{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_54176/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_54176","id":"gutenberg_54176","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54176","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Health & Medicine","Category: History - Other","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Cremation"],"text":"[Illustration:\n\n  A MODERN CINERARY URN.\n  (Frontispiece.)\n]\n\n\n\n\n                                  THE\n                         CREMATION OF THE DEAD\n                               CONSIDERED\n  FROM AN \u00c6STHETIC, SANITARY, RELIGIOUS, HISTORICAL, MEDICO-LEGAL, AND\n                         ECONOMICAL STANDPOINT\n\n\n                                    BY\n\n                           HUGO ERICHSEN, M.D.\n\n LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF KINGSTON,\n       CANADA; MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE OF ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST\n INTERNATIONAL CREMATION CONGRESS; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE CREMATION\n    SOCIETIES OF NEW YORK AND BERLIN; FOREIGN ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF THE\n HYGIENIC SOCIETY OF FRANCE; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE CREMATION SOCIETY OF\n                            MILAN, ITALY; ETC.\n\n                        With an Introductory Note\n\n                                    BY\n\n                   SIR T. SPENCER WELLS, BART., F.R.S.\n\n  LATE PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND; SURGEON TO\n                       THE QUEEN\u2019S HOUSEHOLD; ETC.\n\n                               ILLUSTRATED\n\n                         _Delenda est inhumatio!_\n\n                                 DETROIT\n                          D. O. HAYNES & COMPANY\n                                   1887\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n    \u201cWhy should we seek to clothe death with unnecessary terror, and\n    spread horror round the tomb of those we love? The grave should be\n    surrounded with everything that might ensure tenderness and\n    veneration.\u201d\n\n                                                   \u2014WASHINGTON IRVING.\n\n    \u201cDie Leichenverbrennung verdient die Achtung, welche ihr um ihres\n    hohen Werthes willen im klassischen Alterthum gezollt wurde, auch\n    heute noch, da sie die einzige Art der Todtenbestattung ist, die\n    vor den schrecklichen Folgen der Verwesungsduenste sichert und das\n    bei der Leichenbeerdigung so oft vorgekommene Wiedererwachen im\n    Grabe verhuetet.\u201d\n\n                                                        \u2014J. P. TRUSEN.\n\n              \u201cSi nous sommes une statue\n              Sculpt\u00e9e \u00e0 l\u2019image de Dieu;\n              Quand cette image est abattue,\n              Jetons-en les d\u00e9bris au feu!\n\n              Toi, forme immortelle, remonte\n              Dans la flamme, aux sources du Beau,\n              Sans que ton argile ait la honte\n              Et les mis\u00e9res du tombeau!\u201d\n\n                                      \u2014TH\u00c9OPHILE GAUTIER.\n\n\n\n\n                           _Copyright, 1887_,\n                           BY HUGO ERICHSEN.\n\n                 J. S. CUSHING & CO., PRINTERS, BOSTON.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                                    TO\n\n                      WILLIAM EASSIE, C.E., F.L.S.,\n\n         Honorary Secretary of the Cremation Society of England,\n\n                                   and\n\n                       DR. PROSPER DE PIETRA-SANTA,\n\n                                of Paris,\n\n                         THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED\n\n as a mark of high esteem, and in recognition of their untiring labor in\n   behalf of that greatest of all sanitary reforms, cremation, by their\n                             sincere admirer,\n\n                                                             THE AUTHOR.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                                PREFACE.\n\n\nIt is hardly necessary to explain the purpose of this work. It is an\nappeal to the general public; a plea for the burning of the dead. The\nperiod of fierce and fanatic opposition to cremation has passed, and\nmade way for a calm consideration of the subject. In 1874 a Persian\ngentleman, then a resident of one of the Eastern States of our own free\nand great republic, who wanted to have his wife cremated, was compelled\nby an ignorant mob to resort to interment. Happily we are over that now.\n\nIt is astonishing that the cremation question has not been taken hold of\nby the literarians of our country; there is hardly a subject that\nrewards its student so well as cremation, and future writers on\nincineration, not hampered by the literary inexperience under which I\nhave labored, will reap a rich harvest indeed when they devote their\ntalent and time to the reform.\n\nI would counsel those who are in favor of cremation to immediately put\nin writing their desire to have their body committed to the flames after\ndeath instead of having it consigned to \u201cdirt and darkness.\u201d Such\nwritten requests should be preserved in places where they can be easily\nfound after decease; for instance, in the writing-desk. If every\nindividual promotor of the reform, male or female, considering the\nuncertainty of life, would follow this advice, cremation would speedily\nprevail.\n\nI am sensible of the many defects of this book, but I trust that it will\nbe found to furnish some useful information which cannot well be\nobtained elsewhere, besides proving an assistance to those who are\ndesirous of studying the question more fully.\n\nI desire to express my indebtedness to crematists in all parts of the\nworld for the valuable assistance I received from them in the\npreparation of this volume.\n\nFor all who like cleanliness, for all who love true sentiment, for all\nfriends of economy, for all who venerate their dead, and for all who are\nnot afraid of reform the following pages were written.\n\nIt only remains to express the thanks due the following gentlemen for\npermission to use illustrations without which this book would have been\ndecidedly incomplete: Messrs. Dodd, Mead & Co., Cyrus K. Remington,\nAugustus Cobb, Albert Meininger, and Dr. M. L. Davis.\n\n                                                                   H. E.\n\n DETROIT, Feb. 28, 1887.\n\n\n\n\n                               CONTENTS.\n\n\n                               CHAPTER I.\n                                                                    PAGE\n\n THE HISTORY OF CREMATION                                              1\n\n\n                               CHAPTER II.\n\n THE EVILS OF BURIAL; THE SANITARY ASPECT OF INCINERATION             66\n\n\n                              CHAPTER III.\n\n CREMATION IN TIMES OF WAR                                           129\n\n\n                               CHAPTER IV.\n\n THE PROCESSES OF MODERN CREMATION                                   140\n\n\n                               CHAPTER V.\n\n THE MEDICO-LEGAL ASPECT OF INCINERATION.\u2014THE OBJECTIONS TO          157\n   CREMATION\n\n\n                               CHAPTER VI.\n\n BURIAL ALIVE.\u2014CREMATION FROM AN \u00c6STHETIC AND RELIGIOUS POINT OF     180\n   VIEW\n\n\n                              CHAPTER VII.\n\n THE ECONOMY OF CREMATING THE DEAD.\u2014THE PRESENT STATE OF THE         224\n   CREMATION QUESTION\n\n\n\n\n                             INTRODUCTION.\n\n\n DR. H. ERICHSEN:\n\n_Dear Sir_,\u2014In reply to your request that I should write an introduction\nto a work which you are about to compose on cremation, I am placed in\nthe great difficulty of knowing nothing of your book, not even having\nseen its title-page or table of contents. It is quite impossible,\ntherefore, for me to say how far your views and my own may accord. But,\nas I suppose your object is to bring before the people of America proof\nof the evil effects to the living inseparable from the present mode of\ndisposal of the dead by burying them in the earth, as well as to show\nhow these evils may be avoided by burning dead bodies,\u2014in a word, by the\nsubstitution of cremation for burial, of purification for\nputrefaction,\u2014I have great pleasure in doing the little that is in my\npower to assist in bringing a very important question of sanitary reform\nbefore a thoughtful, intelligent, and advancing nation.