Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 16.djvu/706

676, and entirely separated from the ground through which the rainfall which feeds our springs and lakes is to pass. The corpses must be buried without coffins, and still be protected from disturbance or defacement by animals of any kind. The only means of securing these ends is apparently to have all interments made in dry earth contained in secure and properly ventilated buildings.

It is, of course, impossible that under such a system the same place should not, as a general rule, be used repeatedly for successive interments. This is mainly a question of expense. In most cases, after the course of nature had thoroughly removed all that could decay, there could be no objection to the disinterment of the skeleton. Cremation would now be a comparatively cheap method of preserving the remains from any treatment which might be held to be indecorous, and the passage of time would ordinarily have removed all occasion for the natural feeling which makes us shrink from doing any violence to a recent corpse. The earth used for the interments might, of course, be thoroughly heated at long intervals, to destroy any accumulation in it of organic products; or, indeed, unless the expense were considered a foolish one, charcoal might take the place of earth, and be ultimately burned with the bones contained in it.

A principal advantage of this method of interment is that it may be employed at any time by individuals without waiting for general adoption. A water-tight tomb may be constructed without very great expense in any ordinary cemetery, and, if the ground around it is suitably drained, may be used for a long while without fear that it is a menace to the health of the community, as all ordinary graves and tombs undoubtedly are. The most economical way of providing sheltered graves, however, would probably be to erect for the purpose buildings of considerable size, within which space might be hired in perpetuity or for limited terms of years. It is possible that such buildings might stand at no great distance from others without harm, under suitable regulations for the interments to be made in them. If constant attendance were provided for, the fear of premature interment which distresses some people might be to a great extent removed; and in any case the protection of the corpses might thus be efficiently secured. Memorial tablets, which might finally be removed to any place selected for the reception of the harmless ashes, would be a welcome substitute for the clumsy monuments which disfigure our present cemeteries; and, without any of the offensive circumstances attending the interments of the Capuchin convent which have served for the text of this article, we might apparently secure their substantial advantages of economy of space and moderate rapidity in effecting the true purposes of burial.