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THE 
 
 ANTISEPTIC ADULTS 
 
 OF 
 
 HV 
 
 ARTHUR VICARS, F.S.A. 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LI BI{AK7 
 
AN ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ANTISEPTIC VAULTS 
 
 BENEATH 
 
 S. All CHAN'S CHURCH, DUBLIN, 
 
 %u)s at tin ^nmwl $$Mi.u0 
 
 THE ROYAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN 
 AND IRELAND, AT LEAMINGTON, 
 
 BY 
 
 ARTHUR VICARS, F.S.A 
 
 Te moneant, Lector, tot in uno funera libro, 
 
 Tenipoi'e quod certo tu quoque funus eris." 
 
 — Wbevbu. 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 
 E. PONSONBY, 116, GRAFTON STREET. 
 
 LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. 
 
 1888. 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBKaUY 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
DUBLIN : 
 
 PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 
 
 «Y PONSONBY AND WELDR1CK. 
 

 THE ANTISEPTIC VAULTS 
 
 3. Ifirbatt'H dHjinrfr, gublin 
 
 I propose to give a short account of the vaults under 
 S. Michan's Church, Dublin, which display peculiar antiseptic 
 properties for preserving the bodies. These furnish, I believe, 
 considering the circumstances, an unique instance; and if we take 
 into account the peculiarly damp nature of the Irish climate — 
 "humid" as our physical geographers call it — which accelerates 
 the process of decay and decomposition, it is the more to be 
 wondered at. 
 
 S. Michan's Church is situated on the north of the river 
 Anna Liffey. It is doubtful if there exists any of the original 
 church. It is a cruciform structure, in a sort of a semi-classical 
 style of last century, of the plainest possible description, with a 
 fine old tower at the west end, with graduated battlements. 
 This tower presents the appearance, to my mind, of havin^ 
 undergone a partial, if not total, rebuilding ; possibly in 1686, 
 at which date it was restored, as appears by an inscription over 
 the west door. 
 
 The church was founded in the year 109-3, by Michanus, 
 said to be a Danish bishop, and there is a recumbent effigv, 
 occupying a niche in the south wall, in the church, of a bishop 
 in alb, chasuble, and mitre, holding a pastoral staff. This is 
 supposed to represent the founder. It is of granite, but has 
 been whitewashed over. 
 
 Before treating of the vaults, it may be interesting to men- 
 tion that there is a tradition that the organ in this church is the 
 one on which Handel first played his Messiah. Though I do 
 
 2914 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 not like to upset such a nice old tradition as this, I feel bound 
 to say that it is devoid of foundation. By the "Memorial 
 Book" of the parish I find that the organ was built by Cuvillie, 
 in 1724, and the same source gives a full specification of it. 
 
 It is well known that Handel paid his first visit to Dublin 
 in 1742, and performed his Messiah in the Fishamble-street 
 Music Hall, now long since pulled down. An organ there was 
 in the room on which Handel played, which we learn from a 
 letter from Handel to Jennens. But as the organ now in 
 S. Michan's is the same as that erected by Cuvillie, in 1724, it 
 is quite impossible that it could have been in Fishamble-street 
 for Handel to have played his Messiah on it. However, as 
 it was the finest organ in Dublin for many years, it is quite 
 probable that Handel did actually play on it in S. Michan's. 
 
 The organ case is finely carved with fruit and flowers, also 
 the gallery in front of it with musical instruments. The church 
 plate mostly dates from the seventeenth century, though there 
 is one silver-gilt chalice the base of which might possibly be 
 pre-ref ormation . 
 
 Having said this much about the interior of the church, I 
 shall pass on to the vaults, of which there are five. They are 
 entered from the outside on the south side, and for the most 
 part extend across the entire width of the church. Two are 
 under the nave; one small one, consisting of a single chamber, 
 under the south transept; another extending from transept to 
 transept ; and the fifth, called the chancel vault, from being 
 situated beneath the chancel. 
 