\n\nI do not know how far I am right in supposing that with you in the West,\nas with us in the East, a knowledge of sanitary science, of the\nconditions which are necessary for the health of mankind, is still\nconfined to the comparatively few who may be called the well educated\nclass. Nor do I know how far this knowledge has been diffused among the\nclasses of your population who have received but little education. But I\ndo know with us it is the highest classes, in the sense of the best\neducated classes, who are the most earnest in their efforts to\ndisseminate that branch of knowledge or science which, in the words of\n_Parkes_, aims at rendering \u201cyouth most perfect, decay less rapid, life\nmore vigorous, and death more remote.\u201d _Parkes_ is dead, but he still\nspeaks to us by his book, and he says:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe disposal of the dead is always a question of difficulty. If the\ndead are buried, so great at last is the accumulation of bodies that the\nwhole country round a great city becomes gradually a vast cemetery.\nAfter death, the buried body returns to its elements. If, instead of\nbeing buried, the body is burned, the same process occurs more rapidly.\nA community must always dispose of its dead, either by burial in land or\nwater, or by burning, or chemical destruction equivalent to burning, or\nby embalming or preserving. The eventual dispersion of our frame is the\nsame in all cases. Neither affection nor religion can be outraged by any\nmanner of disposal of the dead which is done with proper solemnity and\nrespect to the earthly dwelling-places of our friends. The question\nshould be entirely placed on sanitary grounds. Burying in the ground\nappears certainly to be the most insanitary plan.\u201d\n\nParkes died before we had learned how perfectly and cheaply, how rapidly\nand inoffensively cremation could be carried on; and he favored burying\nin the sea rather than in the earth, whenever the distance was not too\ngreat for transport. He knew well how impossible it is to prevent\ngraveyards within towns, or suburban cemeteries, from becoming sooner or\nlater a source of danger or nuisance to the living, how difficult it is\nto find a suitable site and soil, sufficient space, and to secure proper\nregulations and management. These difficulties may not be so great amid\nyour unlimited space as with us; but they must be an increasing evil in\nand around your large cities. I trust, therefore, that your work may\nassist in the more rapid progress of cremation as a substitute for\nburial.\n\nWith us the legal objection has ceased. It is now acknowledged by the\ngovernment, and has been decided by three judges that if cremation is so\nperformed as to create no nuisance, and incite to no breach of the\npeace, it is not illegal.\n\nThe religious objection has been answered by the _Bishop of Manchester_,\nby _Canon Liddon_, and by the _Earl of Shaftesbury_. The bishop said:\n\u201cNo intelligent faith can suppose that any Christian doctrine is\naffected by the manner in which this mortal body of ours crumbles into\ndust and sees corruption.\u201d\n\n_Canon Liddon_ said, in a sermon at St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe resurrection of a body from its ashes is not a greater miracle than\nthe resurrection of an unburnt body; each must be purely miraculous.\u201d\n\n_Lord Shaftesbury_ said to me that any doubt as to the resurrection of a\nbody because it had been burnt was an \u201caudacious limitation of the\nAlmighty\u201d; and he asked, \u201cWhat, then, has become of the blessed martyrs\nwho were burned at the stake in ancient and modern persecution?\u201d\n\nThe medico-legal objection that murdered or poisoned persons if burned\ncould not be exhumed, as is sometimes done if suspicion of foul play\narise after burial, is answered by the strict observance of proper\nregulations before cremation. Much more complete medical certificates as\nto the cause of death are required by the cremation society of England\nthan by any cemetery company; and in some cases, a post-mortem\nexamination is insisted on. In this way, cremation becomes a security to\nthe public against secret poisoning or any form of murder.\n\nThe sentimental objection is that which can only be overcome by time and\neducation. When the people know how great are the evils dependent on\nburial in the earth, even when this is done under the most favorable\nconditions, how seldom these conditions can be secured, and, when the\nknowledge becomes general that when a human body which would require\nfive, ten, or twenty years to slowly putrefy in any soil can in one hour\nbe cheaply and inoffensively converted into a white ash, public\nsentiment must favor cremation in place of corruption, and for\nputrefaction substitute purification. The same religious ceremonial\nmight accompany either mode of disposal of the dead. The ashes might be\ndispersed to the winds, harmlessly buried, or preserved in urns near\nmonuments or memorial tablets in our cemeteries, or beneath or around\nany place of worship, or in any family mausoleum, or in some park,\npublic garden, or any ornamental open space near a great city, as the\nwishes of the dead or of the surviving relations and friends may prefer.\n\nHere, we hope the city of London will be the first municipal body in the\nKingdom to set the example in this sanitary reform. But, perhaps, the\nimpetus may be given by our American cousins and brothers.\n\n                                 I am, dear sir, faithfully yours,\n                                                       T. SPENCER WELLS.\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER I.\n                       THE HISTORY OF CREMATION.\n\n                 Ye in the age gone by,\n         Who ruled the world\u2014a world how lovely then\n         And guided still the steps of happy men\n         In the light leading-strings of careless joy!\n         Before the bed of death\n         No ghastly spectre stood\u2014but from the porch\n         Of life, the lip\u2014one kiss inhaled the breath,\n         And the mute, graceful genius lowered a torch!\n\n                               SCHILLER: _The Gods of Greece_.\n\n\nPrimeval man most likely disposed of his dead by carrying them into the\nwoods or leaving them anywhere above ground, a prey to animals of all\nkinds. But soon the organs of sight and smell took offense at the\nmutilated and decayed corpses, and they were buried. With the increase\nof population it became necessary to render the dead innocuous to the\nliving, and then, perhaps, cremation was originally resorted to as a\nmeans of protecting the living from the effects of corruption.\n\nIn the early stages of the world\u2019s history, when there was plenty of\navailable land, interment was of course a very cheap process, and\ntherefore often resorted to by the poorer classes, but persons of\nintelligence and education always preferred incineration as the better\nmethod of disposing of dead bodies.\n\n[Illustration: A ROMAN COLUMBARIUM.]\n\nIn the gradual growth among scientists of the belief that cremation is\npreferable to the present system of inhumation, is seen another instance\nof modern civilization borrowing the ideas of the far-distant past.\n\nThe pendulum by which the world\u2019s age is measured swings in an immense\narc. Now, after thousands of years, the views of the leaders of human\nthought are swinging back to that expressed by some of the earliest\npeoples.\n\nIncineration is a most ancient practice. It has always been a matter of\ndifficulty to ascertain the origin of ancient customs. In the case of\ncremation the historians have not been able to discover the date when it\nwas first practiced. The history of ancient cremation, however, can be\ntraced to nearly 2000 years before Christ. Incineration is regarded by\nsome authors as the outcome of the sun-worship of the Ph\u0153nicians. Their\nsolar god (Helios)\u2014the Melikertes of the Greeks\u2014was represented by them\nas burning himself, whereby they wanted to indicate the ever-returning\nsolar year. Among the ancient nations, the sun was especially revered\nand worshipped by the Persians, Egyptians, and the Sabian Arabs. At\nHeliopolis, Ph\u0153nicia, and Palmyra, Syria, there were celebrated temples\nconsecrated to the sun. In some of the countries mentioned, horses which\nwere, on account of their celerity, regarded as symbols of the sun were\nsacrificed to this celestial body.