e-jd THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



position, and entirely separated from the ground through which the 

 rainfall which feeds our springs and lakes is to pass. The corpses must 

 be buried without coffins, and still be protected from disturbance or 

 defacement by animals of any kind. The only means of securing these 

 ends is apparently to have all interments made in dry earth contained 

 in secure and properly ventilated buildings. 



It is, of course, impossible that under such a system the same place 

 should not, as a general rule, be used repeatedly for successive inter- 

 ments. This is mainly a question of expense. In most cases, after 

 the course of nature had thoroughly removed all that could decay, 

 there could be no objection to the disinterment of the skeleton. Cre- 

 mation would now be a comparatively cheap method of preserving the 

 remains from any treatment which might be held to be indecorous, 

 and the passage of time would ordinarily have removed all occasion 

 for the natural feeling which makes us shrink from doing any violence 

 to a recent corpse. The earth used for the interments might, of course, 

 be thoroughly heated at long intervals, to destroy any accumulation 

 in it of organic products ; or, indeed, unless the expense were consid- 

 ered a foolish one, diarcoal might take the place of earth, and be 

 ultimately burned with the bones contained in it. 



A principal advantage of this method of interment is that it may 

 be employed at any time by individuals without waiting for general 

 adoption. A water-tight tomb may be constructed without very great 

 expense in any ordinary cemetery, and, if the ground around it is suit- 

 ably drained, may be used for a long while without fear that it is a 

 menace to the health of the community, as all ordinary graves and 

 tombs undoubtedly are. The most economical way of providing shel- 

 tered graves, however, would probably be to erect for the purpose 

 buildings of considerable size, within which space might be hired in 

 perpetuity or for limited terms of years. It is possible that such build- 

 ings might stand at no great distance from others without harm, under 

 suitable regulations for the interments to be made in them. If con- 

 stant attendance were provided for, the fear of premature interment 

 which distresses some people might be to a great extent removed ; 

 and in any case the protection of the corpses might thus be efficiently 

 secured. Memorial tablets, which might finally be removed to any 

 place selected for the reception of the harmless ashes, would be a wel- 

 come substitute for the clumsy monuments which disfigure our present 

 cemeteries ; and, without any of the offensive circumstances attending 

 the interments of the Capuchin convent which have served for the text 

 of this article, we might apparently secure their substantial advantages 

 of economy of space and moderate rapidity in effecting the true pur- 

 poses of burial. 



