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corpses, and as being therefore available for use over again for the burial of other bodies. If this be so,
it would be possible to provide once for all the total amount of ground which is needed for the disposal
of the dead by burial of a given population, the area of ground needed being subject only to alterations
in the annual number of deaths.
(61.) Before adopting means of burial with this object in view, however, farther information is
required, so far as the human corpse is concerned, (a) as to whether its more superficial burial is
liable to give rise to objection, and (b) as to the period which should elapse before the ground could be
used again.
(62.) In regard to the former it has to be pointed out that one of the results of the inquiry of the
Royal Commission in 1850 was the framing of regulations which prohibited burial within a given
depth of the surface, this being evidently with the object of preventing nuisance such as is shown by
the evidence given before the Commission used to arise from the churchyards then in use. It must
be remembered, however, that these churchyards had become so overcrowded with corpses that the soil
bad become impregnated with the incomplete results of decomposition, and it is probable that if the
ground had been used in such a way as to avoid this, such objection would not have arisen. In connection
with this matter reference may be made to a report by Dr. Brouardel, published in the
Annales d' Hygiene Publique, torn: xvi., 1886, on a proposal to lay out a cemetery at Boulogne-surSeine.
In this report he refers to chemical and microscopical examinations made by Schutzenberger
and Miquel respectively of the air of cemeteries in Paris, the results of which show that the decay of
bodies under normal conditions of inhumation gives rise neither to the escape of gases of a deleterious
nature into, nor to an increase in the number of bacteria in the atmosphere. Thus samples of air
collected at a cemetery showed no difference bacteriologically, from those collected in a public
park in the suburbs of Paris. In the case of samples examined chemically only the ordinary
constituent gases of the atmosphere, namely, nitrogen, oxygen and carbonic acid gas were found, the
last mentioned being (in samples collected at the surface of the ground) slightly in excess of the
normal. It follows, therefore, that other gases which may be produced in the process of decay of the
body are absorbed and split up before leaving the ground. These analyses and researches seem to show
that there is no cause to fear that the air from a cemetery need be of an injurious nature. Clay soil,
with its liability to fissure to a considerable depth during hot weather, would, however, be subject to
the risk of allowing offensive emanations to pass into the air without being subject to the influence
of the earth.
(63.) In the second place the possibility of disturbance of the remains by animals, which may
be thought of as likely to arise from burial nearer the surface, needs to be mentioned. This, however,
is a question of management of burial places, which could no doubt be provided for, so as to avoid
any risk of its occurrence.
(64.) Regarding the point as to the period during which a grave should remain undisturbed, the
data for fixing this cannot be said to have been determined in regard to the human corpse in a manner
sufficiently accurately to enable an opinion to be given. The existing regulations, in a qualified sense,
imply that an interval of 14 years may be sufficient. The experiments with the bodies of animals
which have been made by individual observers, and which have already been referred to, indicate that
a period less than this is adequate for the disappearance of the body if the animal be buried superficially
in a suitable soil, and without any covering which can retard the process of decay. Brouardel
states in the report just referred to, that Schutzenberger has shown that in a soil of average
permeability decay of organic matter is complete in five years. Further, the experience of the
Prussian Commission, related by Sir Seymour Haden, shows that in the case of the human body
the period necessary under the conditions of burial of the special case is well within 14 years.
(65.) Before, however, any definite period could be given for guidance in the mode of use of
ground in cemeteries, it is desirable to obtain further information by careful experiments
as to actual results in the case of soils, which are available in the neighbourhood of London, and
which appear to be of a suitable character. It is possible that conditions now exist in some
cemeteries by which light might be thrown on this matter. In some of the parochial cemeteries
when first opened, and when the number of burials was not so great as at present, bodies were
buried in common graves at relatively shallow depths of five and six feet, and the grave then
closed after a single burial. At Woking Cemetery similar graves exist. Some of these have not since
been used, though an interval of 10 years having elapsed and the graves not having been purchased,
the ground is now available for further use. A careful examination of this ground would possibly
afford information bearing on the point.
(66.) With the adoption of burial under the above conditions and on the assumption that the
ground could be utilised over again after a known period, it is possible to form an estimate, with a
certain degree of definiteness indicating the availability of the ground in existing cemeteries for a given
number for all time.
(67.) The total area of virgin ground in the list of cemeteries given in this report is some 1,300
acres. This includes ground the soil of which is London clay and is unsuitable. A deduction of this
would leave roughly about 880 acres. This amount includes all the ground as yet unburied in in burial
places included in groups ii. and iii. in the table given earlier in the report, and doubtless errs on the
side of excess as regards soil suitable for earth burial, since some of it—though how much it is not
possible to state definitely—is of a clayey nature, and therefore not well suited for the purpose of
burial. Now the total number of deaths in the County of London in 1897 was 79,209. The present
regulations of the Home Office require that each grave space shall be, in the case of adults 9 by 4 feet,
or 4 square yards, and in the case of children under twelve years of age 6 by 3 feet, or 4½ by 4 feet, or
2 square yards. Under a special set of regulations no definition is given of the grave space, but it is
required that each grave must be separated from graves by an interval of one foot, which in practice
means that the space to each adult grave is on an average 7 feet by 3 feet. It will be better, however,
in estimating the amount of ground necessary, to take into consideration the larger space of 9
feet by 4 feet, which cannot be regarded as excessive for the purpose in the case of adults, and 6