CEMETERY, from the Greek, may mean any grave-yard, or other place of deposit for the dead; but it has lately acquired a special meaning, applicable to those extensive ornamental burial-grounds which have recently come into use in this and other European countries, as the practice of burying within and around churches was gradually aban doned (see BURIAL). The fine burial-grounds of the Turks, extending over large tracts adorned by cedars and other trees, may have suggested the plan to Europeans. It was first exemplified on a great scale in Paris, in which, as the largest walled town in Europe, the disposal of the dead was long a matter of extreme anxiety and difficulty. There are few considerable towns in Britain near which there is not at least one C., and the legislation mentioned under the head of BURIAL has rendered their establishment, to a certain extent, a legal necessity. There was at first a natural feeling of regret at the prospect of deserting places of deposit for the dead so hallowed by ancient use and recent associations as the church and the churchyard. In many instances, however, the places thus professedly hallowed were in reality surrounded by degrading and disgusting circumstances. On 'the other hand, the new places of interment began to develop
humanizing and elevating influences, in beautiful trees and flowers, natural scenery, and works of monumental art. The new cemeteries are in many instances cheerful open places of recreation, and in them the place of rest for the dead has rather tended to improve than to undermine the health of the living. One of the oldest established and most celebrated of the European cemeteries, is that of Nre In Chaise (q.v.), near Paris, the arrangements of which have been generally followed in the cemeteries of London and other English cities; with, however, this distinct difference, that the English ceme teries are divided into two portions—one consecrated for the burials of members of the established church, over whose remains the funeral service is read, and one unconse crated for the burials of dissenters. In the Scottish such distinctions are not required, though the Episcopal church has sonic consecrated burying-places. In the United States, as at Philadelphia and New York, there are cemeteries equal in point of arrange ment to any in Europe.