 The entrance to the first vault, beginning at the west end, 
 as in the case of all the others, is protected by massive iron 
 doors placed in a slanting direction against the wall, and on 
 these being swung back a flight of steps is disclosed to view. 
 Descending the nine steps, we come into a long arched passage 
 37 feet long, 5 feet 6 inches wide, and 8 feet 10 inches high. 
 Off this passage are four arched entrances to the right and left, 
 each 3 feet 2 inches wide, and 5 feet 4 inches high. Unlike our 
 sensations in most other vaults, a warm feeling is perceptible on 
 entering the place, accompanied by a dry stone-and-mortar sort 
 of smell, which tells one at once of the absence of all damp. I 
 have heard some liken the smell in these vaults to that of mus- 
 tard. Entering the chamber on our left, which contains some 
 twenty coffins of the Beard and Stitt families, we come upon a 
 curious spectacle. On one side is a pile of coffins, out of one of 
 which the whole side has fallen, and there is displayed to view 
 the body of a man in a perfect state of preservation, his flesh 
 presenting a brown, leathery sort of appearance. He rests on 
 hay — all that remains of the upholstery of the coffin. And 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 some hay still clings to the sides ; but all signs of the lining, or 
 shroud of the corpse, have disappeared. 
 
 The next chamber is that of the Osborne family, as appears 
 by the arms on the iron gate — Quarterly ermine and az. a cross 
 engrl. or. This vault contains six coffins, which, contrary to 
 custom, are placed nearly upright and leaning against the wall. 
 There is a legend in connection with this family, that this is the 
 v?ay they have buried their members for many generations in 
 order to facilitate their answer to the last summons. All the 
 coffins in this vault appear to be of this century. 
 
 The next chamber is a mass of confusion — coffins in various 
 stages of dilapidation, lying about on top of one another in every 
 position. Here is shown the body of a man with a piece of 
 crape, now red from age, tied over his eyes. The sexton holds 
 that this is a sign that he was hung, which is not at all improb- 
 able, for we know that S. Michan's was situated close to the old 
 Newgate or prison of Dublin, and the parish had a right of 
 burying malefactors who had been put to death, and got very 
 large fees for it, too. The brothers Sheares, the rebels of 1798, 
 who were hung at Newgate, are buried in S. Michan's vaults ; 
 and Robert Emmet, another rebel, is said to lie in the church- 
 yard, as also some other less important offenders. The last 
 coffin was brought into this chamber in 1840. 
 
 We next come to the Mac Dowell and Neilson vaults, and 
 on the opposite side, as we return, those of Ferguson, Rev. J. 
 H. Monahan, Precentor of Christ Church. Cathedral, and Archer. 
 In the last named we see where a coffin has collapsed from the 
 superincumbent weight of two more modern ones. This state 
 of things we saw once or twice in our inspection of the place, 
 and in some cases the result is anything but edifj^ing, as the 
 pressure causes the bodies to protrude, and the spectacle of 
 emerging arms, and legs, and tufts of hair, present a very 
 awful appearance. The last chamber on our left is that lately 
 appropriated by Canon Marrable, formerly rector of this parish. 
 I hope it may long remain in its present unoccupied condi- 
 tion. 
 
