V-.Mc~U!J. '  Cjl>.. ..
OAK-HILL  CEMETERY,
OR
A. TRE ATISE 0S&1
ON
THE FATAL EFFECTS RESULTING FROM THE LOCimQjf OT^CE--
  METERIES IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF TOWN*.' \>
BY A PHYSICIAN. 
 
OAK-HILL CEMETERY,
on
H  8 s u a a a 3 3
ON
THE FATAL EFFECTS RESULTING FROM-THE LOCATION OF CE-
  METERIES IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF TOWNS.
► C-.OK
<P
BY A PHYSICIAN.
  WASHINGTON.
PRINTED BY HENRY POLKINHORN.

   MDCCCL.

 
\
Copy-right secured according to law. 
           OAK-HILL  CEMETERY,

                            OR

                    A TREATISE,

 On the fatal effects resulting from the Location of Ceme-
        teries  in the immediate vicinity of Towns.

   The following Treatise is intended to awaken the people of the
 District, and particularly the inhabitants of Georgetown, to a sense
 of a most serious danger, which threatens their health and their
 lives; and to induce them  to unite  in  making an  effort to avert
 from themselves a dreadful calamity.
   To this end, it is proposed to state the impressions of the most
 intelligent communities, in relation to the practice of inhumation
 in  or  near  towns:  to give the  opinions of learned  divines,
 and of eminent medical men, who have patiently investigated this
 subject, and to present some of the facts on which these opinions
 and  those impressions were founded.   We will then  proceed to
 show, that the establishment of the Oak-Hill  Cemetery, in the
 vicinity of Georgetown, must necessarily be followed by the most
 fatal consequences.
  The governments of antiquity that were remarkable for their
 intelligence, the Jews, the Greeks, and the Romans, regarded this
 subject as one of vast importance,—examined it with the  greatest
 attention, and were led to the wise determination to prohibit the
 location of burial-places unless at a distance from  their towns or
 cities.
  About the middle of  the last century, the governments of mo-
 dern Europe  seem to  have forgotten  the experience of the an-
cients, and to have disregarded their wise precaution.   Actuated
by their religious zeal, the people foolishly imagined that the bu-
rial of their bodies in consecrated ground, and especially in the
neighborhood of  churches, would be a protection against the ene-
my of their souls; and consequently, the custom of burying in the
 midst of cities,  in and near the churches, became almost'uni- 
4
versal.  The frequent prevalence of epidemics, which devastated
their cities, brought them, however, to their senses.
  The people of  France, informed  by their medical advisers of
the true cause of these  misfortunes,  by continual out-cries and
importunate  entreaties,  induced the ecclesiastical  as well as the
civil courts to interfere in their behalf. Ordinances and decrees were
passed entirely abolishing the custom, and prohibiting,  under the
severest penalties, the burial of the dead within a reasonable  dis-
tance of the towns or cities.   By this means, the health of all the
towns of France was sensibly promoted
  Nearly all the enlightened  nations on the Continent followed the
example of Fiance.  But, notwithstanding all that had  been done
by their neighbors, the people of England still clung to their an-
cient  customs, and silly prejudices,  with the dogged  obstinacy
which is characteristic of that nation.   And even when,  convinced
by sad experience, the people were willing to yield up these pre-
judices, the government still  held out.  They were fearful of in-
terfering with "vested  rights,"  ait if the vested rights of a few
individuals were to be placed in competition with the health and,
lives of whole communities.   The cruel  epidemics,  particularly
those in the form of typhus  and typhoid fevers, which  were con-
stantly ravaging their metropolis, and  other cities, forced  upon
them also, a conviction of the necessity of adopting some measures
of relief.  Accordingly, in 1842 a  committee of the British Par-
liament was appointed to investigate the cause of these epidemics,
and  to suggest some means by which they might be arrested.
Their report, in relation to the subject before us, is thus summed
up:
  "Your committee have also obtained  the evidence of men of
superior education and acknowledged ability;  of clergymen, and
high dignitaries of the church, and after along and patient inves-
gitation, your committee cannot arrive at any  other conclusion
than that the nuisance of interments  in large towns, and the in-
jury arising to the health of  the  community from the practice is
fully  proved."
  The conclusion of the report of  another  committee  of the
British Parliament, appointed in  1843, to  investigate this subject,
is in these words:  '"That,  inasmuch  as  there appear to  be no
cases in which the emanations from human  remains,in an advanced
stage of decomposition, are not of a deleterious nature,  so there is
no case in which  the liability to danger should  be incurred,  either
by interments or by entombments in vaults, amidst the dwellings of
the living ; that it may be established as a general conclusion  in 
5
respect to the physical circumstances of interment, from which no
adequate ground of exception has been established, that all inter-
ments in towns, where  bodies decompose, contribute to the mass
of atmospheric impurity, which is injurious to the public health."
   Based on the above reports, a law was subsequently passed, pro-
hibiting the establishment of any cemetery within a considerable
distance of  any inhabited dwelling.
   In the United States, the State of New York  and the Slate of
Pennsylvania have passed laws of a similar character.
   The minutes of evidence taken before the committees of the
British Parliament, contain the opinions on this  subject of some of
the most eminent medical men of the present day.  A few  of
them are given :
   By James Copland, M. D., F. R. S.  "I believe the health of
large towns is influenced by four or five particular circumstances ;
the first, and perhaps the most important, is the burial of the dead
in large towns.''''
   Sir Benjamin Brodie, when asked whether  he considered the
crowded state of the church-yards as one cause of fever or disease
in the metropolis, answers: " I have always considered that as one
cause.  My opinion is, that interments in the interior of this
town, must  be injurious to the health of the town."
   W. F. Chambers, M. D., in a letter to the chairman of one  of
the committees,  states: " I have no doubt that the fevers which
are called typhus, even in this cleanly  quarter of London, (Brooke
Street,) owe their origin to the escape of putrid miasma.  I should
presume that over crowded burying-grounds would supply  such
effluvia most abundantly."
   The opinion of Dr. Southwood Smith, given to the Poor Law
Commissioners, on another occasion,  has an  especial bearing on
the subject  before us :  " It is matter of experience," says he, " that
during  the  decomposition of  dead otganic substances, whether
vegetable or animal, aided by heat and moisture, and other pecu-
liarities cf climate, a poison is generated, which, when in a  state
of high concentration, is capable of producing instantaneous death,
by a single  inspiration of the air in which it is diffused."
