We may, therefore, for our purpose, assume that, even under the most favourable circumstances, hurtful emanations must perforce rise out of burial-grounds, there being no more natural escape for the gases of decomposition than by levitation. These gases will rise to the surface through eight or ten feet of gravel, just as coal-gas will do, and there is practically no limit to their power of escape. The danger is always persistent in the cases of dry and porous soils, exactly those which are most fitted for cemetery purposes. In a churchyard at Stuttgart, in which only five hundred bodies were interred yearly, and not more than one in each grave, the north-west wind rendered the emanations from the dead perceptible in houses two hundred and fifty paces distant. It will thus be seen that the soil best fitted to ensure decay is exactly the worst one for neighbouring houses. Unless there can be some artificial means taken to bring about the slow combustion of these gases, as, for instance, by layers of charcoal, the gases must continue to escape in a foul condition. But who would recommend so extraordinary a procedure as this? The dangers resulting from improper burial have of late been intentionally slighted, but there is abundance of evidence to prove that the air in the neighbourhood of choked-up graveyards is inimical to public health. Some sensitive people are even taken ill when walking past a cemetery.[108] I know myself a gentleman who can detect an unwholesome smell half a mile distant from a certain cemetery in the N.W. district of London. It is unfortunate that so little weight is attached to the report of the last Commissions upon Interments. The question of the poisoning of the air in the vicinity of burial-grounds is just now, however, undergoing a searching investigation at the hands of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, and an analysis will be prepared[109] of the answers elicited. Water believed to be contaminated with cemetery washings is sought for analysis. Questions are also asked as to the induction or aggravation of disease in houses contiguous to cemeteries, and whether the sickness was attributable to poisoned wells or foul air, or both. The report will, without doubt, confirm all that our leading physicians say as to the evils of injudicious burial. There must be something radically wrong where fresh meat becomes tainted in a single night.[110] [108] Raulin. [109] By Dr. Adams, of Pittsfield. [110] Frazer.