 The next vault is that in which the subjects of our photo- 
 graph lie. It is the second from the west-end, and is entered 
 like the last, than which it is somewhat smaller, the passu ge 
 being 29 feet 6 inches in length. On the left-hand side are 
 two chambers with doorways, respectively 5 feet 4 inches by 
 3 feet 2 inches. The first one is a very large vault belonging 
 to the family of Hamilton, of Abbotstown, Co. Dublin, and 
 contains, according to the sexton, some forty coffins all seem- 
 ingly in a good state of preservation. The other chamber is 
 the one, the interior of which our photograph gives a represen- 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 tation: it is only 11 feet by 8 feet, and 8 feet 10 inches in 
 extreme height, and, like all the others, is arched. This chamber 
 contains altogether ten coffins, two on the left, four on the right, 
 and four in the centre without lids. The centre one contains 
 the body of a lady brought here about the year 1790. All 
 these have once been covered with black velvet, some of which 
 still hangs on the sides in strips. It is a popularly received 
 idea that these bodies are several hundred years old, and people 
 go even so far as to say that the body of a man with his legs 
 crossed in the coffin nearest the wall is a crusader. The 
 absurdity of this wild notion is obvious when we look at the 
 coffins, which we have reasons for thinking are the original ones 
 in which the bodies were first placed. They are of the ordinary 
 shape of the present day, of which I believe I am correct in 
 stating one of the earliest examples known is that of Lancelot, 
 Bishop of Winchester, buried in 1626 in S. Saviour's, Southwark, 
 whose coffin was discovered in 1830 {Gent's Mag., Aug., 1830, 
 p. 171). Everyone knows now that the cross-legged crusader 
 theory is long since exploded. There is not much to guide one 
 in guessing the date of the coffins in S. Michan's, but I should 
 scarcely think that there are any prior in date to about the 
 end of the seventeenth century, if indeed so early ; the greater 
 number are much later than that. We were informed by the 
 sexton that in another of the vaults, some years ago, he saw 
 " E. Rook, 1690," marked in nails on the lid of a coffin of a 
 child. The lock of this vault being out of order we were unable 
 to visit it, though I have since had this statement corroborated 
 by another ; but whether or not my informants mistook the 
 1790 for 1690 will, however, never be ascertained, for the coffin 
 in question has since fallen to pieces. I don't remember, how- 
 ever, having seen any dates on my previous visits. At all 
 events, whatever their dates may be, the coffins must certainly 
 have been here many years, and quite long enough to set people 
 wondering how it is that time and the usual process of decay 
 seem to have had no effect on them. 
 
 The appearance of these four bodies is similar to all those 
 that we saw, and is weird and wonderful in the extreme. The 
 flesh has, as in the other cases, assumed a dark and leathery 
 appearance, though the pores of the skin, as also the features, 
 are discernible, the " abdominal walls " are elastic on pressure, 
 and the fingers can be moved independently of each other, and 
 it is very probable that the other joints of the body are equally 
 pliable. The hair is not preserved on any of the bodies that we 
 saw. The hand that may be discerned resting over the edge of 
 the coffin in the background was so placed in order to show it 
 in the photograph. The right hand of the female figure in the 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 centre coffin is missing, and the wrist presents an appearance 
 as if it had been cut off, possibly by some vandal of a tourist. 
 
 The bodies seem to have undergone practically no change 
 since a rather fanciful account of them was written in 1832, in 
 The Dublin Penny Journal. I subjoin an extract, as the 
 work in question is by no means easily to be met with in 
 England : — 
 
 " Underneath this ample church extend long narrow gal- 
 leries, on either side of which are the vaults, not much larger 
 than common coal-vaults, in which the coffins are placed. 
 Some, which are the private property of individuals, are 
 fastened up with wooden or iron doors, others are open ; and 
 into one of these the sexton led us, candle in hand. I confess 
 that, on inspecting the contents, I was greatly disappointed. 
 I had read Brydone's description of a subterraneous catacomb 
 in Sicily, which has the property of drying up the bodies of 
 those enclosed in it, and in which those dead centuries ago are 
 still standing in their niches, the same in form and feature as 
 when alive, and clothed in the attire and ornaments belonging 1 
 to their sex. If I did not anticipate exactly the same here, I 
 at least expected, from report, to see dried and preserved spe- 
 cimens of the human form ; but if ever there was a shocking, 
 revolting, melancholy representation of what ' man that is 
 mortal' may come to> it is here. In a common tomb or vault, 
 after a few years have gone by, nothing remains but the rem- 
 nants of the coffin and the bones ; everything belonging to the 
 child of dust has returned to its dust, except what may mark 
 the place as a Golgotha — a place of skeletons and skulls. But 
 here death is, as it were, making a mockery of mortality, leav- 
 ing flesh in rags and tatters, and allowing skin, muscle, and 
 cartilage to remain, so in the most appalling way to humble 
 human pride, and show what man's gallantry and woman's 
 beauty may become when it is preserved, as it is here, half 
 skeleton, half mummy. The transition state between preser- 
 vation and decay was most horrible to look on. There lay a 
 large man, whose head was on one side, either so placed in 
 order to fit into his coffin, or else (the idea is fearful) he had 
 come to life in his narrow cell, and, after horrible contortion, 
 had died for want of air. The skin on the head, the cartilages 
 of the nose, the cellular substance of the legs, the capsular liga- 
 ments of the joints and fingers, were all preserved ; but oh, 
 the torn, worn, tattered skin ! — just like decaying, discoloured 
 parchment, exhibiting all the colours belonging to the slowest 
 possible decay — blue, green, and yellow — the mildew and 
 mouldiness of a century. Never will the image of that ghastly 
 specimen of decay be effaced from my memory." 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBKAKY 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 I need hardly remark that the foregoing account is rather 
 coloured. The author's imagination seems to have led him 
 astray when he speaks of the man who he thinks was buried 
 alive, on the ground that his head slightly inclined to one side. 
 This is evidently the body depicted so clearly in the photo- 
 graph. I was also unable to detect the " blue, green, and 
 yellow " tints, or any appearance that would suggest the 
 slightest action of damp. 
 