   Experience also shows that this poison,  even when it is largely
diluted by admixture with atmospheric air, and when consequently
it is unable  to prove thus suddenly fatal, is still the fruitful source
of sickness  and mortality, partly in proportion to its intensity, and
partly in proportion to the length of time and the constancy  with
which the body remains exposed to it."
   " The exhalations which accumulate in close, ill-ventilated, and
crowded apartments, in the confined  situations of densely popu- 
6
lated cities, where no attention is paid to the removal of putrefying
and excrementiiious substances, consist chiefly of animal matter;
such exhalations contain a poison which produces fever of a typhoid
character.  There aie situations, as has been  stated, in which the
poison generated  is  so intense and deadly, that a single inspiration
of it. is capable of producing instantaneous death ;  there are others
in which a few inspirations of it are  capable of destroying life in
from two  to twelve hours; and there are others, again, in which
the poison generated, although not so immediately fatal, is still too
potent to be breathed long, even by the most healthy and robust*,
without producing  fevers of a highly dangerous and mortal cha-
racter."
  G. A. Walker, surgeon, who has examined  this whole  subject
thoroughly, (a copy  of whose very able work, entitled " Gather-
ings from Grave Yards," every one,  who takes an interest in pro-
moting the public health should have  in his library,) thus remarks:
" It would seem that interments of the dead within churches or
vaults, or in burying grounds sutrounded with houses,  or in the
immediate vicinity  of densely populated cities or towns, is so fa-
miliar  from its frequent, or daily  occurrence—accidents  clearly
traceable to the influence of putrefying effluvia so seldom, com-
paratively, arise from the practice of inhumation, that the most
perfect indifference appears to prevail  upon the subject; no dan-
ger seems to be dreaded, no fear excited,  no apprehension enter-
tained, of the injurious and  destructive  agencies which  are con-
stantly in operation, and armed with invisible and irresistible pow-
ers.  It would not be difficult to  show, that some of the most
afflictive dispensations of  Providence, have originated in the con-
tamination of the atmosphere from putrefying animal substances,
and that to the neighborhood of the  " Grave Yard " may be at-
tributed the violence, if not the origin,  of some of the most destruct-
ive diseases which have depopulated the human race."
  In France, Drs. Haguenot, Maret, and Navier, were principally
instrumental in arousing the attention of the  people to the vast
importance of this subject.  They set it forth  in such lively,  but
true colors, that the  people at  once demanded, in  tones not to  be
misunderstood, that the measiaes recommended by them should be
adopted.                ^
  In the preamble to a decree in the Parliament of Paris, the fol-
lowing  remarks occur:  " The Bishops of such places as were
afflicted by it have issued  ordinances, and  laid them before  this
court for  confirmation, which has been granted to some,  and so-
licited by others—pastors of the secoad  degree have united with 
7
the higher dignitaries, in petitioning for a civil regulation on  this
point.   Medical men assure us that the vapours  exhaling from
putrefaction fill the air with  chemical compounds dangerous to
health,  and productive of malignant  diseases.  The  epidemics
which prevail in warm seasons confirm  their assertion.  We know,
however, that this decree is against the wishes of a  certain class,
who found claims upon a possession in itself an abuse,  or upon ti-
tles yielded through complaisance, or obtained without any legiti-
mate grant, or upon a permission acquired by means  of a small
sum, which they imagine entails an hereditary right to burial  within
a church ; as if possession were a right superior to justice,  or that
a prescriptive indulgence should be continued in despite of its in-
jury to the public good; or that a certain sum of money were an
equivalent for the health and  life of their fellow-citizens."
   The  Arch Bishop of Toulouse issued an ordinance,  the pream-
ble to which contains so many just observations, that we are  con-
strained to insert  it at length.   It  relates to burials in churches,,
but the remarks are equally applicable to burials in or near towns* 
                   ORDINANCE
                            OF
THE  ARCH-BISHOP  OF TOULOUSE, CONCERNING
            INTERMENTS  IN  CHURCHES.
  "Stephen Charles de Lomenie de Brienne, by the Grace of God
and the Holy Apostolic See, Arch Bishop of-Toulouse, Councel-
lor of the King, &c,  to all Ecclesiastics, secular or regular, and to
all the laity of this diocese, sends greeting and blessing:
  " Whereas, the venerable Provost and Clergy of our Metropoli-
tan Church have represented to  us, that, in violation  of the holy
canons, interments in that church have increased exceedingly, and
that  the air is  sensibly contaminated by fetid exhalations from
vaults, which are not deep, and are continually re-opened for the
admission of fresh bodies.
  " Similar complaints have  been transmitted  to us from several
parts of this diocese, and although we have deferred any notice till
now, yet our dearly beloved brethren  need  not accuse us of ne-
glect, delay, or indifference, in  this important affair.  Wise ordi-
nances require much time for consideration, and should be offered
to minds prepared to  receive  them.  Measures too prompt might
have proved revolting to  your  sensibilities,  or you might have
thought such restrictions of your privileges sufficient, as  had al-
ready been enforced by vanity, or to which custom lent a justifica-
tion.   To secure  your  docility and compliance, it was necessary
that your eyes should be opened to your danger by repeated acci-
dents, sudden deaths, and frequent epidemics.  It was necessary
that your own wishes, impelled by sad experience, should  compel
our interference; and that the excess of the evil should call, in a
manner, for an  excess of precautionary measures.
  " Believe not, dearly  beloved brethren, that  our solicitude and
anxious care for the public health is the only motive that induces
us to break silence.  Such is the harmony always existing between
religion and sound  policy, that what is acknowledged as decorous
and useful by the one, is also commanded  and prescribed by the 
9
other.   To the insiinct of self preservation, which calls loudly for
u  reformation of the present system of burial, we may add  the
commands of God, which direct us that we be careful of our lives,
that we may serve  Him and  prepare for a happy eternity ;  and the
orders of the church,which always reprobated as a profanation the
general admission  of the dead within  consecrated walls, and  in
places held sacred ; and the dictates of our Christian duties, which
require an assiduous attendance at the temple, all pretexts and pre-
tences to  the contrary notwithstanding.   May our subsequent de-
tails and remarks enlighten your piety without  enfeebling it, and
without impairing the respect due to the memory of the dead, con-
found that  inconsistent  vanity which follows them  even to the
grave*
   " This respect is a natural sentiment in every stage of society,
and depraved indeed must those be  that do not feel it.  No social
ties could unite us, if death were able instantly to extinguish af-
fection in the hearts of survivors.  He who feels no emotion of
grief or pity beside the grave of a fellow being, could  have borne
no love  to that being during life.  " ' We respect,' says St. Au-
gustine, 'every trifle that reminds us of a  beloved  object; the
rin"- or the dress worn by a father are dear to his children'.  How
can we other than respect the ashes of those who are  dear to us ;
or how other than endeavor  to prolong the existence of their frail
 remains?
