applied to Public Cemeteries. 95 



or dries up rapidl}', according to tiie circumstances in which it is placed; but 

 that the bones do not decay, even under circumstances the most favourable 

 for that purpose, for centuries. 



The face of a dead body deposited in the free soil is generally destroyed in 

 three or four months, but the thorax and abdomen undergo very little change, 

 except in colour, till the fonrth month. The last part of the muscular fibre 

 which decays is the upper part of the thigh, which in some subjects resists 

 putrefaction for four or five years. In general, a body is considered unfit for 

 dissection after it has been interred eight or nine weeks. In a very dry 

 and warm soil, especially where the body is emaciated, the juices are 

 rapidly absorbed ; and, no moisture coming near it, the solids contract and 

 harden, and a species of munnny is produced. This may be observed 

 in the vaults of various churches in Britain where the soil and situa- 

 tion are remarkably dry ; and it has given rise to those appalling scenes 

 which may be witnessed in the vaults of Bremen, Vienna, Rome, Naples, 

 Palermo, Malta, and other places. (See Necropolis Glasguensis, p. 48. to 55. ; 

 and Stephens's Incidents of Travel, as quoted in the Saturday Magazine, vol. 

 XX. p. 141.) 



Bones are chiefly composed of phosphate of lime deposited in gelatine, 

 an animal tissue ; and, unless acted on by powerful acids, they will en- 

 dure, either in the soil or in the atmosphere, for many centuries. They 

 are even found in the fossil state, and after ages of exposure often contain 

 more or less of the original animal tissue, particularly if they have been 

 embedded in clayey soil. In the ante-hominal part of the creation, there 

 are bones daily discovered which have existed 6000 years at least. Dr. 

 Charles Loudon informs us that he has seen numerous human bones in 

 certain caves near to Naples, which are supposed to be those of the Grecian 

 colonists who settled there before the Christian era, or perhaps those of 

 an older race who inhabited Magna Graecia.* Dr. Loudon has seen several 

 skeletons dug out of the ruins of Pompeii, the bones of which were as dry and 

 entire as the bones of skeletons which we see in dissecting-rooms, though 

 they must have Iain there nearly 1800 years under the lava, which, around 

 them, seemed to be a dry greyish kind of earth. Even while writing this, we 

 read in the newspapers (Morn. C/iron., Jan. 10.) of the workmen, while digging 

 a deep sewer in Lad Lane in the city, having cut into what is supposed to have 

 been a cemetery of the Romans, and dug up a number of human bones. 



With respect to prejudices, there is, as every one knows, a decided prejudice 

 in favour of being buried in dry soil, and against the placing of decomposing 

 substances, such as quicklime, in coffins ; and it is one of our principles to 

 respect existing prejudices as well as vested rights. With regard to the use 



* The desire to preserve the bones from decay seems natural to man, both 

 in a rude and a civilised state. Dr. DiefFenbach informs us that the New 

 Zealanders expose the bodies of their dead, in a sort of canoe-shaped coffin, 

 among the foliage of trees, for several months, till the flesh is sufficiently 

 decomposed ; the bones are then washed and cleaned, and finally deposited 

 in some secret spot in a wood, or in a limestone cavern, of which there are 

 many, or in some chasm of the rocks difficult of access. The bodies of 

 hereditary chiefs are dressed and ornamented, and preserved in mausoleums 

 of elaborately carved work ; but, even in this case, after a time, the tohunga, 

 or priest, removes the bones to a place in the forest often known only to 

 himself. (Travels in New Zealand, ii. p. 63.) The monks of the Convent of 

 Mount Sinai, Mr. Stephens informs us, bury their dead for about three years, 

 after which they take them up, clean the bones, and deposit them in one great 

 pit ; except those of the archbishops, which are preserved separately in an 

 adjoining sepulchre, some in baskets, some on shelves, and others tied together 

 and hanging from the roof. (Incidents of Travel.) 



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