 The teeth in the skull, placed in the background, show the 
 gold wire still holding some of them together. 
 
 Before leaving this vault I was curious to see if the anti- 
 septic properties extended to the coffins which had not from age 
 as yet exposed their contents. So we raised the lid of the one 
 on our left, which did not seem to be fastened down. It was 
 with feelings akin to awe we gazed on the confusion that 
 reigned inside : — there, amidst a heap of rubbish, and what 
 appeared to have once been part of the upholstery of the in- 
 terior, lay the body of a man in exactly the same condition of 
 preservation, and presenting a similar appearance to the one in 
 our photograph. The sides of one of the coffins in this vault 
 were loose, and necessitated our placing them upright before 
 photographing, hence the somewhat irregular shape it presents. 
 
 I am indebted to Mr. W. H. Yipond Barry, an amateur 
 photographer, for the photograph done by means of magnesium 
 wire ; and, considering the surrounding difficulties, it gives one 
 as clear an idea as could be desired of the interior of one of 
 these chambers. 
 
 The next vault we visited is the largest of them all, and 
 extends from one transept to the other, the central passage 
 being 70 feet long, 5 feet 4 inches wide, and about 9 feet high. 
 Passing on our right the vaults of the White family, and those 
 of the Rev. Charles Stanford, Prebendary of S. Michan's, 1846, 
 and Prebendary Abbot — in the last named of which there is 
 tli at fearful debris and confusion which seems to make such a 
 mockery of the sadness of death — we come to the family vault 
 of the Earls of Leitrim, the entrance to which is protected by a 
 large wooden door. By placing the candle opposite a hole in 
 one side of the door, and looking through another, we get a 
 view of the interior, which contains some twelve coffins, includ- 
 ing that of the late Earl, who was murdered in Donegal some 
 few years ago. Most of the coffins in this chamber are covered 
 with velvet ; and the sexton informed us, that on the burial of 
 the late Earl, the velvet on the surrounding coffins was found 
 to be perfectly free from damp, another proof of the dryness of 
 these vaults. The silver-gilt coronets on the coffins reflected the 
 rays of the candle in a strange way about the gloomy interior. 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 The adjoining vault belongs to the Viscounts Monck. It is curi- 
 ous that the interior of this chamber should present some signs 
 of decay, and all within a space of about three years, due, I be- 
 lieve, to the following facts : — A short time ago a coffin was 
 disinterred from the churchyard, and brought into the Weir 
 vault (situated opposite the Monck vault), after having been in 
 the ground some years. As a result, all the coffins in the chamber 
 became covered with a white film of mildew, and the appear- 
 ance, a year ago, was truly remarkable, and indeed beautiful, 
 all the coffins in this vault being enveloped in what resembled 
 a coating of snow. The coffin from the churchyard is supposed 
 to have introduced damp — an element foreign to this place — 
 which worked its way across the passage to the Monck vault, 
 and there did the havoc that we saw, besides causing such debris 
 in the Weir vault itself. The damp, however, seems to have 
 almost entirely expended itself, and been stopped by the pecu- 
 liar nature of the place, for as I write all signs of mildew have 
 disappeared, and only the walls of this particular chamber show 
 any moisture. 
 
