27 



Let us pass on to a far more specious objection. It is argued 

 that if the bodies be burnt then no trace remains whereby in case 

 of violent deaths, not suspected at the time, poison could be traced. 

 But this is not an argument against a new method of disposal of 

 the body after death, but of a new method of accurately registering 

 death. Nothing can be more careless than the present system. 

 Sir H. Thompson shows that in Wales, attention was called to 

 the strange prevalence of phthisis in a particular district, (" Crema- 

 tion, p. 51.") On enquiring, it was found that phthisis was con- 

 sidered a convenient word to describe slow wasting death. And if 

 there was this carelessness on the part of these medical men, that 

 was but a symptom of the careless way in which deaths were 

 registered, or not registered. Sir H. Thompson (p. 50) says 

 that a good many certificates of death are issued every year in 

 London by non-medical persons ; and he further mentions — " a 

 parish in London where 40 deaths were registered in one year on 

 the mere statement of neighbours of the deceased. No medical 

 certificate was procurable, no inquest was held. The bodies were 

 Imried without inquiry. The practice is not illegal." In times of 

 epidemic any amount of foul practice may pass unobserved. I 

 remember a case in the Cholera Epidemic of 1866, where the person 

 dying suddenly being well connected, and an inquest having been 

 summoned before his connections knew of the death, the inquest 

 was never held, in order to avoid publicity. How the matter was 

 arranged I never knew, but I know that I buried the body with a 

 duly signed certificate. There was no doubt in this case that the 

 death was from Cholera, but it showed me what things might be 

 done, where there was a motive for avoiding the usual formalities. 

 There is but one method of absolute safety in these matters. That 

 method is an independent examination such as is held in Paris, by 

 some one not the regular medical attendant on the deceased, and if 

 in any doubtful case the stomach and heart were preserved in some 

 public hosjjital, there would be a guarantee such as does not at 

 present exist against foul play. 



There remains only one other objection worthy of consideration. 

 It is the sentimental objection. We began with sentiment, and 

 sentiment plays so large a part in human action that we must end 



