200 acres, and contains about 20,000 monuments, including
those of all the great men of France of the 19th century--marshals,
generals, ministers, poets, painters, men of science and letters, actors
and musicians. Twice the cemetery and the adjacent heights have been the
scene of a desperate struggle; in 1814 they were stormed by a Russian
column during the attack on Paris by the allies, and in 1871 the
Communists made their last stand among the tombs of Pere la Chaise; 900
of them fell in the defence of the cemetery or were shot there after its
capture, and 200 of them were buried in quicklime in one huge grave and
700 in another. There are other cemeteries at Mont Parnasse and
Montmartre, besides the minor burying-grounds at Auteuil, Batignolles,
Passy, La Villette, &c. In consequence of all these cemeteries being
more or less crowded, a great cemetery was laid out in 1874 on the
plateau of Mery sur Oise, 16 m. to the north of Paris, with which it is
connected by a railway line. It includes within its circuit fully 2 sq.
m. of ground. The French cemetery system differs in many respects from
the English. Every city and town is required by law to provide a
burial-ground beyond its barriers, properly laid out and planted, and
situated if possible on a rising ground. Each interment must take place
in a separate grave. This, however, does not apply to Paris, where the
dead are buried, forty or fifty at a time, in the _fosses communes_, the
poor being interred gratuitously, and a charge of 20 francs being made
in all other cases. The _fosse_ is filled and left undisturbed for five
years, then all crosses and other memorials are removed, the level of
the ground is raised 4 or 5 ft. by fresh earth, and interments begin
again. For a fee of 50 francs a _concession temporaire_ for ten years
can be obtained, but where it is desired to erect a permanent monument
the ground must be bought by the executors of the deceased. In Paris the
undertakers' trade is the monopoly of a company, the _Societe des pompes
funebres_, which in return for its privileges is required to give a free
burial to the poor.

The _Leichenhauser_, or dead-houses, of Frankfort and Munich form a
remarkable feature of the cemeteries of these cities. The object of
their founders was twofold--(1) to obviate even the remotest danger of
premature interment, and (2) to offer a respectable place for the
reception of the dead, in order to remove the corpse from the confi