   " It would then be an infraction of every  law, as say Saint Au-
 gustine and Origenus, to neglect the burial of the dead, as if they
 were mere brutes ; or to throw away bodies that hove been the
 abodes of rational souls, and temples of the tloly Ghost.   But
these duties have legitimate limits.   While  religion regulates all
 that can be conducive to the rest of the departed, and  permits the
indulgence  of  a natural sorrow, it forbids  every  expression  that
 proceeds from  pride and vanity.   * Why,'  says St.  Jerome, {in
vita  Pauli), '  does a desire for appearanct exist  amid  mourning
 and tears ?  Why should the  dead be clothed in sumptuous vestments 1
 cannot the rich rot  away unless in the same gorgeous apparel that de-
corated them when  alive ?  Pompous funeral  processions,'' adds St..
 Augustine, • and expensive monuments, may perhaps console the living,
 hut they cannot  be of any use  to the dead.'  'Of what use to them are
 these idle distinctions?' exclaims St. Chrysostom, * their memory and
 their worth, and not their perishable remains, should be honored.
 Since, then, ye wish to give  departed friends  rational and Christain-
 like testimonies of esteem,  love, and  regret, do for them and for
 yourselves all that can contribute to tJie glory of God,   If they 
10
he virtuous, be so also; if vicious, correct the mischief  they have
done, and continue whatever good intentions they may have as-
sumed.   It  is  by the virtues of their children  that parents  are
honored in the grave, and these are their only worthy and accepta-
ble obsequies.'
  " These principles naturally  lead us  to ascertain what place,
then, should be appropriated to the disposal of our departed breth-
ren.  The custom of praying for them, probably induced the early
Christians to deposit them near each other in the same ground ;
this  was the origin  of cemeteries.  St.  Chrysostom informs us,
(Horn. 84, in Math.,) that cemeteries were not permitted in cities,
because the presence or vicinity of the dead would not only con-
taminate pure  air, but incommode the  inhabitants by  the stench
they would occasion.  Nullum in civitatesepulchrumstruhur.  If
such, says a council, (Horn. 74,) is the privilege of cities, how evi-
dent it is that a church has  a  right to exclude interments from
within her walls.  In the council of Brague, burials in churches
were forbidden, and  the house of God was decreed to be open only
to the relics of apostles and  martyrs.   Nemo Apostolorum vel
Marty rum sedem hwnanis corporibus astimet esse concessam, (in
the year 563, Can. 18.)  The bodies of even Emperors were only
admitted to the porticoes or chapels of temples.   Constantine,
himself to whom the Church was  so much indebted, and so grate-
ful a«ked no higher favor than  to be buried under the portico of
the church  of the Holy Apostles.   Martyrs and  confessors  only
were admitted; because, as  St.  Ambrosius remarks it  was \just
that those who  had been victims to  their faith, should be deposited
near the altar where was offered the  sacrament oj the sacrifice of their
divine Lord and Master.''
   « Such was the primitive discipline  m  relation to interment;
and what is  more  interesting in this statement,  dearly beloved
brethren, is, that legitimate  exceptions have been used a* prece-
  e   fo  Us infringement, so true it is, that the slightest compro-
  rise of a law leads finally to its destruction, or total violation
   "Those  who, by an exemplary life, had acquired a reputation
 for ho  net were not allowed  to  partake of the pnv.legeof mar-
  v^btVhis holiness was not as  easily substantiated as the hero-
    ^"vSlleJ 'heir faith  with their blood ;  and as the
 i9mot  Ul^.;ll°|b. ,hns increased, proof became still more d.ffi-

 niumcil "ce of reality, ami equivocal signs of piety obtained
 nrenvatives due only to genuine  zeal.
 1 «Thr  clorrv, on account  of lheir sacred functions, and the no 
11
bility, whom their high rank made more desirous to shun the dis-
honor or scandal of vice, claimed to be interred within the temple.
Founders  of churches became invested with the same right, and
transient benefactors required the same reward for their donations.
The descendants of both claimed as a patrimony that which had
only been granted to individual  merit.  When  the privilege was
thus general, a refusal was  an exception that threw an odium on
the unsuccessful applicant.   When the admission of any one was
a favor, none  could be excluded who had any  pretence to offer.
In the early ages, burial in churches had been expressly forbidden,
or even inhumation within cities.   But,  by the gradual increase
of a fatal  condescension, the  evil has arrived  at  a height that
demands  attention.   Cemeteries, instead  of  being  beyond our
walls, are among our habitations, and spread a fetid odor even  in
the neighboring  houses.  The very churches have become ceme-
teries.  The  burial of Christians in  an open place,  set apart for
the purpose, is considered a disgrace;  and neither the interruption
of the holy offices, occasioned by the repeated interments, nor the
smell of the earth, imbued  with putrescence, and so often moved ;
nor the indecent state of the pavement of our churches, which is
not even as solid as the public street;  nor our repugnance to con-
sign to the house of the Lord the impure bodies of men worn out
with vice and  crimes, can check the vanity of the great,whose empty
titles and  escutcheons must be hung on our pillars, for the sake of
their empty distinctions, or of the commonalty, who must ape the
great.  Death, at least, should level all men; but its lessons are
lost, and the dearest of interests, self-preservation, must yield to the
reigning foible.
   " The  progress of this evil, dearly beloved brethren, may be de-
termined  by the efforts of the Church to overcome it.  Sometimes
her Drohibitions have been express; at other times they have been
intended  to restrict  the favor to a few of the faithful.  When she
has permitted interment  in the purlieus or porticoes  of temples, it
was to prevent it in the church itself; when she has admitted all ec-
 clesiastics, it is  because they were  presupposed to be all of holy
 lives • when founders were favored, and  even  benefactors, it was
 to exclude, by such an exception, all  others.   She permits excep-
 tions without a view to  their becoming  hereditary,  and tolerates
 unfounded rights to endow her ministers with greater power for the
 adoption  of measures  for the prevention of the evil  effects of her
 former condescension.                         ,
   " The  Gallican Church has shown much zeal in endeavoring to
 recall the ancient discipline on this point.   Interment in churches 
12
is prohibited by almost every council held  in this  kingdom ; al-
most all our rituals and synodal  statutes forbid it; and  latterly,
many bishops, and particularly those of this province, have clone
iheir best to correct this abuse.