\n\nSome authors ascribe the origin of cremation to the self-immolation of\nHercules. Dr. Le Moyne, the founder of the first crematorium erected in\nthe United States, asserted that the first authenticated case of burning\nthe dead was the proposed incineration of Isaac, and that, although it\nwas not consummated, it was fully authorized by the Deity. In\nconsequence he argues that cremationists stand in the shadow of the\nLord, and that any one who opposes them commits a sacrilege.\n\nI do not believe that incineration, as some of its antagonists have\nimputed, had its origin in a heathen religion, but I am quite certain,\nfrom existing evidence, that it was originally resorted to upon sanitary\ngrounds, and as a means to protect the living against corruption.\n\nIt may be possible that incineration owes its origin to the ancient\nnomadic tribes that burnt their dead and carried the ashes with them.\nAmong agricultural peoples, those who died in war, and while hunting,\nwere sometimes consigned to the flames, either because the grave would\nnot protect them from wild animals, or because it was desired to return\nthe ashes to the relatives, who would keep them sacred.\n\nThe origin of incineration, as appears from what I have said, is\nsurrounded with a great deal of obscurity. It is, however, an\nestablished fact that the Orient was the birthplace of cremation.\n\nThe Egyptians first buried their dead, then embalmed them, and,\naccording to Walker, at a period not stated, abolished embalming and\nsubstituted burning. They performed incineration by placing the corpse\nin an amianthus receptacle, which, remaining intact, kept the bones\napart from the fuel.\n\nThe tombs of the Assyrians, discovered on the banks of the Tigris and\nEuphrates, furnish us with unmistakable evidence of the fact that the\nburning of the dead was not unknown to them. The same applies to the\nBabylonians. The tombs of both peoples when explored were found to\ncontain urns holding human bones and ashes; these urns were often very\nlarge, being sometimes of sufficient size to admit the body of an adult.\nThe Persians either burned their dead or dissolved them in aqua fortis.\nYet they also practiced burial in deep sepulchres that had niches in\nwhich the bodies were deposited upon slabs.\n\nThe Hebrews commonly interred their deceased, but incineration was\nlikewise practiced. The Mosaic code prescribed that those who\ntransgressed the laws of wedlock and chastity should be put to death by\nfire. In I. Moses xxxviii. 24, we find the first evidence of this. The\nthird book of Moses, xx. 14 and xxi. 9, also bears testimony to this\nfact. Thus we see that cineration was looked upon by this people of\nantiquity in the early period of its history as a punishment for\noffenders against the married state and chastity. It is barely possible\n(deductions one may draw from certain passages in the books of Moses)\nthat the ancient Jews first stoned these disobedients, then burned their\nbodies publicly, and finally erected a so-called mound of infamy over\ntheir remains.\n\nBut as we follow Hebrew history, we soon find that cremation was\ntransformed from a humiliating act of punition to the highest honor, to\na distinction that was only accorded to royalty. The first king of\nIsrael was cremated after the battle with the Philistines in Mount\nGilboa, where he and his three sons fell. The Holy Bible relates how,\nwhen the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead heard of that which the\nPhilistines had done to Saul (I. Samuel xxxi. 12): \u201cAll the valiant men\narose, and went all night, and took the bodies of Saul and the bodies of\nhis sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh and burnt them\nthere.\u201d\n\nAnd verse 13 of the same chapter informs us: \u201cAnd they took their bones\n(_ossilegio_) and buried them under a tree at Jabesh and fasted seven\ndays.\u201d\n\nAsa, king of Judah, was also consigned to the funeral pyre, as we glean\nfrom II. Chronicles xvi. 14: \u201cAnd they buried him in his own sepulchres,\nwhich he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the\nbed which was filled with sweet odors and divers kinds of spices\nprepared by the apothecaries\u2019 art; _and they made a very great burning\nof him_.\u201d Of Asa\u2019s grandson, King Jehoram, it is said that his people\ncremated him not like his fathers, because he had furthered idolatry.\n\nOn the other hand, Isaiah xxx. 33 refers to a large pyre that was kept\nalight to consume the bodies of the deceased: \u201cFor Tophet is ordained of\nold; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large;\nthe pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord like a\nstream of brimstone doth kindle it.\u201d\n\nJeremiah (xxxiv. 5) prophesied of Zedekiah, another king of Judah, that\nhe would be burned with the same honors that attended the cremation of\nhis predecessors. And in Amos vi. 10, we find the following, which also\npoints to incineration: \u201cAnd a man\u2019s uncle shall take him up, and he\nthat burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house,\u201d etc.\n\nThe last passage cited and the one mentioning the Vale of Tophet, are\nconstrued by some writers as meaning that the ancient Jews had recourse\nto cremation in great plagues; _id est_, for hygienic reasons.\n\nNow, although these quotations plainly show that the Israelites of old\ndid execute incineration, we also learn from them that the practice was\nnever general; at first confined to criminals, at last to kings.\n\nIt is impossible to determine when the custom of burning the dead\noriginated among the Hindoos. It was always connected with religious\nobservances, and known to the people of India since the earliest times.\nIt was restricted to certain classes or castes: mainly to Brahmins and\nwarriors. The merchants, mechanics, and the tillers of the soil were\ninterred. Children under two years of age were barred from cremation,\nand had to be buried in the earth. Some religious sects, however, were\nan exception from this rule and executed cineration indiscriminately\u2014for\ninstance the believers in Vishnu. When a Hindoo died away from home, or\nwhen his body was lost and could not be found, his relatives instituted\na symbolical ceremony. They gathered 360 leaves of a certain shrub and\nas many woolen threads. They were under the impression that the human\nbody consisted of 360 parts. Of the threads and leaves they formed a\nfigure, somewhat resembling the human form, which was wound round with a\nstrip of the hide of a black antelope, which had also been previously\nwrapped closely round with woolen thread. This figure was then besmeared\nwith barley-meal and water and burnt as an effigy of the missing body.\n\nFrom India cremation extended to Europe, and was adopted by all\nIndo-Germanic peoples. This was proven by Prof. Jacob Grimm in an\noration on the burning of the dead, delivered before the Royal Academy\nof Sciences at Berlin, in 1849, in which the famous scholar highly\ncommended the ancient custom.\n\nIn old tombs on the island of Malta, urns of a kind of clay containing\nashes, lachrymatories, several mortuary lamps (some of excellent\nworkmanship), and the model of a mummy, formed of a green\nsemi-transparent substance, were found. This discovery demonstrates that\nthe orientals who inhabited this isle of the Mediterranean in the\nearliest times were in the habit of cremating their deceased.\n\nThe Thracians were the next to embrace burial by fire. Of them\n_Herodotus_ relates that they exhibited the corpse publicly for three\ndays, brought many offerings, and bewailed the deceased. At the\ntermination of the period stated, they cremated the body and then buried\nthe ashes and bones. After they had erected a mound over the remains,\nthey played gymnic games.