 On our way out we pass the vaults of the Wilson, Brereton, 
 Sankey, and Putland families, and a vault belonging to no 
 family in particular, containing human remains in a most 
 shocking state of disorder, due to the collapsing of the coffins, 
 and presenting the appearance of a regular charnel-house. 
 
 This was very much the condition of most of the vaults until 
 some years ago, when a former rector had the debris collected 
 and placed in the chamber under the vestry, the entrance to 
 which, now blocked, is at the termination of the west-end 
 vault. 
 
 Before leaving we must notice the coffins of the brothers 
 Sheares, the rebels of 1798, in the last chamber next the en- 
 trance. When first buried here they had no leaden coffins, 
 and in process of time, when the wooden coffins went to pieces, 
 the bodies were exposed to view. And it seems that many years 
 ago someone stole the head of John Sheares for a wager ; and 
 great was the wonderment caused at the time by its sudden 
 disappearance. But through the agency of the late Dr. 
 Madden, M.K.I.A., it was restored, and the remains of both 
 brothers placed in lead and oak coffins in 1853. The outer 
 coffins are now fast decaying, the lids having disappeared, and 
 the sides show signs of going to pieces. 
 
 The chancel vault we did not visit, for we found it impos- 
 sible to turn the key of the iron doors. We were told, however, 
 that it contained nothing of interest beyond "a gintlenian with 
 an orange sash around him." The roof of this vault extends 
 beyond the present chancel several feet, which may, in some 
 
( io ) 
 
 degree expose the interior to the elements and account for the 
 fact that the bodies in this vault are not nearly so well pre- 
 served as in the others, the vault being much more damp than 
 the rest. In the chancel vaults are buried, amongst others, the 
 Morgan Croftons and Percivals. 
 
 I noticed in some of the chambers of these vaults webs of 
 most gigantic proportions, forming huge curtains over the 
 gloomy surroundings. In one chamber the web must have 
 been at least 10 feet long, and as wide as the chamber itself. 
 The sexton told us he had seen one of these spiders, which he 
 described as being of large size, and black in colour. He has 
 been anxiously looking out for one to capture to send to a na- 
 turalist, who is curious to examine one. I do not see what the 
 spiders would have to live upon (unless, as his theory is, that 
 they feed on the dead bodies around them), for I saw no sign 
 of life whatever. 
 
 The first question that will suggest itself to one on seeing 
 these vaults will naturally be, To what can be attributed these 
 extraordinary phenomena? — for there is no question as to the 
 bodies being embalmed, since some of them have been com- 
 paratively recently placed here. 
 
 There are man}^ theories put forward as to the peculiar 
 nature of these vaults. One is, that it is due to the tannin in 
 the earthen floors of the vaults, as the ground on which 
 S. Michan's is built was anciently a vast oak forest, and not 
 very long ago known as Oxmanstown Wood. Certain it is that 
 the floor of the vaults does not show the slightest sign of damp, 
 but, on the contrary, is of a pale yellow earth, fine and dry. 
 
 There is an old. record which states, " The faire green or 
 commune, now called Ostmontowne Green, was all wood, and 
 hee that diggeth at this day to any depth shall finde the grounde 
 full of great rootes." ( Vide also Hanmer's Chronicle.) This 
 would go to support the Tannic theory just propounded. It is 
 said that, in 1098, William Hufus got permission from Murchad, 
 King of Leinster, to procure wood for the roof of Westminster 
 Hall, from these woods. This was possibly the roof pulled 
 down in the year 1397. I have heard it suggested that the 
 preservative properties are to be attributed to the magnesian 
 limestone, of a yellow colour, of which the vaults are partially 
 built, and that it absorbs the moisture. 
 