  " But, without derogating from  the respect dtie to their wisdom
and their labors, may we not  say  that  this temporizing  plan  has
rendered their whole work  useless?
  " If inhumations around churches is to be allowed, can cities be
perfectly salubrious? If priests  and  laymen, distinguished  for piety,
are to be buried within, who shall  judge of this piety, or who pre-
sume to refuse their testimony?  If the quality of founder or bene-
factor is a title, what rate shall fix the  privilege ?   If the right is
hereditary, must not time multiply the evil to excess, and will  not
our churches at length be crowded as now beyond endurance?   If
distinctions in  ranks are to exist after death, can vanity know any
limitation or judge?  If these distinctions are to be procured for
money, will not vanity lavish  riches to procure them ? and would
it be proper for the church  to prostitute to wealth,  an honor due
only to such as have been rendered worthy by the  grace of God?
  " We are disposed, dearly beloved brethren, to show all possible
moderation in this necessary reformation;  though charged to be
strict in the fulfilment of our pastoral duties, we are  allowed a  dis-
cretionary power, and can  consult your habits, your opinions,  and
even your prejudices, and  all that  may conciliate your interests
with the glory of God ; but woe to us, if blinded by weakness, we
lose sight of the experience of pa«t ages,  and suffer things still to
continue, that have till now served, and can only serve, to perpetu-
ate the disorder.
  "The only real means  of reform, is to re establish the ancient
rules and observances, as did Pope Urban IV., when he  wished to
abolish the indecent custom, which  had insensibly crept into the
church of St. Peter, at Rome, of burying together  the pious  and
the profane, the saint with the sinner, the just with the unjust;
and to unite to the detriment of Christians,  and the destruction of
the respect due to the Church, what God would eternally separate.
And St. Charles Borromceus  ordered that the neglected custom of
interring in cemeteries should be resumed entirely.   The same was
done  in the last century by the Bishop of Seulis,  and  some  few
having appealed from-the ordinance, it was  confirmed by the par-
liament of  Paris.   The civil law could not but agree on this point
with our religious canons, because the preservation  of the lives of
the members of a  community, is a duty of the first magnitude ; 
:a
and it suffices to enter our churches, to be convinced of the baneful
effects of thefelid exhalations in them.
  " Some of our dearly beloved bietlnen  may blame the rigor of
our oidinance;  but can ihey  n.ake ;my reasonable complaint?
Churches were  not intended for sepulchral monuments ; and so
little was such a use of them ever expected, that, according lo the
remark of a celebrated canonist, there is no prayer in the liturgy
relating to such a ceremony, while  there are some expressly intend-
ed for the benediction of burying grounds.  And  do you think
that titles, whose abuses would continually cry out against them,,
are to prevail  over  the dignity of  our temples and the sanctity of
our altars?
   " Would you insist for this privilege on account of the standing,
the offices, the rank, you hold in society ?  We have every reason lo
believe, that those who have  the  greatest right to the distinction
will  be the least eager to obtain  it.   Exceptions are odious, and
multiply  pretences and objections.   Who will  date to complain
when the law is general;  and what law can more justly be general
 than one that relates to the grave?
   " Would you say that we are depriving a holy life of its rewards
 and  prerogatives?   If the voice of  the pulic testified to the sanc-
 tity of  your career, how  joyfully would we leceive your bodies
 into  our  temples, as those of the martyrs were welcomed by the
 primitive Church !  But piety, while meriting  and  obtaining the
 honors reserved for the saints, is  far  from  assuming them as her
 1 ight:  and while  she feels that  peculiar benedictions  have  been
 passed  upon public burying grounds, she acknowledges that the
 most magnificent obsequies are of no use to the sinner.
   "  Would you reproach us with  depiiving you of a right, bought
 by the donations of your ancestors ?   But do you think that those
 virtuous men, from whom you are proud to derive your descent,
 wished to leave to their posterity a right to disturb our holy myste-
 ries, and to spread pestilence among  their fellow-citizens?   Then
 take back their gifts,  if these are to  be construed into titles in fee
 simple.  Our rules for the future  must not be violated; and the
 Church will satisfy your avarice rather than your pride.
    " We will not suspect our worthy coadjutors, in the clerical  func-
 tion, of regretting the privilege so long granted to their holy habits.
 We  are obliged daily  to sacrifice  ourselves for  the  happiness and
 weal of ourDpe°l),e> and will therefore think the less of a renunci-
 ation of a gratification that might be harmful to them.  Our most
 precious advantage  is the power we enjoy of being examples to
 them,  in all that is useful and religious; and great  indeed will be 
14
our pleasure, if our example engages others lo allow, without mur-
mur or complaint, the re establishment of a law equally necessary
for the good of society and religion.
   " Ye  whom the bonds of the cloister have united under the yoke
of the Lord, will you object  to the retrenchment of your funds,
that this oidinance must produce?   No ;  for you wish not to sup-
port existence at the expense  of the lives of others.   We will do
all for you that just toleration will allow;  but you yourselves would
blame us if, rather than  deprive you  of  a source of revenue, we
were to authorize your chapels to continue, or to become, centres of
infection and of death. Render your temples worthy of the presence
of the Deity; gain the attendance of the  faithful by assiduous and
fervent prayer; inspire confidence by the decorum of your conduct,
and the  purity of your manners, and you will find the gratitude of
the pious lavish alms upon you, to supply the loss you have cheer-
fully undergone for the.public weal.