\n\nFrom Asia, by way of Thrace, cremation reached Greece. Among the Greeks\nburial was originally exceedingly primitive, as we learn from a law that\ncompelled passers-by to place a handful of earth upon the breast of\nevery unburied corpse. Interment undoubtedly preceded cremation in\nGreece. _Heraclitus_ advanced the theory that everything in existence\nwas created from fire. Therefore he argued that all corpses must be\nburned to free the soul from all material matter, and to return it to\nits primitive elements. According to _Eustachius_ Hercules burned the\nbody of Argius, the son of Likymnios, 1500 years before Christ. He had\npromised the father to return the youth, but when the latter fell in\nmortal combat, nothing remained for him but to cremate Argius and to\nbring home with him the ashes to the sorrowful parent. Hercules was\nunquestionably the first to cremate himself. When he was tormented by\nthe pangs of approaching death, he built a pyre and ordered his servant\nto ignite it. When the servant failed to set the wood afire, Hercules\ndescended from the pyre, kindled it himself and again mounted it to\nawait his fate.\n\n_Pliny_ was disposed to attribute the origin of incineration among the\nGreeks to their custom of burning the dead on the field of battle, to\nrender them secure from the revenge of the enemy.\n\nBe that as it may, certain it is that incineration never became the only\nmode by which the inhabitants of Hellas disposed of their deceased;\nexcept in Athens, where it was practiced exclusively for some time.\nSuicides, those who had been struck by lightning, and unteethed children\nwere not cremated, for it was the prevailing opinion that the pure\nflames would have been defiled by them.\n\n[Illustration: GREEK FUNERAL URN.]\n\nHomer, that incomparable Hellenic poet (There is, I know, a dispute\nwhether the name Homer stands for one person or for a number of bards.\nAs far as I am concerned, I believe that Homer was an individual, a poor\nmendicant perhaps, wandering all over Greece, singing or reciting his\nheroic epics, and living on the grace of an admiring public. No\ncollection of bards could have possibly written the Odyssey and Iliad,\nwhich are so uniform in character throughout.), has preserved for us, in\nimmortal verse, the records of the Trojan war, in which we find many\ninstances of cremation chronicled. The recent explorations of Dr.\nHeinrich Schliemann on the site of Troy have demonstrated beyond a doubt\nthat the poems of Homer rest on a basis of actual fact.\n\nDuring the war that was fought for Helen the beautiful, it was customary\namong the Greeks and Trojans to reduce to ashes the bodies of those who\nhad been slain in battle. Line 69 of the first book of the Iliad proves\nthat the Greeks burned their dead for sanitary reasons.\n\nThe bodies of cowards, criminals, and slaves were not incinerated, but\nleft unburied, a prey for the beasts of the field and the birds of the\nair. Agamemnon, the king, addressing his warriors warns them (_vide_\nPope\u2019s translation of the Iliad, B. II, L. 466) that, during battle:\u2014\n\n            \u201cWho dares, inglorious, in his ships to stay,\n            Who dares to tremble on this signal day,\n            That wretch, too mean to fall by martial power,\n            The birds shall mangle, and the dogs devour.\u201d\n\nIncineration was denied Ajax, one of the greatest Grecian heroes,\nbecause he had slain himself in a fit of indignation. Hector\u2019s defiance\nof the Greek princes (Iliad, B. VII, L. 85) shows that it was also the\ncustom among the Trojans to burn the dead. There is further evidence of\nthis in the truce, between Priam and Agamemnon (_vide_ Iliad, B. VII, L.\n898 and 450), for the purpose of burning the dead of both armies.\nHomer\u2019s narration of the burning of Patroclus, Achilles\u2019 friend, gives\nsuch an accurate description of the method then in use, that I will be\npardoned for quoting it here. The passage to which I refer occurs in the\ntwenty-third book of the Iliad, and is as follows:\u2014\n\n      \u201cThey who had the dead in charge\n      Remained, and heaped the wood and built a pyre\n      A hundred feet each way from side to side.\n      With sorrowful hearts they raised and laid the corpse\n      Upon the summit. Then they flayed and dressed\n      Before it many fatlings of the flock,\n      And oxen with curved feet and crooked horns.\n      From these magnanimous Achilles took\n      The fat, and covered with it carefully\n      The dead from head to foot. Beside the bier\n      And leaning toward it, jars of honey and oil\n      He placed, and flung, with many a deep-drawn sigh,\n      Twelve high-necked steeds upon the pile.\n      Nine hounds there were, which from the tables of the prince\n      Were daily fed; of these Achilles struck\n      The heads from two, and laid them on the wood,\n      And after these, and last, twelve gallant sons\n      Of the brave Trojans, butchered by the sword;\n      For he was bent on evil. To the pile\n      He put the iron violence of fire,\n      And, wailing, called by name the friend he loved.\n\n             *       *       *       *       *\n\n      ...They quenched with dark red wine\n      The pyre, where\u2019er the flames had spread, and where\n      Lay the deep ashes: then, with many tears,\n      Gathered the white bones of their gentle friend,\n      And laid them in a golden vase, wrapped round\n      With caul, a double fold. Within the tents\n      They placed them softly, wrapped in delicate lawn;\n      Then drew a circle for the sepulchre,\n      And, laying its foundations to enclose\n      The pyre, they heaped the earth, and, having reared\n      A mound, withdrew.\u201d\n\nThese lines are from William Cullen Bryant\u2019s translation of the Iliad,\nand give one a very good idea of the cineration of a warrior. In times\nof peace the favorite animals of the deceased were placed with him on\nthe funeral pile, and he was covered with costly robes and rugs. Not\ninfrequently the pyre was decorated with an abundance of flowers, and\nrich folks had their trinkets and jewels thrown into the fire. The\nweapons of warriors were consumed with them. The extravagance at\nfunerals finally became so great among the Greeks that special laws had\nto be enacted to put a stop to it. Solon ordained, for instance, that no\nmore than three robes and one bull should be placed upon the cremation\npyre. After the bones were placed in an urn, the Greeks covered it with\nthe fat of the animals that had been slaughtered at the funeral\nceremonies, to protect it from the influence of the atmosphere. Many of\nthe celebrated men of Greece were cremated: Solon, Alcibiades, Timoleon,\nPhilopoemen, Plutarch, Pyrrhus, and many others.\n\nAccording to Pindar (Ol. 6, 23, Nem. 9, 54), during the combat of the\nSeven against Thebes, funeral pyres were burning at each of the seven\ngates of the city, to consume those slain in battle. The heathens, as\nthey are called, were not to be charged with any lack of respect to\ntheir departed dead. On the contrary, the most tender sentiments\nconceivable were attached to the practice of cremation. There was a\nTheban regulation that no one should build a house without a specific\nrepository for the dead.\n\n\u00c6neas and the other Trojans, who escaped with him from the burning city\nof the hundred gates (as Priam\u2019s capital was sometimes called),\nintroduced cremation (Virgil\u2019s \u00c6neid, B. IV, 7) into Carthage, if it did\nnot exist there previous to their arrival. It is possible that the\ninhabitants of Carthage, which was one of the Ph\u0153nician cities in\nAfrica, derived the practice from the mother-country. At all events, the\ntragedy of love, in which \u00c6neas was involved, ended with the suicide of\nDido, who cremated herself.\n\nThe eleventh book of the \u00c6neas gives a description of an incineration\namong the ancient inhabitants of Latium.\n\nSelf-cremation seems to have been one of the favorite means of disposing\nof one\u2019s self in ancient times, especially among the royalty and\naristocracy. Both tradition and history report of many women, friends,\nand servants who, of their own free will, mounted the funeral pyre with\nthe departed head of the family. Besides Hercules and Dido, already\nmentioned, Sardanapalus, the last king of the Assyrians, burned himself\nin the year 600 before Christ, because the Tigris had destroyed the\nfortifications of besieged Nineveh, and the following also mounted the\npyre for the same purpose: Marpessa, Polydora, and Cleopatra (Vide\nPausanias, 4, 2), three noble women of Messenia, and Euadne, the wife of\nCapaneus, who threw herself into the flames which consumed her husband.