G. Robinet

“ The air may be contaminated by the disengagement of poisonous gases, or by the propagation of miasms.
The decomposition of bodies in the earth is a real organic combination; its products are quite well known. The principal and most abundant of them is carbonic acid, a substance that is generated by the slow combustion of the carbon contained in all organic matter, vegetable or animal, whether it be a blade of grass, a leaf, wood, manure, or a dead body. ”

“ A more important fact is that the very exact micrographic researches undertaken by M. Miquel in the cemeteries of Paris have certainly shown that there do not exist in them any centers specially productive of germs of cryptogams. This learned physician has ascertained, contrary to the opinion of many authors, that the vapor of water which arises from the soil, from rivers, and from masses in active putrefaction, is always micrographically pure—that is, it contains no microbes; that the gases proceeding from buried matters in decomposition are always free from bacteria ”

“ The absence of any facts relative to other gases than carbonic acid that might be disengaged in the course of cadaverous decomposition ought to have made those who are so sure of the dangerous character of cemeteries more circumspect; notwithstanding there are no such facts, these persons, besides magnifying the dangerous consequences of the liberation of carbonic acid, speak also of the no less fearful dangers which result from the generation of "certain gases and of certain volatile products." ”

“ We have no disposition to ignore the existence of four or five species of microbes, the destructive effects of which appear to be well established, such as the anthrax-bacteria, the septic vibrion, Obermeyer's spirill, the micrococcus of the hen-cholera, and some other less well-known bacteria. ”

“ With a large part of the public, however, hygienic considerations far outweigh all the moral and social advantages to be derived from the maintenance of cemeteries; and, in justice to the views of this class, it is proper to inquire to what extent the existence of cemeteries, in or near a city like Paris, can be dangerous to the public health. ”

“ The cemetery ought, therefore, in every city to be preserved and improved, as something indispensable to the intellectual and moral improvement of the people. It constitutes an interest of the first order, the care of which justifies all necessary efforts and expenditures. ”

“ Now, people have continued to bury, and the ultimate products of decomposition have become more and more soluble; and, if the excess of nitrates that has been observed was due to the cemeteries, it would of necessity have increased. ”

“ It not only furnishes a more or less hygienic method of disposing of the bodies of those who are no more—it is also a fundamental institution, in the sense that it is a symbol in no way trary of human continuity. ”

“ With respect to the inferior organisms which some persons believe may be conveyed away by water that has traversed the soil of cemeteries, we may say that M. Pasteur has shown that the waters of springs issuing from the ground even at a slight depth, are so destitute of germs that they can not fertilize the liquids which are most susceptible of change. ”

“ The truth is, that most of the accidents which happen in burial-places must be attributed only to confined carbonic acid. These accidents are, moreover, much less numerous than is supposed. Different authors do not report more than twelve or fifteen cases, and the theory that cemeteries are centers of infection has been built upon this small basis. Such accidents have been attributed to "pestilential emanations, to certain subtile and deleterious gases, to unhealthy miasms," etc. ”

“ But, without denying that the air may convey infectious germs, and that these may penetrate into the human organism through various channels of absorption, facts which have become almost classical, we still have to examine whether cemeteries, more than other places, give rise to these miasms, these legions of microbes, whose presence in considerable numbers in certain places, notably in hospital-wards, is incontestable. ”

“ Only two gases have been found to be present to an appreciable extent in the confined air of mortuary vaults, or in the atmosphere immediately surrounding a body in decomposition—as, for instance, within the inclosure of a leaden coffin. ”

“ Tanners and curriers are neither more frequently nor more seriously ill than other men, aside from the occasional carbuncular affections they may acquire by real and direct inoculation, although they are often obliged, especially in summer, to work upon hides that are green with putrefaction. The same may be said for scavengers. The gases which, confined in pits, cause asphyxia, bring no diseases upon the men when a sufficient quantity of atmospheric air is present with them. ”

“ Generally, the time necessary for a complete destruction of the body is estimated in France at five years, but this limitation is not at all absolute, and in many cases burial-grounds may be used anew before that time. ”

“ It has been proved that they are not always poisonous; and they exist only in inconsiderable quantities. So far as is known, the ptomaïnes may be simply resultants of the transformation of other principles during extraction, for "they sometimes exhale a perfume like that of certain flowers, as the orange or wildrose, and of certain aromas"—odors which it is well known are not found among those of cadaverous putrefaction. ”