  "And you, right worthy  magistrates, who are charged with the
care of the laws, be assured, that  it is with  no view lo pass the
bounds of our powers, that we revise our canons.   We know that
interment is a civil affair.  We would direct nothing relating to it,
without your agreement and participation.  Then let the perfect
accordance of our measures, blend our united decrees into one au-
thority;  and while we speak in ihe name of God,  whose ministers
we are,  secure obedience to our mandates in the name of the
King; for this affair touches not only the credit of the Church,
but the interests of the people.   We have investigated and exam-
ined the request of our venerable  Chapter; the petitions from di«
vers parts of our diocese; the proces  verbaux of the inspection of
many parishes, from which  it appears that the abuse of church in-
terment  was carried to  its height;  and, finally, the reports and
opinions of physicians on the pernicious consequences of this cus-
tom ;  and therefore we, as far as in our power lies, and in full con-
fidence that the civil authorities will sanction our ordinances, have
ordained and enacted, and do ordain and enact,"  &c. 
15
  We  proceed now to give some few of the f.icts on which the above
opinions of learned men were founded.  In doing this, we will first
slate facts showing the immediate operation of the poisonous  effluvia
on individuals.
  An American merchant ship was lying at anchor in Wampoa Roads,
16 miles from Canton.   One of her crew died of dysentery.   He was
taken on shore to be buried.  No disease of any kind  had occurred in
the ship, from her departure from America, till her arrival in the river
Tigris.  Four men accompanied the corpse, and two of them began
to dig a grave; unfortunately, they began in a spot where a human body
had been buried, about two or three months previously.   The instant
the spade went through the lid of the coffin, a most dreadful effluvia
issued  forth, and the  two  men fell down nearly lifeless. It was with the
greatest difficulty their companions could approach near enough to drag
them from the spot, and  fill up the  place with earth.  The two men
then recovered a little, and with assistance reached the boat, and re-
turned on board.  On the succeeding morning they presented  the fol-
lowing symptoms:  very acute head-ache, with a sense of giddiness and
dimness of sight, (which had  existed more or less from the opening of
the grave); eyes of a peculiar muddy appearance; oppression about the
praecordia; dull, heavy pain in the  regions of the heart and liver, with
slight palpitation at times, and fluttering pulse; sense of extreme debility,
with occasional  convulsive or spasmodic twitchings of the muscles of
the lower extremities ;  nausea ; slight diarrhea ; rigors, succeeded by
flushing of the face, neck, and upper extremities; tongue white arid
much  loaded; pulse from 110 to 120, weak  and inegular;  urine
scanty and high calored, and skin sometims  dry, sometimes  covered
with a clammy sweat.   On the fourth day from the Commencement of
the attack, numerous petechia; appeared over the breast and arms, and
in one of the patients a large bubo formed in the  right groin, and an-
other in the axilla of the same side, which speedily ran to1 suppuration.
To one, the disease proved fatal on the evening of the fourth  day ; to
the other, on the morning of the fifth.
   One of the men, not immediately engaged in digging the grave, was
attacked on the eighth day from his being on shore.  The symptoms re-
sembled  those in  the preceding cases.  For  three days previously to
the avowed attack of illness, there had been pain, and enlargement of
one of the inguinal  glands, which, at  the  period he was visited, had
acquired the size of a hen's egg ; and early in the disease, the  breast
and arms were covered with petechias.   By active  treatment this per-
son recovered, as  likewise did the fourth man, who had  slight indispo-
sition, of no  decided character."—American Journal of Health.
   " In the  month of July, 17—, a very corpulent  lady died at  ----.
Before her death she begged, as a particular favor, to be buried  in the
parochial church.   She had died on Wednesday, and on the following 
16
 Saturday  was buried, according to her desire.  The weather, at the
 time, was very hot, and a great drought bad prevailed.  The succeed*
 ing  Sunday, a week after  the  lady had  been buried, the Protestant
 clergyman had a very full congregation, upwards of nine hundred per-
 sons attending, that being the day for administering the Holy sacra-
 ment.   It is the custom in Germany, that when people wish to receive
 the Sacrament, they neither eat  nor drink until the  ceremony  is over.
 The clergyman consecrates  the bread and wine, which is uncovered
 during  the  ceremony.  There were  about one hundred and eighty
 communicants.  A quarter ot an houraftrr the ceremony, before they
 had  quitted  the church,  more  than sixty of the communicants were
 taken ill : several died in the  most violent agonies; others, of a more
 robust constitution, survived by the help of medical assistance ; a most
 violent  consternation  prevailed  among the  whole  congregation, and
 throughout the town ; and it was concluded  that  the wine  had  been
 poisoned.   The sacristan, and several others belonging to the vestry,
 were put in  irons.  The persons  arrested  underwent very great hard-
 ships ; during the space of  a week they were confined in a dungeon,
 and some  of them were put to the torture; but they persisted  in their
 innocence.
   '• On  the Sunday following, the magistrate  ordered that a chalice of
 wine, uncovered, should be  placed, for  the space of an hour, upon the
 altar; the hour  had scarce  elapsed, when they beheld the wine filled
 with myriads of insects.  By tracing whence they came, it was per-
 ceived,  by the rays of the sun, that they issued from the grave of the
 lady who had been buried  the preceding fortnight.   The people, not
 belonging to the vestry, were dismissed, and four men were employed
 to open  the vault and the coffin; in doing this, two of them dropped
 down and  expired on the spot; the  other two were only  saved by the
 utmost  exertions of medical talent. It is beyond the power of words
 to describe the horrid  appearance of the corpse, when the body was
 opened.  The whole was an entire mass  of putrefaction ; and it was
 clearly perceived that the numerous insects,  together  with the  effluvia
 which had issued from the body, had caused the pestilential infection,
 which was, a week before, attributed to poison-"—N.  Y. Gazette of
 Health.
   " On  the 17th of August, 1744,  at 6 o'clock in  the evening, Wm.
 Baudon, a layman, was buried  in  one  of the common graves of the
 parish church of Notre Dame, at Montpelier : Peter Balsalgette, a street
 porter, was employed as grave-digger ;  he had scarcely descended in-
 to the grave when he was seen to be convulsed, and  he soon fell down
 motionless ;  Joseph Sorroa endeavored to draw out the unhappy man ;
he descended, holding by a rope ;  he had scarcely seized the dress of
the ftreet porter, when he became insensible ; he was drawn up, half
dead ; in a short time he recovered his senses, but he experienced a 
17
kind of vertigo and numbness, the fore-runner of convulsions and faint-
inns, which displayed themselves a quarter of an hour afterwards.  Du-
ring the  night he felt weak, his whole  body trembled,  and be experi-
enced  palpitations, which were removed by bleeding and cordials.  He
was for a long time pale and emaciated, and throughout the city bore
the name of the " Resuscitated."