\nThe pyre of Sardanapalus, we are told, was very large and contained many\nrooms, which were elegantly furnished, and in which the royal treasures\nwere heaped up, before the king entered them with his women, while his\nservants set the pile on fire. It is well known that the widows of\nIndia, until very recently, perished of their own free will in the\nflames that consumed their husbands.\n\nHerodotus states that the women of the Thracians, in Eastern Europe, who\nwere probably of Germanic origin, frequently disputed among themselves\nas to which of them should be allowed to ascend the pyre together with\nthe deceased husband. \u0152none, the lawful wife of Paris, whom he had\nforsaken to live with Helen the beautiful, forgot all her grievances at\nthe sight of his misfortune. When the man, whom she had formerly loved\nso ardently, wounded by the arrow of Philoctetes, fled to her into the\nIda, she refused to cure him; but when the greedy flames, after death,\ndevoured his form, she voluntarily ascended the pyre to intermix her\nashes with his. Thus are the ways of the world; the noble deed of the\nfaithlessly deserted wife is hardly ever mentioned, but frivolous Helena\nwas made the subject of many works of art, and leads an immortal life in\nthe songs and poems of man.\n\n[Illustration: CREMATION IN CALCUTTA.]\n\nThe ancient Etruscans practiced cremation, both before and after Etruria\nbecame a Roman province; they, no doubt, adopted it from the Greeks, who\nwere first their rulers and afterward their close neighbors. The tombs\nof Etruria were rich in art; the urns in which the ashes of the dead\nwere kept were either of alabaster or baked clay, the latter often being\ndecorated with tasty paintings.\n\nThe ancient Latins, in turn, borrowed the practice of incineration from\nthe Etruscans. According to _Mazois_, some cinerary urns, found in the\nneighborhood of Alba Longa, prove that the custom of burning the dead\nwas current among the original population of Latium long before any\nrecorded epoch of Italian history, for the place in which those urns\nwere detected was covered entirely over with dense layers of lava, which\napparently came from the mountain Albanus, a volcano, the eruptions of\nwhich have long been buried in oblivion. The urns mentioned are\nespecially noteworthy, because many of them bear pictures of the\nhabitations of the earliest residents of Latium, which shows that\ncremation was known to them at that time. Such a hut of the aborigines\nof Latium was preserved for a long time in the capitol at Rome and was\nregarded with great reverence. It is but natural that the Latins, on\nbecoming the founders of Rome, should have introduced incineration into\ntheir new home. Pliny asserts that the burning of the dead was not\ncustomary among the Romans of old, but Virgil describes it as a usage\nthat existed long before the foundation of Rome, and Ovid affirms that\nthe body of Remus was committed to the flames.\n\nCremation was not in general favor among the Romans until towards the\ntermination of the republic. Pliny relates that Sylla (78 B.C.) was the\nfirst of the patrician Cornelians who wanted his body to be burned; most\nlikely because he feared that his remains would be dealt with as those\nof Marius had been treated, whose body was exhumed by the order of\nSylla, and thrown into a glutted general grave. During the decline of\nthe republic and the period of the empire, till the accession of the\nChristian emperors, incineration was very popular in Rome; it was not\nonly general in the capital, but also in the provinces. Julius Caesar,\nAntonius, Brutus, Pompejus, Octavius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula,\nNero, and Plinius were cremated. The ashes of Tacitus, the model of\nhistorians, who was likewise consigned to the flames, were cast to the\nwinds in the middle ages by Pope Pius the Fifth, in order to punish the\nheretic. Just think of it! a pontiff outraging a scholar\u2019s remains to\npunish him! Caligula and Tiberius were only partially burnt, because\nthey had been tyrants.\n\nAt Nero\u2019s obsequies it was but with difficulty that the train achieved\ncomplete cremation. The Roman aristocracy looked upon partial cineration\nas a great disgrace, which adhered to the respective family a long time.\nYet this infamy was often meted out to the poor and unfortunate, as we\nshall see later on.\n\nDuring plagues cremation was compulsory in the city of Rome.\n\nIt is not my intention to describe in detail the funeral rites of the\nancient Romans, because a description of cremation as practiced by them\nmay be met with in every encyclop\u00e6dia. Moreover, a very good account of\nincineration, as customary among the Romans of old, may be found in Lord\nBulwer Lytton\u2019s \u201cThe Last Days of Pompeii.\u201d\n\nIt was the fashion at Rome to pour fragrant oils and balsams over the\ncorpse before the pyre was ignited, and to cover it with Cyprus boughs.\nPrevious to cremation, the corpse was enveloped in asbestos, to keep the\nashes of the body separate from those of the funeral pile. At times\nlocks of hair were sacrificed to the deceased. At last one finger of the\ndefunct was amputated, to make certain that death had taken place.\nEverything being ready, the nearest relative present unclosed the eyes\nof the deceased, and then lit the pyre with averted face. While the\nflames rose to heaven, the favorite animals of him who was now being\nconsumed\u2014dogs, doves, and even horses\u2014were flung into the fire. Costly\nrobes and arms of the dead were consigned to the same fate. During the\nearly period of Roman history, prisoners of war were also committed to\nthe flames.\n\nThe amount of spices, oils, and balsams destroyed at incinerations was\nenormous. Pliny reports that Nero used up more myrrh, incense, and other\naromatics at the cremation of Popps\u00e6a than could be produced by entire\nArabia in one year.\n\nWhile cremation was practiced in Rome, at the time of the empire, the\nmourning garments were white; but when incineration was displaced by\ninterment, the raiment of the bereaved assumed a black hue, sombre as\ndeath itself.\n\nThe deceased poor of Rome (especially the women and slaves) were treated\nshamefully after death. Martial avers that invariably one pile had to\nserve for a large number. In times of pestilence, thousands were so\ndisposed of. A cremation-ground was provided for the indigent in a\nwretched suburb upon the Esquiline Hill, which was inhabited by the\noutcasts of society, the lowest prostitutes, executioners, necromancers,\nand so forth. These localities were called _culin\u00e6_ by the people, the\nliteral translation of which is \u201croast-places.\u201d The attendants were\npolice-slaves, whose hair had been shaved off, and who wore a brand on\nthe bare pate. These, hurrying to and fro, placed the emaciated dead\npoor upon one of the many funeral piles; hardly singed by the fire, they\nwere taken from it and thrown into a universal ditch. To every ten male\ncorpses one female body was added, which facilitated the cineration by\nmeans of the great quantity of adipose tissue which it contained. The\nfunerals of the poor were generally held at night.\n\nThe urns of the rich were of marble, bronze, and sometimes of gold or\nsilver; those of the poor were of baked clay or glass. Glass urns,\nenclosed in others of lead, were discovered at Pompeii. The urns were\ngenerally deposited in a tomb at the roadside or placed in the\npigeon-hole of a columbarium.\n\nThese columbaria, surrounded by beautiful gardens, were situated on the\nVia Appia, Aurelia, Flaminia, and Lavicana. The Appian Way was a\nfavorite resort of the fashionable Roman world; here, daily,\never-changing life was seen; here the traveller took leave from the\nremains of his ancestors; here, too, lovers met and unfortunates took\nrefuge.\n\nThese columbaria were subterranean chambers which served (as I have\nalready explained) to hold the ashes of the deceased, the urns being\ndeposited in arched recesses, hewn out in the rock for the purpose.