 The following extract by a well-known chemist of Dublin, 
 appeared in a Dublin journal some sixty years ago : — 
 
 " The bodies of those a long time deposited appear in all 
 their awful solitariness — at full length — the coffins having 
 mouldered to pieces ; but from those, and even the more re- 
 cently entombed, not the least cadaverous smell is discoverable ; 
 
( 11 ) 
 
 and all the bodies exhibit a similar appeai-ance, dry, and of a 
 dark colour. It is observable of animal matter in general, that 
 in common cases, from the action of the external air, or its own 
 reaction, putrefaction results ; but when placed in a tempera- 
 ture not exceeding 32°, the septic tendency is considerably 
 counteracted, as the preservation of the mammoth in the iceberg 
 would sufficiently prove. In this instance, it appears that the 
 action of the fluid was interrupted by cold. Now, if the action 
 of the inclosed fluid was altogether destroyed, as is the case in 
 the salting of meat, it is plain this would also contribute to 
 counteract the septic tendency : whence it follows, that it is the 
 moisture which gives life to the putrefactive ferment. Now, 
 the floor, Avails, and atmosphere of the vaults of S. Michan's 
 are perfectly dry ; the flooring is even covered with dust, and 
 the walls are composed of a stone peculiarly calculated to resist 
 moisture. This combination of circumstances contributes to aid 
 nature in rendering the atmosphere of those gloomy regions 
 more dry than the atmosphere we enjoy. Further, it appears 
 that in none of the bodies deposited here are any intestines, or 
 other parts containing fluid matter, to be found, having all de- 
 cayed shortly after burial." 
 
 Another theory is that of Sir Charles Cameron, F.R.C.S., 
 Yiee- President of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain 
 and Ireland, and Medical Officer of Health for Dublin, which, 
 from the eminence of the propounder, I shall give in full. 
 
 His theory is that the peculiarities of these vaults are due 
 partly to their undoubted dryness, and partly to the great 
 freedom of their atmosphere from dust. Being anxious to 
 ascertain by experiment whether or not the fermentation of 
 unstable infusions of organic matter would take place as 
 readily in these vaults as elsewhere, he, in the summer of 1879, 
 set about making the following very interesting experiments, 
 the details of which he has kindly furnished me with : — 
 
 "An infusion of melon in distilled water was prepared; a 
 portion of it, evaporated to dryness, left a solid residue amount- 
 ing to 084 per cent. This liquid was introduced into eighteen 
 of Tyndall's tubes, and the contents of the tubes were sterilised. 
 This process was effected in the following manner: — The tubes 
 were immersed for half an hour in a paraffin bath heated to 
 380° Fahr., and whilst at this temperature their orifices were 
 sealed by means of the gas blow-pipe. It was concluded that 
 by this treatment the spores or ova of any organisms that might 
 have existed in the infusion were rendered incapable of further 
 development. The tubes were kept intact for a week. On the 
 second day the contents of two of them became very slightly 
 clouded, and on the sixth day quite opaque from an abundant 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 development of mycelium. It was clear that the contents of 
 these tubes escaped being sterilised. The contents of the re- 
 maining tubes were perfectly clear. On the seventh day four 
 of the tubes were opened by breaking the ends of their long 
 narrow necks, and the air of the laboratory allowed full access 
 to them. In two days their liquid contents became clouded, 
 and in about a week's time they became so thick that they 
 could not be poured out. 
 
 " On the eighth day the remaining twelve tubes were arranged 
 in a stand, and placed in one of the vaults of S. Michan's Church. 
 The rector, the Rev. Mr. Long, kindly entrusted to me the key 
 of the vault, which I kept until the completion of the experi- 
 ment. I selected one of the driest of the vaults. My modus 
 operandi in depositing the tubes was as follows : — I opened the 
 door of the vault as gently as I could, and passed gently into 
 the portion most remote from the door, and I remained as 
 motionless as I could for a space of about twenty minutes ; I 
 then lighted a spirit-lamp, and having heated a pincers in the 
 flame, I nipped the necks of ten of the tubes, so as to expose 
 their contents to the air. I then emerged from the vault as 
 quietly as I possibly could. The slowness and gentleness of my 
 movements were, of course, with the object of disturbing the 
 air of the vault as slightly as possible. 
 