   This sad event did not prevent John  Molinier from exposing himself,
with a similar Zeal, to save the street porter.   But scarcely had he en-
tered the grave, than, feeling himself  suffocating, he gave signs to be
drawn up, and supported.   He came up &o weak  and  so faint, that a
moment's delay would have been fatal.  Robert Molinier, brother of
the last,  stronger and more robust, thought he might brave the danger,
and gratify the kind feelings by which he was influenced; but he fell
a victim to his temerity *  and died as soon as he had reached the bottom
of the  grave.
   " This tragical scene was terminated by the death of Charles Balsal-
gette, brother of the street porter* who remained in the  grave.   As he
was obliged to arrange the  body of  Robert  Molinier, he  staid longer
than he ought, and was forced to get out.  He thought he could safely
descend  a  second time, by placing between his teeth a handkerchief,
dipped in Hungary water.   This precaution was useless;  he staggered
to the ladder,  and made every effort  to ascend, but at the third step he
fell back lifeless."—Br. Huguenot.
   We will now proceed to state a few instances, to show that the exhal-
ations from the human body, when putrefying, may give rise to epide-
mic diseases.   In doing this, we shall select from  a vast number of in-
stances at hand, which have occurred at various intervals, from the time
this subject was first investigated, in France, up  to the present time.
We have been guided in this selection, by the brevity of the  accounts
given.
   " We learn from Haller, that a church was infected by the exhala-
tions  of  a single body,  twelve years after burial, and  that  this
corpse  occasioned a very dangerous disease in a whole convent."
  " Raulin relates, that the opening of a corpse occasioned a dreadful
epidemic in the  plain of Armagnac.  Sensitive and nervous persons
frequently became ill, and fainted, after having been attacked with ca-
daverous exhalations, when walking along a cemetery."
  " Dr  Maret points  out the evils which may be  produced by animal
exhalations.  A mild catarrhal fever, he says, prevailed  at Saulieux,
in  Burgundy.   The body of a  very fat man  was buried m the parish
church of  St.  Laturin;  twenty-three  days afterwards, a grave was
opened by the side of the former, to bury a woman there, who had died
of the same disease.   A very fetid odor immediately filled the church,
and affected all tho?e  who entered.   In letting down  the body, a rope
slipped by which the coffin was shaken, a discharge of sanies followed, 
18
the odor of which greatly annoyed the assistants.   Of one hundred
and seventy persons who entered the church, from the opening of the
grave until the  interment, one hundred and forty-nine were attacked
with a malignant putrid fever, which bad  some  resemblance to the
reigning catarrhal fever; but the nature and intensity of the symptoms
left no doubt that the malignity was owing lo the infection of the cathe-
dral. '
  "In  1744, one third of the inhabitants of Lectouse perished from the
ravages of a malignant fever,  which manifested  itself soon  after an
improvement in the town,  requiring the removal of a burying ground."
  "At  Riom, in Auvergne,  the earth was removed from an ancient
cemetery, with the view of embellishing the city.   In a short time af-
ter, an epidemic disease arose, which carried off many persons, parti-
cularly of the poorer class, and the  mortality was especially prevalent
in the neighborhood of the cemetery.  Six years before, a similar event
had caused  an  epidemic in Ambert, a small town in the same pro-
vince.
  "Such a train of facts," says Mr. Walker, (from whose work, already
referred to, most of the preceding facts  have been  taken,)" "leaves no
doubt of the infection produced by the exhalations of dead bodies."
  "But why seek elsewhere," continues tha same writer, "for exam-
ples of that which passes daily under  our  own  review?  If we were
disposed to collect here all the observations of those who have preceded
us, we should have  innumerable proofs  of what  we advance.   Owing
to the small number of the learned, or of those capable of transmitting
to posterity the fatal effects of interments  in churches and cities, or,
rather, on account of the respect with which the  custom of burying in
temples has always been regarded among us, epidemic diseases, which
have from time to time depopulated our cities, have often been attrib-
uted to other causes.  The smallest district preserves  the recollection
of similar events; and  if, in several countries, it is in contemplation to
re-establish the ancient common cemeteries beyond towns, the strong-
est and most influential motives have given origin to the undertaking."
    Putrid and malignant  fevers, and periodical diseases, often prevail
in densely populated cities, when the remote cause of them cannot be
ascertained.   Is it not  possible that this cause, of which we are igno-
rant, and wh.ch is demonstrated  only by its fatal effects,  is no other
than the interment in cities?"
  "We have said enough to prove the indispensable necessity of plac-
ing cemeteries beyond cities, to justify the wise dispositions of the ad-
ministration in this  respect, and entirely to destroy those prejudices
which have no other support than public  credulity-prejudices directly
ZnHnn £ th%"tere8te of ««*> who circulated them, and who would
and forplfT     2 Were™re enlightened, and if they could calculate
and foresee everything wh.ch could be prejudiced to the health of their 
19
fellow-citizens.  How can we, indeed, put into competition the power
ful suffrage of the univeral custom of all times, and of the most polish-
ed nations, with the  transient complaints of a few, always prejudiced
in favor of the customs of the day, utterly incapable to know their own
interests, influenced by the uncertainties of opinion, and ever undecided
in the choice of what is useful?"
  "The examples just  given by several princes of Europe, justify the
hope that the custom of placing cemeteries at a distance from cities,
will  be re-established.  Before subjecting  ourselves to the charge of
innovation, we have thought proper to look  into the records of antiqui-
ty, and to ascertain if the custom we wish to  destroy has not been re-
cently introduced, and if it  is not  the effect of a relaxation of discip-
line."
  But, notwithstanding all that  has been said and done in relation to
this important subject,  there are some who will exclaim—"All this is
foolishness; we have lived all our lives in towns, where there have al-
ways been cemeteries, and  have never experienced any ill effects."
And some will say, they have lived adjoining to, or in the very midst of
"grave yards," without having their health affected; and yet these very
persons will,  at the  same  time, furnish, in  their appearance, unmis-
takeable evidences of diseased viscera  and  deranged health.
   On  the rivers in Maryland and Virginia, emptying into the Chesa-
peake, men  may be  found, whose  principal  occupation  is to wade
through the marshes, for the purpose of spearing  muskrats, and shoot-
ing ducks.  Their health is seriously  affected, as may be supposed.