\nThese niches resembled pigeon-holes; hence the name, columbarium. The\nrare beauty of these columbaria, which may yet be seen in the Eternal\nCity, led Nathaniel Hawthorne, our great romancer, to exclaim that he\nwould not object to being decently pigeon-holed in a Roman tomb.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  CREMATION IN SIAM.\n\n  The late queen and her little daughter on the pyre.\n]\n\nCampana discovered columbaria between the Porta Latina and the Porta San\nSebastiana, which are memorials of the time of Augustus. They contain\nnot less than 400 inscriptions on marble, commemorative of the dead, and\nmany urns of marble and terra cotta.\n\nIn the city of the Caesars the ashes were placed in upright urns, while\nin Greece the urns lay horizontally on the ground, and were covered with\nrugs. In Greece the ashes were preserved in beautiful mortuary chambers\nin the houses, a custom that also obtained at Rome to a certain extent.\n\nThe great contrast between the cremation of the opulent and the poor\nfinally led to the re-introduction of earth-burial, which, however,\nstrangely enough, was coincident with the decline and fall of the once\nmighty empire.\n\nThe last Roman funeral piles expired in the fourth century, while the\nIndo-Germanic nations practiced cremation till late in medi\u00e6val times.\n\nThe Germanic tribes and the Celts (according to Tacitus and Diodorus of\nSicily) burned their dead without exception. The testimony of these\nhistorians is confirmed by Ovid (Met., Lib. III, v. 619\u2013620), who adds\nthat cremation was highly esteemed by these peoples.\n\nTacitus (_vide_ Germania, Lib. 37), writing one hundred years before\nChrist, relates that the ancient Germans preferred a plain funeral to\nfunereal pomp. Only the bodies of celebrated men were cinerated with\nsome ostentation on pyres built of certain costly kinds of wood. They\nneither ornamented their funeral piles, nor did they use spices at\ncremations. The arms of every warrior, however, and sometimes the\nbattle-horse, were burnt with him. An unadorned mound was raised over\nthe ashes, and nothing was left to mark the spot where one of their kin\nhad been laid to rest. Criminals were not cremated, but put to death, in\nvarious ways; traitors and deserters were hanged to convenient trees,\nand cowards drowned in swamps.\n\nThe Thuringians burned their dead as late as the seventh century; the\nAnglo-Saxons down to the end of the eighth century. The Swabians,\nFranks, Lombards, Ostrogoths, Alemanni, and Burgundians disposed of\ntheir deceased by fire till 740 A.D. Winfrid, or Boniface, the so-called\napostle of the Germans, in a letter refers to the custom of fire-burial\namong the Saxons. Charlemange, who brought about the conversion of the\nSaxons by fire and sword, made a special enactment against incineration.\nThe custom of cremation was so deep-rooted among the Saxons, that the\ndeath-penalty had to be set upon its consummation in order to cause its\nabolishment.\n\nThe ancient Lithuanians and the forefathers of the present Prussians\nwere wont to consign their dead to the flames. When the ancient\nPrussians were defeated by the knights of the Teutonic order in the year\nof our Lord 1249, their vanquishers caused them to promise in writing\nthat they would henceforth, after cremating their deceased with horse,\narmor, and weapons, collect the remains and bury them within the\nchurchyard, according to Christian usage. There is evidence to show that\ncineration of the dead was extant in Western Prussia until after 1300\nA.D.\n\nCinerary urns, containing ashes, were discovered near Dantzig, Prussia,\nand in Silesia.\n\nIn the course of forming a vineyard in the neighborhood of Wasserbillig,\nnear Trier, numerous graves were laid bare, in some of which urns were\nfound with the remains of cremated bodies; in others, skeletons. In the\nformer case the cinerary urns (_vide_ _Sanitary Record_) were surrounded\nby chalkstone slabs; one of the skeletons was contained in a sarcophagus\ncomposed of fourteen roof-tiles. Nine of them had the stamps of the\nmanufacturer, the same names being given as those of the manufacturers\nwho furnished material for the erection of the Roman church which forms\nthe basis of the cathedral of Trier, and for the Roman thermal baths at\nSt. Barbara. Judging from these circumstances, it is assumed that the\ntombs date from the middle of the third century. In one of the graves a\nsmall urn with the representation of a face was found.\n\nIn Trier itself, a large glass urn, with cover and handles, was recently\nunearthed. It is a relic of the Romans. When opened it was found to\ncontain bones. Beside this urn five vases of baked clay and several\nornamented lamps were found.\n\nThe ancient Swiss were in the habit of cremating their defunct, till the\nyear 56 before Christ.\n\nJulius Caesar reports that the Gauls burned their dead with\nsumptuousness.\n\nSeveral ancient glass urns, containing calcined bones, were recently\nfound between two round stones, in the vicinity of Chatenet, France.\n\nThe Slavonians observed incineration from the earliest times to the end\nof the fifteenth century. When one of their kings died, everything he\nmight need on awakening in paradise was placed with him on the pyre.\nBeside intoxicating drinks, weapons, horses, falcons, male and female\nservants, and his wives, his entire household\u2014comprising the minister of\nstate, secretary, mate at drinking, and physician\u2014was cremated with him.\n\nThe Slavonian woman was invariably burned with the corpse of her\nhusband; but not _vice versa_, the husband with the remains of his wife.\nWhen a bachelor died, single women were substituted for spouses. The\nchronicles that have descended to us from the monks affirm that these\nwomen longed for such a death, because they hoped to secure eternal\nblessedness thereby.\n\nLarge mounds, called Kurgani, were erected over the ashes of the\ncremated. These mounds may be seen to-day in the boundless steppes of\nRussia, where they afford a rest for the eyes from the monotonous\nscenery.\n\nEckehardt relates that, when Germany was invaded by the Hungarians in\n925 A.D., he witnessed the intruders cremate the bodies of the slain\nupon rack-wagons.\n\nThe Bohemians practiced cremation as late as 1000 A.D.\n\nThe Arab Ibn Forszlan, who was ambassador from his native land to the\nRussians in the year of our Lord 922, states that he attended the\ncineration of a man of rank, on the banks of the Volga River. Previous\nto the cremation the deceased was interred, till the robes of state\nrequisite for the ceremony were finished. Then the ship of the dead was\ndrawn ashore, the defunct owner placed upon a bench, which had been\ncovered with gorgeous rugs, and supplied with food, intoxicating\nbeverages, and a number of slaughtered animals. Thereupon a young girl,\nwho had voluntarily offered herself for incremation (probably to be the\ncompanion of the deceased in the other world), was led aboard and\u2014after\nsinging a long chant to the people and drinking a goblet of\nmead\u2014strangled and stabbed at the same time. Then the ship was deserted,\nand set afire by the nearest relative, who performed this sad office\nwith averted face. Thereupon every one present threw a burning piece of\nwood upon the vessel, which was soon consumed. A mound was erected on\nthe site on which the ship had stood, in the centre of which a plank was\nplaced, bearing the name of the departed.\n\nOld German chroniclers mention the cremation of Attila, the king of the\nTartar Huns, who was burned while sitting\u2014fully armed\u2014upon his\nwar-horse. It is still an undecided question whether incineration was\ngeneral among the Huns, or only a royal honor.\n\nThe Scythians and Sarmatians of old reduced their dead to ashes, as also\ndid the Kurds, till 1205 A.D.; and the Esthonians till 1225.\n\nCremation was likewise practiced by the ancient Scandinavians,\u2014more\nespecially by the Norwegians and Swedes than by the Danes. The national\nScandinavian epic, the Edda, mentions the funeral piles of Sigurdh and\nBrynhilde.\n\nThe ancient Britons disposed of their dead by fire. Some workmen engaged\nin excavations in the bail within the boundaries of the old Roman city\nat Lincoln lately came across a crematorium and a sarcophagus. In the\nlatter ten urns were found, which contained ashes and calcined bones.\nThe urns were of different sizes and shapes, and were all provided with\nsaucer-shaped covers. Only one of them, however, was extracted perfect.