42 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Jan. 27, 



metres. In some parts of Germany, the opening of wells nearer than 300 

 feet has been prohibited." 



Tlie production of deleterious gases from the decomposing bodies 

 is fully proved, particularly by Professor Leigh of Manchester. Mr. 

 Chadwick next proceeds to show, that as the labouring classes reside 

 chiefly in one room, the most injurious effects, both moral and physical, 

 result from retaining the corpse among the living. When coming to 

 consider the economical results of an excess of interments, Mr. Chad- 

 wick observes : — 



" If the proportion of deaths to the population in the Whitechapel union 

 were reduced to the proportion of deaths to the population in Herefordshire, 

 then, mstead of 2,307 burials, there would only be 1,305 burials per annum ; 

 and if the cost of the remaining burials were reduced 50 per cent, of the ave- 

 rage present cost, then the saving of funeral expenses to the Whitechapel 

 district would be at the rate of more than .^23,000, or nearly 3^. per house 

 on the inhabited houses of the district ; about half that sum' being deemed 

 sufficient to defray the expense of the proposed structural improvements. The 

 funeral expenses in the parish of Hackney on the proportion of burials 

 amongst them, are at the rate of 5s. 2d. per head on the living population. 

 Were the burials in Liverpool reduced to the same proportion, 1 in 56 instead 

 of 1 in 30," at the rate of expenses for funerals in London, nearly .€50,000 

 per annum would be saved to the population of Liverpool, being more than 

 sufficient to enable them to pay 30 years' annual instalments, the principal 

 and interest, at five per cent., of a sum of .f845,065 sterling for structural 

 arrangements." 



It is very clearly shown that the present parochial establishments 

 are very inefficient, and that any system founded on jjarochial admi- 

 nistration may be liable to great objections, as to which we fully 

 concur. The report before us also proves the growing disposition 

 among all classes of the public, to prefer interment in the great ceme- 

 teries in preference to the intra-urban churchyards, and that the la- 

 bouring classes are disposed to make considerable sacrifices to insure 

 this object. The objection to churchyard interment seems to become 

 stronger every day, and even family vaults are frequently abandoned 

 by wealthy individuals. Mr. Chadwick, advocates as part of an im- 

 proved system of interment, an inspection of the body by a competent 

 medical officer of health and the deposit of the body immediately after 

 the supposed death, in what may be called a dead-chamber, where 

 constant attention shall be given to see if any signs of life are mani- 

 iested, and by which great advantages will accrue to the living. He 

 proposes, also, the performance of the funeral rites by a public esta- 

 blishment, so that the services of religion may be more efficiently 

 administered both to rich and poor, accompanied by the singinc^ of 

 anthems, and the assistance of a full choir. This is a feature which 

 we cannot omit, for we feel assured that by cultivating the higher 

 leelings we are rendering the public mind more susceptible in matters, 

 of art, refining the manners, and developing the kindly emotions of the 

 heart. We will not repeat the hackneyed quotation as to the emol- 

 lient influence of the liberal arts, but we know no case in which their 

 solemn and religious influence would be better and more permanently 

 Jelt, than in connexion with the last offices to the dead. The chanting 

 of the choir, the devout ministering of the clergy, the orderly attend- 

 ance of the assistants, will be most touching in the presence of the 

 beauties ot nature, and the apt memorials of art, amid which the re- 

 lics of the dead are entombed. A feeling of holiness and solemnity, 

 softened by the external influence of surrounding objects, cannot but 

 tail to soothe the mourner, and benefieiallv impress the visitant and 

 spectator in communion with the departed dead. A wide field, under 

 such circumstances, exists for the exhibition of a refined and chastened 

 taste, for not merely is there the general disposition of the ground 

 and buildings, which can afford but restricted occupation, but every 

 tomb admits of a careful and original treatment, with a due regard to 

 the sanctity of the place, and the noble impressions to be produced, 

 buch opportunities are to be courted, for the occupation of the En"- 

 lish architect is too restricted; instead of being able, like the artist of 

 old, to display his taste in many small works, affording him dailv and 

 hourly occasions for its cultivation, he erects onlv a few large build- 

 ings, and those perhaps stereotyped in their details. The field of 

 taste, like the field of agriculture, must be constantly and carefuUv 

 cultivated; the fallow shows unprofitable husbandry, and he whose taste 

 in leisure hours is occupied in worthy pursuits, can scarcely fail to 

 show himself at least respectable on great occasions. Neither can 

 the studies here recommended be injurious; it is not frittering the 

 mind 111 detail and minutis, but it is the laudable exercise of the 

 great principles of art. The narrow-minded copyist may busy him- 

 selt on a sepulchral memorial, marring the ideas of his predecessors, 

 and producing nothing of his own but his errors; but a noble and 

 simple conception in a small work will not detract from the highest 

 genius. Indeed, it is now beginning to be recognized that the sphere 

 ot the architect's labours is more extensive ; in the dwelling it is his 



business to design the ornaments, and take care that the furniture and 

 accessories agree in character with the style of the buililing itself. 

