DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. 593 



and the profound, tranquil sleep of Death reigns where just now were 

 life and movement. Here, then, begins the eternal rest. 



Rest! no, not for an instant. Never was there greater activity 

 than at this moment exists in that still corpse. Activity, but of a 

 different kind to that which was before. Already a thousand changes 

 have commenced. Forces innumerable have attacked the dead. The 

 rapidity of the vulture, with its keen scent for animal decay, is 

 nothing to that of Nature's ceaseless agents now at full work before 

 us. That marvelously complex machine, but this moment the 

 theatre of phenomena too subtile and too recondite to be compre- 

 hended ; denotable only by phraseology which stands for the un- 

 known and incomputable — vital, because more than physical, more 

 than chemical — is now consigned to the action of physical and chemi- 

 cal agencies alone. And these all operating in a direction the reverse 

 of that which they held before death. A synthesis, then, developing 

 the animal being. The stages of that synthesis, now, retraced, with 

 another end, still formative, in view. Stages of decomposition, of de- 

 cay, with its attendant putrescence ; process abhorrent to the living, 

 who therefore desire its removal. " Bury the dead out of my sight," 

 is the wholly natural sentiment of the survivor. 



But Nature does nothing without ample meaning ; nothing with- 

 out an object desirable in the interest of the body politic. It may, 

 then, be useful to inquire what must of necessity happen if, instead 

 of burying or attempting to preserve the ctead, Nature follows an 

 unimpeded course, and the lifeless animal is left to the action of laws 

 in such case provided. 



It is necessary first to state more exactly the conditions supposed 

 to exist. Thus, the body must be exposed to air ; and must not be 

 consumed as prey by some living animal. If it is closely covered 

 with earth or left in water, the same result is attained as in the con- 

 dition first named, although the steps of the process maybe dissimilar. 



The problem which Nature sets herself to work in disposing of 

 dead animal matter is always one and the same. The order of the 

 universe requires its performance; no other end is possible. The 

 problem may be slowly worked, or quickly worked ; the end is 

 always one. 



It may be thus stated : The animal must be resolved into — 



a. Carbonic acid (C0 2 ), water (HO), and ammonia (NH 3 ). 



b. Mineral constituents, more or less oxidized, elements of the 

 earth's structure : lime, phosphorus, iron, sulphur, magnesia, etc. 



The first group, gaseous in form, go into the atmosphere. 



The second group, ponderous and solid, remain where -the body 

 lies, until dissolved and washed into the earth by rain. 



Nature's object remains still unstated : the constant result of her 

 work is before us ; but wherefore are these changes ? In her won- 

 derful economy she must form and bountifully nourish her vegetable 

 vol. iv. — 38 