 " No person entered the vault after this procedure until six 
 weeks had elapsed, when, on the day of 13th August, 1879, it 
 was again invaded by myself. On this occasion I was accom- 
 panied by Dr. E. Lapper, Lecturer on Chemistry in the Ledwich 
 School of Medicine. We removed the tubes to the open air, and 
 examined them. In five of them the contents were very opaque 
 and mucilaginous. The contents of the remaining seven tubes 
 were quite clear, and exhibited no signs of fermentation. Two of 
 these tubes had remained sealed. These tubes were conveyed to 
 the Laboratory of the Royal College of Surgeons, where, in the 
 course of a few days, their contents became turbid and mucilagi- 
 nous. I hesitate somewhat in drawing any positive conclusion 
 from this experiment. The results certainly show that an organic 
 infusion remained without undergoing fermentative changes for 
 a period of six weeks during warm weather. What was the 
 cause of this stability ? It was clearly not due to the air of the 
 vault being dry, for the object preserved was a liquid. It is 
 evident that germs from the air found their way into these tubes 
 through their narrow necks. The air then was not quite free 
 from floating germs. On lofty situations in Alpine regions 
 Tyiulall found the air so pure and free from dust, that organic 
 liquids exposed for months to the air remained unfermented. 
 It may be that the air in the vaults of S. Michan's Church is 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 very free from dust, arid that it is owing to this cause that 
 organic matter does not freely decompose in them. I am dis- 
 posed to believe that, in the case of dead bodies, the dryness of 
 the air is a factor in the preservation of the bodies. A coffin 
 containing a body was removed from the soil of a graveyard, 
 and deposited in one of these vaults. It was soon covered with 
 large masses of moulds. After a while the damp coffin became 
 dry, and in process of time the moulds, the natural habitats of 
 which are damp situations, disappeared." 
 
 I think that no one can help remarking, on entering these 
 vaults, the clear and dry feeling of the atmosphere of the whole 
 place, and to this, along with the absorbing property of the 
 stone, some feel disposed to attribute the dessicating properties ; 
 the situation of the vaults under the church, and the construc- 
 tion of them being calculated to resist the damp outside. 
 
 I have been unable to learn of any similar phenomena 
 existing in any other vaults in our country, though by the kind 
 assistance of Mr. Hartshorn, I am able to draw your attention 
 to one or two places abroad where something of a similar nature 
 seems to exist, though I am far from attributing to these the 
 same antiseptic peculiarities that exist at S. Michan's ; for, 
 unlike S. Michan's, these places are not open to proper scientific 
 investigation (to say nothing of the money made by showing 
 them), and for aught I know maybe preserved by artificial means. 
 
 In Home, beneath the Capuchin church of S. Maria della 
 Concezione are four mortuary chapels, the walls of which, filled 
 with niches, contain the ghastly remains of, it is said, upwards 
 of 40U0 friars of past generations. Each corpse is buried in a 
 tomb, professing to contain earth from Jerusalem of peculiar 
 antiseptic properties, and after having lain there till the tomb is 
 " wanted " for another deceased member of the order, it is dug 
 up and placed in an appointed niche. I believe, however, that 
 only the toughest bodies will stand the resurrection process and 
 hold together. From the ceiling are suspended skulls and 
 baskets formed of ribs and bones, and other portions of the 
 human frame, the walls being decorated in fantastic, not to 
 say cheerful, patterns which seem to make a mockery of death. 
 The bones that are unsuitable for these purposes are cast into a 
 general ossuarium. On All Souls' Day these vaults are lighted 
 up and visited by numbers of the outside world, and I believe 
 these visits are a source of considerable income to the monks. 
 The lucrative results render the case, iu an antiquarian point of 
 view, somewhat doubtful. 
 