 We look, therefore, with pleasure to the opportunities which are now 

 likely to be afforded, and the more so as the works will be exhibited 

 to the public gaze, not like the secluded examination given to a pri- 

 vate dwelling, while the architect will be brought into competition 

 with the sculptor, the painter, and the enlightened amateur, and will 

 be led to the study of the higher attributes of art, now too much neg- 

 lected or conducted upon a false basis. We are aware that at present 

 our cemeteries have much that is meretricious, but we know no better 

 mode of correcting this than by elevating the tone of public feeling 

 with regard to the practice of interment. We may observe, too, that 

 Mr. Chadwick recommends that some of the metropolitan cemeteries 

 should be on the banks of the Thames, affording economical convey* 

 ance for the poorer classes, and the means of great funeral pomp on 

 what the poets have called " the silent highway." Those who re- 

 collect the grand funeral procession of Nelson, will bear testimony to 

 the solemnity and grandeur which may be ensured in such scenes. 



Mr. Chadwick is of course an advocate for interment in the free 

 soil, and a higher tone of public feeling seems to prevail as to this 

 practice. If we reflect on the associations attached to the burial 

 places of great men, our impressions are not confined to the sight of 

 the tomb, but they extend to the surrounding soil ; the tomb of Vir- 

 gil sanctifies the country around, though the bones have long since 

 mingled with their native earth; the tombs of the kings in the valley 

 near Jerusalem bring their votaries from afar, though many centuries 

 ago their ashes must have faded ; the Holy Sepulchre has been the 

 veneration of ages, though only serving as the tomb of a day. So, 

 too, the memory of Napoleon, although his remains have been ex- 

 humed, still brings pilgrims to St. Helena, for it is not the mortal relics 

 that we venerate, but those efforts of intellect which illumine the world in 

 all ages, and bring us from our distant homes to pay tribute to the me- 

 morials of genius, which it has consecrated to itself in the cradle, its 

 residence, or its last long home. Incorporation with the soil of a holy 

 and consecrated place, must surely then be more to be sought than 

 fruitless expedients to evade the common lot, which honour not the 

 dead, and are injurious to the living. The state of the public feeling, 

 too, on this point, materially affects the cemeterial arrangements to be 

 made on any comprehensive scale. In another point of view we are 

 happy to bring the opinion of Mr. Chadwick iu evidence to illustrate 

 the moral influence of improved arrangements. 



" The great moral force, and the consolation to the dying, and the inceu- 

 tive to public spirit whilst Uving, derivable from the natural regulations of a 

 pubhc cemetery, is almost entirely lost in this country, except in the few 

 cases where public monuments are provided iu the cathedrals. In the me- 

 tropolis it would be very difficult to find the graves of persons of minor fame 

 who have advanced or adorned any branch of civil or military service, or have 

 distinguished themselves in any art or science. Yet there are few occupa- 

 tions which could not furnish examples for pleasurable contemplation to the 

 living who are engaged in them, and claim honour from the public. The 

 humblest class of artisans would feel consolation and honour in interment in 

 the same cemetery with Brindley, with Crompton, or with Murdoch, the 

 artisan who assisted and carried out the conceptions of Watt ; or with Emer- 

 son, or with Simpson, the hand-loom weaver, who became professor of mathe- 

 matics at Woolwich ; or with Ferguson, the shepherd's son ; or with Dollond, 

 the improver of telescopes, whoso earUest years were spent at a loom in 

 Spitalfields ; or with others who " have risen from the wheelbarrow," and 

 done honour to the country, and individually gained public attention from 

 the ranks of privates ; such, for example, as John Sykcs, Nelson's cockswain, 

 an old and faithful follower, who twice saved the life of bis admiral by parry- 

 ing the Ijlows that were aimed at him, and at last actually iuterposed his own 

 person to meet the blow of an enemy's sabre, which he could not by any 

 other means avert, and who survived the daugerous wound he received in 

 this act of heroic attachment. The greater part of the means of honour and 

 moral influence on the living generation derivable from the example of the 

 meritorious dead of every class, is at present, iu the larger towns, cast away 

 ill obscure grave-yards and oitensive charnels. The artisans who are now 

 associated in communities, which have from their beneficent objects a claim 

 to public regard, might, if they chose it, have their spaces set apart for the 

 members of their own occupation, aud whilst they derive interest from asso- 

 ciation with each other, they would also derive consolation from accommo- 

 dation within the same precincts as the more public and illustrious dead." 



In considering this subject, the praiseworthy labours of the great 

 Wren could not pass unnoticed, who in his report on the re-building 

 of London, reprobated all interment in churches, and advocated the 

 foundation of cemeteries outside the town. Mr. Chadwick, resuming 

 this idea, calculates that the annual saving to the inhabitants of the 

 I metropolis, by a comprehensive system for the interment of the dead, 

 would be no less than £374,743, and we do not think he has overrated 

 itlie amount. This saving, he shows, if applied to remedying the 

 : sanitary arrangements of the metropolis, would fully effect it, aod re- 



