouse ; but this was found utterly impossible. The appearance revealed on opening the coffin was, says Dr. Riedet, more horrible than can be described or conceived by anyone who had not seen the slimy, gruelly, stinking mass of corruption, retaining little resemblance to the human form. The stench was such that the air for yards around was almost irrespirable. The gaping crowd assembled on a neighbouring hillside soon dispersed, and the few whom duty compelled to remain in the churchyard suffered from the poisonous emanations. H e and his medical colleagues were for more than a week unable to get rid of the smell by repeated baths, and were with difficulty able to enter the houses of their patients. In compliance with the order of the court, the stomach and viscera were sent to the University for examination, but, as might have been expected, the results were wholly negative. Such an object lesson, he adds, would have converted the most bigoted opponent of cremation.
Influence of Soil in Earth Burial
Er~bac,~e~ath
THE INFLUENCE OF SOIL IN EARTH BURIAL. THE suitability or otherwise of a soil for the site of a cemetery depends on the same conditions viz., the presence or absence of nitrifying bacteria, its permeability to air, and its humidity and drainage--that determine its fitness or unfitness for the treatment of sewage. I n the one class of soils bodies undergo desiccation, and the soft parts " r e t u r n to d u s t " in the course of a few years ; in the other they putrefy, and instead of decomposition and disintegration they remain for y e a r s - - i n fact, for indefinite periods--festering masses of corruption. An official inquiry in Germany some years ago showed that in the "loess" four years sufficed for the disappearance of everything but the bones and hair, whereas in stiff wet clays the bodies still presented stinking putrid masses; and in excavating the churchyard of St. Andrew's, Holborn, pre-eminently a " d e a d " earth, there was little difference to be seen between the interments of twenty and of two hundred years previously. :Yet with few exceptions the situation of the cemeteries around London makes it clear that, whatever considerations determined the choice of the localities, the nature of the soil was not taken into account. That of the Necropolis at Woking is indeed an ideal one, but the district ought rather to have been developed into a health resort and been appropriated to sanatoria than converted into a city of the dead. These reflections have been suggested by reading the graphic description by Dr. A. Riedel in the Mi~nch. Mad. Woch., June 6, 1889, of two exhumations, at which he was present, carried out by order of the judicial authorities, the one a year after buria~ in a stiff wet clay, and the other after eighteen months in a loose and welldrained sandy soil. I n the latter, the body was dry and little changed in appearance. On opening the abdomen the odour emitted was not unpleasantly aromatic from the abundant formation of adipocere, and the internal organs were in such preservation that the uterus could be unhesitatingly pronounced that of a virgin, the allegation of pregnancy disproved, and the charge against a suspected party dismissed. The other case was that of a woman who had been buried twelve months in a stiff wet clay. I t being midwinter, and the snow lying deep, it had been arranged tG conduct the examination of the body in a room at the workhouse ; but this was found utterly impossible. The appearance revealed on opening the coffin was, says Dr. Riedet, more horrible than can be described or conceived by anyone who had not seen the slimy, gruelly, stinking mass of corruption, retaining little resemblance to the human form. The stench was such that the air for yards around was almost irrespirable. The gaping crowd assembled on a neighbouring hillside soon dispersed, and the few whom duty compelled to remain in the churchyard suffered from the poisonous emanations. H e and his medical colleagues were for more than a week unable to get rid of the smell by repeated baths, and were with difficulty able to enter the houses of their patients. In compliance with the order of the court, the stomach and viscera were sent to the University for examination, but, as might have been expected, the results were wholly negative. Such an object lesson, he adds, would have converted the most bigoted opponent of cremation.