Their limbs  are small and  wasted; their skin approaching in color to
saffron;  their countenances  pale, sallow, and  wan, and  their abdomens
preternaturally  enlarged with  diseased spleen, liver, stomach, and
intestines.  If you meet one of these men, and inquire about his health,
he will probably tell you he is very well; that he believes he enjoys as
good health as most people.  If you  tell him  he is mistaken; that he is
suffering from  the  influence of the malaria,  and deleterious vapors
arising from the marsh, he would consider you a fool.   He is not con-
scious of any  malaria or vapors of any kind, and it would be worse than
idle  to endeavor to convince such a man of his real condition.
   The commissioners of the Sanitory Commission of the British Par-
liament, state, in their report, that in the performance of their duties,
they entered some houses in London, where  their nostrils vyere assail-
ed with the most villianous  compound of smells, arising, in some in-
stances, from  large cess-ponls uncleaned, immediately under the houses;
in other instances, from decomposing human bodies—the rooms being
over vaults—the exhalations from which passed up in volumes through
the seams of  the  floor; and in other  instances, again, in rooms with
windows opening  out  upon cemeteries, whence  the same exhalations
were brought by the winds.
• 
20
   When the commissioners, almost overcome  by the fetor, expressed
their disgust, the persons inhabiting these places  were surprised; they
thought the air remarkably pure  and salubrious ;  they could perceive
nothing wrong about it.   When  a<ked as to the state of their health,
they declared it was very good, notwithstanding it was but too evident
to the commissioners, from  their pale  countenances and  emaciated
forms, that they were then actually suffering from the influence of the
poison contained in these exhalations.
   Let those who apprehend no danger from the presence  of cemeteries
in towns, clearly understand that it has been  proved, beyond the possi-
bility  of a doubt, that the cause of many diseases, and more especially
of epidemic diseases, is contained in the exhalations arising from putre-
fying animal  substances—that the " grave  yard" is the most fruitful
source of such exhalations—that the cause of disease, to become active,
requires a certain combination of circumstances, of the exact nature of
all of which we are ignorant—ihat some of these circumstances are,
that the nerves or nervous system of persons exposed to it, must be in a
peculiar condition—that for a more extensive operation of such cause,
giving rise  to epidemics, a peculiar condition of the  atmosphere is ne-
cessary, and that we are totally ignorant of the precise nature of these
conditions,  whether of the person or of the atmosphere.
   If all this has been proved, then it is evident that our only safety con-
sists in removing  this cause of  disease to a distance fiom us, and in
placing it  under circumstances that may control or prevent its ope-
ration.
   It is the opinion  of medical  men, confirmed  by the suggestions of
common sense, that cemeteries should be placed on high ground, where
there are few or no trees,  that the exhalations,  always   arising from
them, may  be speedily diluted, and thus rendered comparatively innoc-
uous.
  .Trees, and other vegetable growths, absorb carbonic acid gas,but they
do not absorb the subtle  poison which has been shown to be the cause
of disease,  and which is contained in these exhalations.  This is prov-
ed by the fact that  the offensive odor from a dead animal is more per-
ceptible, and spreads itself more  readily, in the woods,  than in open
grounds.
   In 1819, Congress passed  a  law incorporating a company  for the
establishment  of "Oak-Hill  Cemetery."  This  cemetery consists of
about  15 acres of land, lying nearly in the form of a square, and densely
wooded with forest trees.  The grounds adjoining  it, on the east and
on the west, are also thickly covered in wood,   it is bounded on the
north  by Rock Creek, and on the south by one of tho streets of George-
town.
   The eastern boundary  line runs at the  bottom  of a deep valley,
throughout  its whole length, from  south to  north   From  about the
• 
21
middle of this vallej another deep valley or ravine  runs up, through
the middle of the  cemetery, to its western line.  From both of these
valleys the rays of the sun are almost entirely excluded, by  the fotiage
of the heavy growth of timber vrith which they are covered.
   Near the bottom of the ravine running through the middle of the
cemetery, and not  far from  its intersection with the eastern valley, a
large receiving vault is constructed, in which are now entombed some
twenty or more bodies.   The  side of the hill north of the  ravine and
above the receiving vault, is  being prepared for graves :  other parts of
the valley are intended for private vaults.
   The principal road enters at the south, from the street, and winding
down towards the  western extremity of the  middle vallley,  runs along
its bottom to its intersection  with the eastern valley, then with that val-
ley to Rock Creek, and up and by the side of the creek, to the north-
west corner of the cemetery, where the road terminates.
   If the topography we have attempted to give be understood, it will be
at once apparent that the putrid exhalations from the receiving vault—
from the graves on the side  of the hill, (for it is impossible to confine
this subtle fluid even in the deepest grave), and  from the other vaults,
when constructed,  must gravitate into the  valleys along  the whole
course of the principal road, and accumulate there.  The  process of
accumulation, favored by the heavy and damp atmosphere  of the val-
leys, must go on, until the effluvia reaches so high a state of concentra-
tion, that its deleterious influence might be extended far and near.
   Road street, along  the  Heights of Georgetown, on which the
cemetery binds, is a favorite resort with the people of the district,
when taking their evening rec.eations, whether walking or riding.
Many would in  this way be  brought,  unconsciously,  under this
dangerous influence. Many would resort to the cemetery as mourn-
ers, and many from mere idle curiosity, all of whom would be thus
exposed to imminent danger.   But what effect would this deadly
atmosphere produce on the funeral trains, slowly  inarching along,
wholly enveloped in it, and respiring it, it  might be, for  hours?
   The result of  the operation of the causes  we have referred  to,
eveu  under the most favorable circumstances, are sufficiently alarm-
ing;  but the effect will be awful when  these causes  have their
efficacy increased ten, twenty,  it might bean hundred fold, by the
prevalence of a fatal epidemic.
   This is not all!  A high wind at such  a time might sweep this
huge mass of poisonous vapor  over upon  the town, and it would
settle clown upon  the inhabitants like a pall, bringing sickness and
death into every  family.   But what  do we say!   What has  been
spoken of as anticipation, has it not already been realized?
 " About the  first of July, last, a very offeiicive odor issued from
• 
22
the large receiving vault above referred lo, and was diffused over
the whole cemetery.  Some persons said it was perceptible to them
while walking along the adjoining street.   Soon after this .    ni-
demic disease, attended with symptoms of diarrhea and dysenu
appeared in the town, and was observed to be very prevalent in the
neighborhood  of the cemetery, and along Green and Washington
streets, which lead from the cemetery down into the town.  Almost
every family being affected, and  in some families every member
suffering more or less.
