The student's handbook of forensic medicine and medical police / by H. Aubrey Husband.

Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The student's handbook of forensic medicine and medical police / by H. Aubrey Husband. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    animal matter thrown off both by lungs and skin, which seems to putrefy almost immediately after being thrown into the air.' CEMETERIES. The disposal of the dead is a matter of considerable importance to the well-being of a community. The following methods have been adopted :— 1. Embalming. 2. Cremation. 3. Sea burial. 4. Land burial. Cremation, in a sanitary point of view, is by far the best way of disposing of the dead, but public prejudice is against the proceeding. Sir Henry Thompson lately drew attention to this subject in an article on ' Cremation' in the Contemporary Eevieiv ; but his advocacy was marred by his commercial views as to the value of the dust for agricultural purposes, at once disgusting and repulsive to most people. Sea burial can only be adopted in towns on the coast, as the expense would be too great when the body has to be carried any distance. Embalming is never likely to be adopted by modern nations. Land burial, which, in a sanitary point of view, is the worst of all forms of burial, will most probably last the longest of any, till the public mind by de- grees becomes tutored to an enlightened appreciation of the sanitary benefits of cremation. Burial in the ground is open to the following objections :—■ a. That the air over churchyards and cemeteries is charged with carbonic acid, ammonia, and an offensive putrid vapour. From the churchyards of London it has been stated that 1\ millions of cubic feet of car- bonic acid gas were given off yearly by 52,000 bodies buried in the yards. b. That disturbance of these grounds gives rise to disease.