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to pass into the surrounding soil, which, if of an impervious nature like clay will retain them more
or less within the limits of the original excavation, for an indefinite period. This latter point
will be referred to later.
(48.) A marked instance of the effect of an indestructible encasement of the body in retarding
decay is given by Sir Seymour Haden, in a paper entitled "The Disposal of the Dead," dated
October, 1888. After referring to the conditions which existed in the past, and which led
to action on the part of the Government and the closure of the old churchyards or intramural places of
burial which were overcrowded, and after pointing out that the provision then made for the future—
namely, the opening of new places for interment "outside the town, to become in no long time as
much inside the town" as those which had been abandoned—can only result in the creation of the
original difficulty of "overcrowding" to be again remedied by the repeated opening of new cemeteries,
he proceeds as follows—
"It was under these circumstances that in 1875—impatient of a position at once so
"helpless and so little creditable to us as a practical people, and scarcely less so of certain
"fanciful proposals which were just then being put forward for its correction—I ventured to
"advance the alternative recommendation of a simple reliance on the provisions and prescrip"tions
of nature, and to promise as a return for such reliance a speedy extrication from all
"our difficulties. Fortified by the well-defined cosmical law, which provides for a return to
"the earth of all organized bodies that had lived and died upon its surface, I pointed out
"that by enclosing the bodies of the dead in hermetically-sealed coffins, we were vainly
"seeking to make them an exception to that law, and by preventing their dissolution, were
"ourselves the cause of their embarrassing accumulation. Further, I showed that by the
"simple expedient of enclosing them in coffins which would not prevent the resolvent action
"of the earth—in coffins, that is to say, as perishable as themselves—we had it in our power
"at any moment we pleased, if not wholly to undo the mischief we had done, at least
"to stay its progress and to avert its ultimate consequences. Finally, I declared that if the
"dead were only thus properly buried in from three to five, or at most seven, years from
"the time of such proper burial, not a single dead body would remain to infect the soil,
"and a quantity of land of incalculable value, now hopelessly alienated, would be liberated
" for purposes of hygiene or of utility.*
"Nor had I long to wait for a striking confirmation of the soundness of these propositions.
About that time it leaked out that the Prussian Government were issuing a secret com"mission
to enquire into the condition of the dead in the battlefields of the Vosges. A year
"and nine months or thereabouts had elapsed since those battles were fought, and it was
"feared, as many dead bodies were known to have been only very superficially buried, that
"epidemic disease might result. What the commissioners found, however, entirely put an
"end to any such fears. In cases in which as many as 800 dead bodies, in the hurry incident
"to rapid military movements, had been thrust into one shallow excavation, these bodies it
"was found had already disappeared, their bones and accoutrements alone being left. But
"to this unexpected disappearance there was a remarkable exception. The bodies of officers
"buried in macintoshes, and which thus represented more or less the condition of bodies
"buried in coffins, had not so disappeared. I was not at the time allowed by the rules of
"our Intelligence Department to make any use of the information which, through its
"instrumentality and the courtesy of our ambassador at Berlin, I had thus obtained. There
"can be no harm in my using it now, though I do not know that it adds anything very
"material to the previous knowledge which 1 had acquired by experiments conducted on a
"small scale in my own garden, and on a larger during the removal of the Holborn burial"ground,
in which latter case it was found, as I have stated elsewhere, that the only bodies
"which had wholly disappeared were those which had been thrown without covering into
"the plague-pit. And here I may as well mention other plague-pits which I have seen
"opened—since we shall presently hear of the danger which attends the disturbance of all
"such ground—that I never heard of any harm whatever having arisen from such disturbance
"or from the exposure and removal of the bony residuum which constituted their sole
"contents. No harm, indeed, resulted from the removal of the whole of the Holborn
"burial-ground, though the operation, if I remember rightly, was carried out in the middle
"of summer."
(49.) To remove the obstacle placed in the way of the process of decay by solid wooden coffins,
the use of coffins which are of a readily perishable nature when placed in the earth has been
proposed. Coffins of different material have been introduced and made use of, but the one which,
so far as can be gathered, best meets the requirements is that known as the earth-to-earth coffin.
This coffin was introduced by Mr. Larkman, at one time secretary of the London Necropolis Company,
and was patented by the company, but the patent has now lapsed. It is made of paper pulp
or millboard about 1/8th inch in thickness on a framework of wood, and with a wooden bottom, so as
to give it the stability necessary for the weight of the body, and is lined internally with an imnervious
waterproof lining (such as is used in the packing of articles which are being sent abroad),
in order to prevent any leakage from the coffin up to the time of interment. Externally it is
covered with cloth and has the usual fittings. When placed in the earth it disintegrates within a
space of two or three weeks, and allows the earth to come into free contact with the body. This
form of coffin is not used to any large extent however, indeed there appears to be a marked preference
on the part of the community to use coffins of polished wood rather than those covered with
cloth. Such use as is made of it is almost entirely restricted to the wealthier classes.
Compared with wooden coffins the cost to the ordinary public of an earth-to-earth coffin is
* Haden, Francis Seymour, F.R.C.S., three letters to the Times, January 12th, March 13th and June 16th,
1875. Reprinted tiy MacMillan.