BY
WILLIAM EASSIE, C.E.
FELLOW OF THE LINNEAN AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES
MEMBER OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
ETC.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE
1875
[All rights reserved]
Dedicated
TO
SIR H. THOMPSON, F.R.C.S.
ETC. ETC.
IN RECOGNITION OF HIS ENLIGHTENED ADVOCACY OF
A PRACTICE PREVALENT IN ANCIENT TIMES,
BUT LONG ABANDONED, TO THE GREAT
DETRIMENT OF MANKIND
Shortly after having accepted, from the membersof the Council of the Cremation Society of London,the office of Secretary, a wish was expressed to meby the President of the Metropolitan Branch of theBritish Medical Association, that I should preparea paper upon the Bearings of Cremation upon PublicHealth. A short paper, with this title, was thereforeread, and was afterwards published in the Journalof the Association by the Editor, Mr. Ernest Hart.It was so favourably received by all, that I have beeninduced to extend my enquiries and so render thework, if possible, more acceptable as an expositionof the subject. I am sensible of its many defects,but I trust that it will be found to furnish some usefulinformation which cannot well be obtained elsewhere,besides proving an assistance to those whoare desirous of studying the question more fully.
William Eassie.
Child's Hill, London, N.W.
December, 1874.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE
The probable sanitary origin of Cremation—Not necessarily opposedto Religion—General reasons—Wisdom of adopting itin cases of epidemics—Sundry objections treated—The decorousnessof the practice—Cremation desirable in the battlefield—Incases of murrain—In the destruction of condemnedfood, &c.
1-23
CHAPTER II.
METHODS OF TREATING THE DEAD.
Exposure, or the absence of all burial—Consignmentto the deep—Petrifaction—Envelopment in some solid material—Burialin the earth—Embalming preparations—Desiccation of the body—Cremationa widely-spread practice—Examples of quasi-cremation
24-40
CHAPTER III.
OUR BURIAL LAWS.
State of things thirty years ago—The new cemeteries—Spaceallowed for, and the depths of interments—Vault burial—Awell-chosen cemetery—An improperly-chosen one—Theclosing and regulation of old burial-grounds, &c.—Materials[x]for coffins
41-52
CHAPTER IV.
DANGERS OF OUR SYSTEM OF BURIAL.
Churchyards and the evils resulting from some of them—How theliving are affected by them—Disorders caused by putrid emanations—Dangersof inhaling the atmosphere of some burial-grounds—Vaults—Poisoningof wells and water-courses—Laxityof many interments 53-67