 Mr. Brydone, in his tour through Sicily and Malta, 1777, 
 gives a very lucid and det-criptive account of the well-known 
 vaults at Palermo, which, from their resemblance to those of 
 
( 14 ) 
 
 S. Michan's in Dublin, I shall here subjoin. He says (vol. ii., 
 p. 107): — 
 
 " This morning we went to see a celebrated convent of 
 Capuchins about a mile without the city ; it contains nothing 
 very remarkable but the burial place, which indeed is a great 
 curiosity. This is a vast subterranean apartment divided with 
 large commodious galleries, the walls on each side of which 
 are hollowed into a variety of niches, as if intended for a great 
 collection of statues ; these niches, instead of statues, are all 
 rilled with dead bodies, set upright upon their legs, and fixed 
 by the back to the inside of the niche ; their number is about 
 three hundred ; they are all dressed in the clothes they usually 
 wore, and form a most respectable and venerable assembly. The 
 skin and muscles, by a certain preparation, become as dry and 
 hard as a piece of stock-fish ; and although many of them have 
 been here upwards of two hundred and fifty years, yet none are 
 reduced to skeletons ; the muscles, indeed, in some appear to be 
 a good deal more shrunk than in others, probably because these 
 persons had been more extenuated at the time of their death. 
 Here the people of Palermo pay daily visits to their deceased 
 friends, and recall witli pleasure and regret the scenes of their 
 past life ; here they familiarize themselves with their future state, 
 and choose the company they would wish to keep in the other 
 world. It is a common tiling to make choice of their niche, and 
 to try if their body fits it, that no alteration may be necessary 
 after they are dead; and sometimes, by way of a voluntary pen- 
 ance, they accustom themselves to stand for hours in these niches." 
 
 Like those at Rome, the bodies at Palermo all seem to 
 undergo a "process" before being placed in their final resting- 
 place, and in that respect are not worthy of comparison with 
 those at S. Michan's. I have heard of the catacombs of the 
 Grotto of Calypso, in the island of Malta, containing dried 
 mummies of monks, but of these I have no particulars, nor of 
 those at S. Michael's Bordeaux, which contain some fifty bodies 
 said to have been dug up from the churchyard surrounding the 
 church, on its being closed about the end of last century, and to 
 have been preserved owing to the antiseptic nature of the ground 
 that they had been buried in. The charge for admission to see 
 these bodies is half a franc. Possibly there are others coming 
 more under the same category with those in Dublin, which I 
 have not heard of.* 
 
 * Since writing the above, Dr. Frazer, M.R.I. A., has called my attention 
 to the existence of a vault at Bremen Cathedral, which prevents decomposi- 
 tion ; a proof of which is afforded by the dried poultry suspended in it some 
 years ago. This cellar or vault is above ground, though without windows 
 or access to the outside air. 
 
( 15 ) 
 
 One can only make conjectures as to the probable causes of 
 the phenomena observed in these vaults, but it would be inte- 
 resting to compare the soil and surrounding circumstances of 
 the vaults of S. Michan's with vaults elsewhere which have a 
 similar reputation, in the hope of finding some dessicating and 
 preservative property common to all. I consider it to be more 
 a question for a scientific man than for an antiquary, so I have 
 done no more than " clear the air " from tradition and legen- 
 dary accounts attaching to these vaults, and to gather matter, 
 which it is to be hoped some scientific authority may make use 
 of with a view to elucidating what appears to be still a mystery. 
 In conclusion, I express my thanks to Mr. Hartshorn, F.S.A., 
 for much information cordially given, and also to Mr. Thomas 
 Drew, M.R.I. A., Architect to the Chapter of Christ Church 
 Cathedral, Dublin; Sir Charles Cameron, F.R.C.S. ; and to the 
 Rev. T. Long, Rector of S. Michan's, for his courtesy in permit- 
 ting me to make such a thorough examination of the vaults 
 under his charge. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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