In English cities- about 1840, the people began to discuss the dangers to public health arising from the condition of the graveyards surround ing and the vaults within and underneath the great churches. In London these receptacles were literally crammed with coffins, and the sur rounding air was infected to a dangerous degree. Collins were piled upon each other until they came within a few inches of the surface of the ground, and then the ground was raised from time to time until its level came nearly Op 10 the lower windows of the church. To make room for new burials old hones were thrown out, aml this led to systematic robbing of graves for the sake of the coffin-plates aml the ornaments sometimes buried with the bodies. The result of this action and discussion was au entire change in the system. Burials within the limits of the cities and villages were prohibited, and as a necessity rural cemeteries were founded. The chief cemeteries of London at present are: Mensal Green, on the Harrow Road, front Paddington; Highgate, on a slope of High gate 11111; Abney Park, the Norwood. and Nun. head cemeteries, on the south; the West. London Cemetery at Bromptoo; Ilford and Leystnnv cemeteries in Essex; the Victoria and Tower Ilandets cemeteries in East London; while farther front the city were laid ont the ceme teries of 1Voking and Cohwy Hatch.
Of the cemeteries still in use in Southern Europe, the catacombs of Sicily are the most remarkable. In one of these. near Palermo, un der an old Capuchin monastery. there are tour subterranean corridor., in which more than 2000 corpses ranged in niches in the wall, many of 111(.111 shrunk into the most grotesque or hanging with pendent heads or limbs from their receptacles. As a preparation for its niche. the body is desiccated in an oven, and then dressed a, in life and put in it. place in the wall. A1 one Imo] of this cemetery there is an altar, strangely ornamented with a of human skulls and bones.
camp) (holy litdd) is the Italian desig nation for a. cemetery or burying-ground, but more especially for an inclosed place of inter ment, surrounded internally by an arcade, and designed to receive the remains of persons of dis tinction. The most famous C(1111110 Santo, and that from which the others derived the name. is that of Pisa—in the neighborhood of the cathe dral and leaning tower, and consecrated to the memory of men who had deserved well of the republic. it was founded by Archbishop Ubaldo, toward the end of the Twelfth Century. The Archbishop, having been driven out of Palestine liv Saladin, brought his fifty-three vessels, which had been destined for the conquest. laden with the earth of the Holy Land. This lie deposited on the spot which was thence called the holy field, and whieh, as we have said, gave its name as a generic term to the burying-grounds of Italy. The architect of the existing building was Gio vanni Pisan°, under whose superintendence it.
was completed in 1283. It contains an area of ()ter -100 feet in length and I IS feet in breadth. and is surrounded by a lofty wall, on the inner side of which a wide arcade runs round the whole inclosure, giving to it the character of one magnificent cloister. At the smaller eastern side there is a large chapel, and two smaller chapels of smaller size on the nortliertf side. The lofty circular arches of the arcade are tilled with the richest Gothic tracery, which belongs, however. to a later date—the latter half of the Fifteenth Centu•y—and consequently formed no part of the original design. The walls are adorned with frescoes which are of great interest and value, both absolutely and with reference to the history of art. The oldest of those which have been preserved adorn one side of the eastern wall: they represent the passion of Christ. llis resurrection, and other sacred subjects. These remarkable paintings are supposed to dale from before the middle of the Fourteenth Century, and are ascribed to linfTalmaco. But the most mar velous productions are those of Giotto, of and .1f ( freagna.
America closely followed England in the sani tary reform of burial-places. and ninny years ago burial within certain limits of cities was pro hibited except in special eases, such as the use of private vaults in ehurehyards. Within the limits of New' York, however, in the ter ritory included in the Borough of Queens, and nee forming the town of Newtown, there are, it has been estimated. 1800 acres of cemeteries, .overinu one-tenth part of a district which eon tains 25,000 living inhabitants and the remains of 1,000,000 dead.
The United States has more beautiful •eme teries than any other country. Conspicuous among these are the great national cemeteries located in a few and many Southern cit ies, fur the burial soldiers. especially those who were killed in the Civil War. 'The oldest and one of the most beautiful of the great ceme teries in the United States is _Mount Auburn, near Boston. Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Philadel phia, was opened in I836. It is on the Schuyl kill Inver, about four miles north of the centre of the city, and is part of a region of great beauty. This was followed by Greenwood Ceme tery, the first and one of the largest burial-places for New York and Brooklyn. established by a company chartered in IS:fti. The grounds occupy a fine situation on the east side of New York Bay about three miles south of the city hall in Brooklyn. From the higher points of the ceme tery. the eye takes in New York and Brooklyn, the bay, half a dozen cities in New Jersey, the far-off Palisades. the broad lower bay, the High lands near Sandy Hook, Coney Tsland, and a grand view of the .\ tlantie Ocean. Lake View Cemetery. at Cleveland, Ohio. is one of t he cele brated places of interment in the interior States, and contains the Garfield mausoleum.