\nThe interior of the sarcophagus was lined with long, thin bricks, that\nperished on being exposed to the air.\n\nThe Mexicans of antiquity also cinerated their deceased.\n\nIncineration was practiced in India since the most remote ages, and is\nnow as much in vogue in this country as it was in the earliest times. At\nCalcutta, Bombay, Madras,\u2014in fact, all over India,\u2014cremation is executed\ndaily.\n\nThe Vishnavites burn their dead; the worshippers of Siva bury them,\ndeliver them up to beasts of prey, or throw them into the holy river\nGanges. Folks who are too poor to dispose of their deceased by burning,\nalso consign them to the waves of the holy stream. This is done at\nnight, since it is against the law. It is not unusual to see a whole\nprocession of corpses float down the Ganges, while crows feed on the\nremains.\n\nAt Calcutta, cremation is performed within the \u201cBurning Gh\u00e2t,\u201d outside\nthe city, in a walled enclosure which is frequented by numberless\nvultures and other birds of prey, near the Hoogly, as the Ganges is\nthereabouts called. This place is seldom visited by the British\ninhabitants of Calcutta; for they regard this rude cineration (properly\nso) far too horrible to witness.\n\nBy order of the government, a cinerator was built on the banks of the\nHoogly, which is used only by a part of the Hindoo population. The\nHindoos are hard to wean from their old-fashioned method of cineration\n(which is substantially the same as that practiced by the ancient Romans\nand Greeks), and, therefore, seldom make use of a cinerator, as Mr.\nWilliam Eassie was informed by the sanitary commissioner of Madras,\nwhere a cinerary apparatus had also been erected. The commissioner,\nhowever, was of the opinion that if the Siemens principle of a furnace\nwere exhibited before the educated Hindoos, they would very probably\nadopt it.\n\n[Illustration: CREMATION AMONG THE TOLKOTINS OF OREGON.]\n\nThanks to the efforts of the British authorities in India, imperfect\ncremation is a thing of the past there.\n\nCicero already relates that the widows of the Hindoos allow themselves\nto be cinerated with the remains of their husbands. Self-cremation of\nIndian widows does not occur nowadays; the barbaric custom has been put\ndown by the English.\n\nIt was not before 1831 that the English government in Hindostan\nattempted to abolish the practice of burning widows; and up to that\ntime, as Max Mueller observes, \u201cwomen were burned wholesale, even in the\nimmediate neighborhood of Calcutta.\u201d But the custom was probably not\nexterminated before late in the sixties\u20141868 or 69.\n\nCremation was practiced on the isle of Ceylon as late as 1841.\n\nThe people of Burmah cremate their rich dead, and inhume the poor or\nconsign them to a stream. Persons of rank are embalmed before\nincineration, and placed on exhibition in a convent or temple for six\nweeks. At the funeral, the body is borne in a coffin on the shoulders of\nmen, who are preceded by female mourners chanting an epicede. The corpse\nis followed by the relatives. When the slowly moving train arrives at\nthe pyre, which is commonly six or eight feet high, the remains are\nplaced upon it; the wood of the funeral pile is generally laid\ncrosswise, to bring about a stronger draught of air. The pyre is set on\nfire by the attending priests, who pray before it until the body is\ndestroyed; then the bones are collected and interred. According to Mr.\nW. Eassie, when a Buddhist priest of rank dies in Burmah, the body is\nembalmed in honey, laid in state for a time, and then sometimes blown up\nwith gunpowder, together with its hearse.\n\nMiss Feudge asserts that the inhabitants of Pegu and Laos also cremate\ntheir dead.\n\nIn Siam, cremation has undoubtedly existed since primeval times. It is a\nuniversal custom, practiced both by the common people and the\naristocracy; even the kings are incinerated. Crawfurd states that in\nSiam the ashes are sometimes interred in the grounds surrounding the\ntemples, and a small pyramidal mound erected over them.\n\nWhen one of the Dayakkese inhabitants of Borneo dies, the body is\ndeposited in a coffin, and remains in the house till the son, the\nfather, or the nearest of kin can procure or purchase a slave, who is\nbeheaded at the time that the corpse is burned, in order that he may\nbecome the servant of the deceased in the next world. The ashes of the\ndeparted are then placed in an earthen urn, which is adorned with\nvarious figures; and the head of the slave is desiccated, and prepared\nin a peculiar manner with camphor and drugs, and placed near it. It is\nsaid that this practice induces the Dayakkese to buy a slave guilty of\nsome capital crime, at fivefold his value, in order that they may be\nable to put him to death on such occasions.\n\nCremation is an established and time-honored usage in Japan, now the\noldest empire in the world. Here all incineration establishments are\nunder government control, and are to be found not only in all the chief\ncities, but also in the provinces. The Japanese government, with shrewd\nappreciation of the advantages of sanitary laws, has of late years\ncarefully fostered the practice. Since the earliest times, cremation is\nuniversal among the Japanese.\n\nBefore the introduction of Buddhism, the Shinto doctrine was the\nprevalent system of faith and worship in Japan. This religion held\nsacred, beside a small number of domestic gods, a long series of\ncelebrated historical personages, who were worshipped after their\ndecease. It taught that the mikado (emperor) descended from the gods,\nand he was its clerical superior. This doctrine, of course, was not\nfavorable to cremation; and that accounts for the absence of the latter\nprior to the introduction of Buddhism. Beginning with the year of our\nLord 552, attempts were made, with varying success, to establish\nBuddhism in Japan. In 624, Buddhism was officially recognized; the court\nbestowing the title of high-priest upon two priests who had come from\nHakusai. The new doctrine spread through the medium of the Chinese\nliterature that circulated in the country; and soon temples had to be\nbuilt to accommodate the converts.\n\nIn 700 A.D., D\u00f4sho, a high-priest of a temple at Nara, in the province\nYamato, ordered his pupils to burn his body after death, and it was\ndone. This was the first cremation in Japan.\n\nThree years later, the corpse of the empress Jito was incinerated; her\nexample was followed by 41 emperors and empresses, who occupied the\nthrone from that period till the beginning of the seventeenth century.\nThe last mikado whose body was burned, was Goyozei, who reigned from\n1587 till 1610 A.D. At this time much attention was paid to the\ndoctrines of Confucius, which are as unfavorable to cineration as the\nShinto doctrine.\n\nIn the ninth century Buddhism made considerable headway through the\nefforts of Kobo, a priest. Up to the fourteenth century, however,\nBuddhism remained the religion of the military and the aristocracy; the\ncommon people knew nothing of it. It owes its adoption among all classes\nof Japan, to the arduous labors of two missionaries, Shinran and\nNichiren, who became the founders of great sects, and who had their\ncorpses burned as an example for their pupils.\n\nCremation is fast becoming general in Japan, burial more and more\nobsolete. At the present time the number of bodies disposed of by\nincineration is very great.\n\nThe greatest number of believers in cremation are found among the Shin\nand Yoto sects, likewise among the Zen, Tendai, and Nichiren sects; the\nfewest, among the Shingon sect. Incineration is, however, not compulsory\namong these religious denominations. In 1868, when the shogun\n(commander-in-chief) was deposed by the revolutionists, when the mikado\nre-obtained his former authority and the power of the almost independent\nprinces of the provinces was destroyed, the government attempted to\nre-establish the Shinto religion. Among other measures they prohibited\nincineration (July 23, 1873), claiming that it was contrary to the\nShinto doctrine.\n\nThey soon discovered that it was impossible to carry out the\ninterdiction, and, therefore, revoked it (May 23, 1875), granting\nthereby, as it were, religious freedom to Japan.