To illustrate my meaning, suppose a cemetery in
which there are, say, for the sake of argument, 30 inter-
ments weekly. Under the present system, which is
opposed to nature, and revolting in the extreme, the 30
bodies encased in the strong leaden or oaken prisons
decompose slowly, taking years over that operation, and
do not contaminate the surrounding earth or springs or
vitiate the air in at all a sudden manner.
But turn now to the other picture ; look at it in the
new light, and suppose — horrible supposition — that the
30 bodies (in which the process of decomposition has
already set in while above ground), encased in some



[ io6 J

light covering, as wickerwork for instance, about as
durable when compared with lead or oak as paper is to
sackcloth, are fast mingling with that powerful earth, and
as speedily carrying poison to our springs and along our
watercourses. A change is needed, and a change is
demanded, but " Heaven defend us from our friends,"
if we are to supply the present slow contamination of
our springs by one doubly more speedy and efficacious.
