1882.] The Cremation Question . 713 
suburban, and almost urban. Abney Park, Nunhead, High- 
gate, Kensal Green are now populous regions, and even 
Finchley sees the speculative builder approaching nearer 
and nearer to its vast extent of graves. It is therefore plain 
that the resting-places of the dead will perhaps, even by the 
end of the present century, be closely surrounded by the 
dwellings of the living. We shall thus have a repetition of 
the evils which Dr. Walker devoted his life to banish. True 
these cemeteries, as far as I understand, can never be so 
overcrowded as were the old churchyards. Men will not be 
seen under cover of the night conveying away loads of half- 
decomposed humanity, and shooting it into the Thames. A 
grave, when once it has received its stipulated number, will 
not be reopened to make way for fresh interments ; nor will 
the distance from grave to grave be reduced. But in spite 
of these redeeming features the new cemeteries will differ 
from the old churchyards in degree, but not in kind. Many 
of them are situate on eminences. Their drainage must 
and will find its way through the soil to houses built on the 
lower grounds in their vicinity. Such drainage, containing 
both septic poisons and disease-germs, must either permeate 
the soil or find its way into the system of sewers. Neither 
alternative is pleasant to contemplate. In the former case 
the ground will be poisoned, and the ground-air also. This 
ground-air, as Prof, von Pettenkofer has so clearly shown, 
passes up into our houses according to the changes of baro- 
metric pressure and the fluctuations of moisture and of 
temperature. 
If we suppose that such drainage is entirely conveyed into 
the sewers, the final result is little different, since the water- 
closets, sinks, &c., all traps notwithstanding, give the sewer- 
gas access to our houses. 
Nor does the air escape pollution from the immense mass 
of animal matter which is decomposing around us. If we 
take the population of London at four millions, and estimate 
the average life of a generation at thirty years, and the mean 
weight of a human corpse at 56 lbs., we reach the startling 
result that year by year 3000 tons of animal matter is placed 
to putrefy in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. Much 
of this matter contains the germs of smallpox, diphtheria, 
fevers, occasionally cholera, and other communicable 
diseases. This, surely, is a serious consideration. How 
long a lapse of time is required to convert this deadly matter 
into harmless mould I cannot make bold to say ; but we are 
I think warranted in supposing that fully ten years must 
pass over before the buried bodies can cease to be a peril. 
vol. iv. (third series;. 3 A 
