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17
Annual Re/port of the Medical Officer of Health—1874—5.
Of those who died 669 were under 5 years of age, 351 were from 40 to 80, and 30
were 80 years and upwards; of these one, a female reached the age of 91, and a male
that of 96.
The question has lately arisen, as to which is the best method of disposing of our
dead. There are throe modes by which they may be put out of our sight. 1. By interment;
2. By casting the body into the sea ; and 3. By burning. The disposal of the dead by
the latter method has recently been placed before the public in a practical and systematic
way; and the criticisms it has given rise to have been more or less wise. I leave the subject
for the present, and merely tell you what a sanitary writer living at Bombay says
about it, and who has seen it practised. "The mode of disposal of the dead by burning
is, in a sanitary point of view, the very best that can be adopted. Nearly the whole of
the organic matter; is decomposed at once, and changed into a state in which it is no longer
injurious to human life. It is a fortunate circumstance for the health of Bombay that so
large a proportion of its inhabitants resort to this mode of disposal of their dead." Interment
as now practised is not the best plan which might be employed. That way by which
decomposition is hastened and most thoroughly accomplished, is clearly the one that ought
to be followed. Some Savage Tribes have apparently thought about this matter, for they
expose their dead to be eaten by the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, lest
the air, or the earth, or the water should be polluted by them.
Committing the body to the grave by no means signifies that it shall remain there in
sacred repose. We have seen wagon loads of human bones removed from where they were
laid in pious affection, to a distant Cemetery; and the sight has not been limited to this
District, or this Metropolis, but has been witnessed in many other Cities and Towns. It
would not be satisfactory to examine with too great minuteness to what extent, and for
what purposes human remains have been usod. Traffic is now ceaselessly rolling over what
were and what are the graves of the dead.
Whilst speaking upon this subject, I cannot pass on without noticing the improvements
which have beon made in the Churchyard of St. George's, by which it has been
rendered more in unison with the fine old Church that it partially surrounds. An uncultivated,
neglected burial ground betokens a want of veneration for"'the dead who lie beneath
besides exercising a quiet but continuous injury upon the living, either by promoting a lite
neglect and want of order, or by exciting indignation at the absence of such veneration. And
one may hope that in due time it will be thrown open to the Public, anyhow, as soon as education
3hall have exercised its influence upon the rising generation, so far as to prevent them
breaking trees, pulling up flowers, and committing othe mischiefs alike destructive and
disgraceful. The Churchyards will prove useful as lesser lungs to the Metropolis as the
Parks prove the greater, when this and the like examples have been followed, and when
the last remnants of mortality have been decomposed and absorbed by the earth. Nothing
will hasten this process more than planting them with tree, flower, and shrub. That which
is beautiful is always useful: and no ono can now look upon that "God's Acre" without
feeling grateful to the Vestry for what they have in this case done to promote health,
recreation, and reverence.