   It would be easy to trace the cause of this epidemic, but we are
unwilling to renew the sufferings of wounded  affections by  enter-
ing into details.
   People of Georgetown,  this whole subject  has now  been laid
fairly before you   The experience of all nations and of all ages
has been brought to your consideration, and it  remains for you to
decide whether you will still quietly fold your arms and look on.
Will you let  the experiment be tried  again?—let your  powers of
endurance be still further tested—let death go on and do its work?
If such is your determination, recollect that many a one of you
may have a friend, a brother, or a sister, a darling child, or a be-
loved wife snatched from you, as the just punishment of your
criminal apathy.
   Or will you decide,  inhabitants of Georgetown, to rouse  your-
selves up?  to  exercise  your  reason, and determine to adopt such
measures as may be neecessary to avert the impending evil  Let
us remonstrate with those who,—prompted as they undoubtedly are
by motives of philanthropy, and, from a want of information on
this subject, impressed  with a firm  belief that they ore conferring
a  benefit,—are, in reality, inflicting upon us a most blighting curse.
If this remonstrance is disregarded, let us lay  our complaints be-
fore the Grand Jury, that  they, who are the legally-appointed
guardians of  the health of the District, may present this cemetery
as a nuisance. If the Jury refuse to perform a duty that is im-
perative upon them, then let  us memorialize Co.igress lo  repeal
the act of incorporation, which was passed entirely from complai-
sance, without thought, and without a  moment's reflection upon
the  baneful  consequences which, it  might have  been foreseen
would inevitably ensue. 
APPENDIX.
  We append the following extract from a letter written  by a literary gentleman
who has devoted a long life to the promotion and diffusion of useful  knowledge
We beg leave to call the attention of the reader especially to the fact that the loca-
tion of Oak Hill CtmeUry, situated immediately north of Georgetotvn, is calculated, in
tin imminent degree, lo give rise lo the "fatal effects" anticipated from it :
  " From frequent notices in the public prints, I find that the disposal of the dead
human body haa become a subject  of intense inteiest in Europe, but  particular y
in the large cities, such as London, Paris, Rome, Vienna, &c.  The subject is one
where the natural sensibilities of the living survivors oppose insuperable obstacles
to a rational investigation, or adoption of any definite change, calculated to remove
or  lessen the obvious evils attending the manner and misplacements of local inter-
ment.  Yet few, when the subject is placed before them, with the undeniable in-
jurious consequences to the living of present practice, who will not grant the neces-
sity of change.  To lead to any beneficial result, we must set aside all those sen-
sibilities, which, though amiable in themselves, prevent us from discussing death,
as  we would do any other subject we are  forced to meet, and provide for its con-
tingencies.
   "The dead human differs, as to the consequences on the living, of the cessation
of life, in no essential principle from other dead and decomposing animal matter ;
whilst the  human, of all living beings, is the most susceptible to the deleterious
action of foul air.  The natural law of self-preservation ought, therefore, to induce
society to protect itself, in  the case before  us. as in any other of certain danger, by
such a disposal of the dead as to prevent, as far as possible,  injury from it to the
living.
   " For my own part, I have regarded embalming, placing in vaults, and crowded
cemeteries, especially in  cities, as  barbarisms.   When  dead, we are, in fact, as
compleietely and forever, as far as earthly intercourse is concerned, separated from
the living world, as we were ages before our  birth.  To provide against the ill ef-
fects of miasma, the most active decomposition by fire, or other very active agent,
or deep and isolated deposition in the earth, ought to be the means employed.
   " If provisions were made  by judicious enactments, many very serious incon-
veniences would  be obviated, by making interments under  legal forms.  In  {he
United States generally, and in the cities especially, the distress in families attending
death, is enormously increased by the expense of funerals.  These funerals, again,
made in such manner as to enhance such  expense, and aggravate bereavement.
Were legal restrictions and forms established, and enforced, the injurious power
of custom  would be broken, and the welfare and health of the living be conserved,
whilst all requisite respect would be paid  to the departed.  In fact, funerals ought
to be conducted as if the departed had set out on a journey, from which they were
never to return ; and that a bourne stood between the traveller and those left be-
hind, which was never to be repassed.
   <<«#***  gut jhere js another view of the  subject of cemeteries, which  I
have not either heard or read, as made object of inquiry, and yet,  in my opinion,
is the most important; that is, locality, as regards prevailing winds.  With this
sheet you will  receive printed tables of the winds of  Washington city and adja-
cent country.
   " In advance, I lay it down as  susceptible  of direct  and conclusive proof, that
the western and north-western parts of all cities in the temperate zone  of the earth,
are more healthy than the opposite, unless the abiding laws  of nature are coun- 
24
rot-acted by unmf local cause.   This observation  is founded on extended  experi-
ence.   An.I let m-j add, that when atmospheric motion is consulted, the cause be-
comes  not simply obvious, but demonstrated.   In brief, we may at once decide, it
is an imperative duty to consult and obey this great atmospheric law, in locating
burial ground*, and  also in the mode and manner of interments   And not only to
abandon, lint to prevent, by legal  enactments,  all modes  of  interment by which
the eemeieriesof iiu: dead are made fountains of infection, sending the foul streams
on the  living."
Prevalent winds at  Washington  City, constructed from data afforded by the monthly
         tables of the Rev. Mr. Little, and reduced to proportions of 1000.
Months.	w. w.	w.	s. w.	s.	S. E.	E.	NT. E.	N.	W. w'ds	W. winds with the N. w'ds added
January February March - • April - -May June - - -July---- August -September October -. November December	410 151 300 270 188 147 247 221 125 338 305 369	100 142 104 115 70 40 00 17 22 40 140 67	190 166 117 190 260 393 283 327 220 300 235 154	30 181 120 130 50 70 108 26 129 55 115 127	47 35 87 40 2j 75 85 180 140 130 123 102	10 20 30 10 30 00 20 10 31 7 0 0	149 181 138 165 177 164 159 221 241 126 150 14a	65 137 90 75 30 40 50 53 71 87 25 53	700 459 521 575 518 580 530 565 365 678 680 590	765 596 611 650 548 620 580 618 536 765 515 643
Amount.	3071	857	2835| 1141		l()69| 168		2011	776		
THE END. 
iJiL.