\n\nThe young generation of the Japanese physicians and naturalists regard\ncineration from a sanitary standpoint, and constantly urge the\ngovernment to promote its interests on hygienic grounds.\n\n[Illustration: CREMATION AMONG THE THLINKETS IN ALASKA.]\n\nIt must be conceded that the Japanese mode of cremation is by far\nsuperior to the method of the Hindoos, who still adhere to the ancient\nfuneral-pile. The cost of incineration is small. The body is reduced to\nashes completely though slowly, and the process takes place in clean,\nwell-kept, closed buildings, in a manner which, as far as the simple\narrangements permit, offends neither the eye nor the olfactories.\n\nAt Osaka cremation is carried on in stone furnaces, which are closed by\niron sliding-doors. There are three large crematories, situated at the\noutskirts of the city; they are enclosed by high walls, and when seen\nfrom a distance, if it were not for the chimneys 60 feet high, one would\ntake them to be temples. The principal crematory contains twenty large\nfurnaces, each of which is capable of reducing three bodies; thus it is\nevident 60 bodies can be incinerated at the same time. The corpse is\nplaced upon an iron grate, the fire being underneath, and covered with a\nstraw mat, that has been previously saturated with salt water.\nIncineration under these circumstances is said to be entirely\nsatisfactory. The cremations begin at 11 P.M., and are finished at 3\nA.M.\n\nAt Tokio, and most of the other cities, a black earthenware urn is\nfashionable; but in the province Totomi the ashes are placed in an urn\nof red color.\n\nWhen the Asiatic cholera raged in Japan in 1877, the people were\ncompelled by the authorities to cremate its victims. But the sanitary\nmeasure met with no resistance, its wisdom being recognized even by the\nlower classes of the people. By the decree, making cremation obligatory\nin times of cholera, the Japanese government has given an example of\nsanitary legislation which should be imitated.\n\nMost of the books on cremation inform us that incineration was and is\nnot practiced in China. This is an error. Marco Polo repeatedly asserts\n(Travels. New York: Harper & Bros., 1845. pp. 153, 155, 158, 159, 160)\nthat the Chinese wherever he travelled were in the habit of burning\ntheir dead.\n\nOn the other hand, Chinese historical works make no mention of the\npractice, and burial is the almost universal custom at present. The\nbooks in which the subject of cremation is treated only speak of it as\nbeing practiced upon the bodies of Buddhist priests and lepers.\n\nIn the last issue of the Chinese imperial maritime customs medical\nreports, Dr. A. Henry contributes some remarks upon cremation in that\ncountry. In only one of the many Buddhist temples at the town where Dr.\nHenry is stationed, are the bodies of the inmates burned after death.\nThe method of incineration is commendable as efficient, \u00e6sthetic, and\ninexpensive; but it is too slow except for Buddhist priests in China. In\nthe grounds of the temple is a small dome-like edifice, the interior of\nwhich communicates with the open air by a small door only\u2014a charcoal\nkiln, in fact. The dead priest is placed in a sitting posture inside the\ndome, and charcoal and firewood are piled around him; fire is applied,\nand the door is shut until combustion is complete. Children are\nsometimes burned, but for superstitious reasons only. When several young\nchildren of a family have died in succession, the body of one of them is\nburned, under the belief that the ceremony will insure the survival of\nthe next child born to the family. In these cases the body is simply\nbrought to an open field in a box, and placed upon firewood, which is\nignited.\n\nAlthough incineration is known in Corea, the most usual way of disposing\nof the dead is by inhumation. Mr. Carles, in an official report of a\njourney into the central provinces of Corea, says:\u2014\n\n\u201cAt one village the remains of the body of an old woman who had been\neaten by a tiger, were being burnt in a fire of brushwood lighted on the\nspot.\u201d\n\nCremation in America is not a novelty. When I began to investigate the\nsubject of cremation among North American Indians, I was at first quite\ndisappointed; and well I might have been, for Schoolcraft (History of\nthe Indian Tribes of the United States. Vol. I, p. 38) asserts:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe incineration of the bodies of the dead was not practiced on this\ncontinent, even in the tropics; and is a rite unknown to the tribes of\nthe United States.\u201d\n\nAlthough slightly disheartened, I continued my search for information,\nand was in consequence speedily rewarded. John McIntosh (The Origin of\nthe North American Indians. New York, 1853. p. 164) states:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe bodies of those who die in war are burned, and their ashes brought\nback to be laid in the burying-place of their fathers.\u201d\n\nMy studies in this direction, however, received the greatest impetus\nthrough Dr. H. C. Yarrow\u2019s excellent \u201cIntroduction to the Study of\nMortuary Customs among the North American Indians\u201d (Washington\nGovernment Printing Office, 1880, pp. 49 to 59), which was kindly sent\nto me by the author, and from which I obtained much valuable\ninformation.\n\nDr. H. C. Yarrow affirms that cremation was performed to a considerable\nextent among North American Indians, especially those living on the\nnorthern slope of the Rocky Mountains; but also (as indisputable\nevidence proves) among the more eastern ones.\n\nThe Nishinams of California, the Tolkotins of Oregon, the Se-n\u00e9l of\nCalifornia, and the Cocopa tribe on the Colorado River, practice\ncremation.\n\nThe Unotello Indians of Oregon also incinerate their dead. On Oct. 9,\n1884, several of them got drunk at Lastine, Ore., and engaged in a\nbloody fight. One was cut to death, and two others badly slashed. The\nIndians burned the body of their dead comrade, and held a war-dance\nwhile the body was slowly consumed.\n\nMr. George Gibbs avers that the Indians of Clear Lake, Cal., burn their\ndead upon scaffolds built over a hole, into which the ashes are thrown\nand covered.\n\nThe Digger Indians have a queer custom; they mix the ashes of the dead\nwith gum, and smear them on the heads of the mourners.\n\nThe Comanches also burn their dead.\n\nThe Indian method of cremation is like that of the ancients; the corpse\nis burnt on a pyre six feet high, amidst exclamations of grief and\nsorrow, funeral songs and dances.\n\nIncineration is current among some of the native tribes of Alaska,\nprincipally among the Thlinkets.\n\nIn the summer of 1884, I received a letter from a former fellow-student\nof mine,\u2014Dr. Hugh S. Wyman,\u2014who was then assistant surgeon in the United\nStates Marine Hospital Service, and stationed at Sitka, Alaska. This\nmissive contained the following:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe Thlinket Indians cremate their dead in every instance except\none\u2014that of the Indian doctor, whose body is never burned, but placed in\na sort of \u2018cache,\u2019 constructed of timber, above ground. Carvings of\nimages, etc., representing the family history, are made on the grave, or\na tall pole is erected by the side, with a red flag. With the body of\nthe doctor are placed all his personal effects. These are supposed to\nremain undisturbed; but the empty appearance of the caches and the\nskulless skeletons of the few graves I have visited, with a curiosity to\nlook inside, have led me to believe that the effects and body do not\nalways lie unmolested.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  INDIAN CINERARY URN.\n\n  Found in Kentucky.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  INDIAN CINERARY URN.\n\n  Found in Indiana.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  INDIAN CINERARY URN.\n\n  Found in Georgia.\n]\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  INDIAN CINERARY URN.\n\n  Found at Lake Nicaragua.\n]\n\n\u201cThe cremation of a Thlinket takes place in open air. The body, after\nlying in state for a few days, is taken out of the house through some\nopening made for the purpose, never through the regular entrance. It is\nplaced on a pile of logs, which are ignited, and the corpse rolled about\nwith long poles until thoroughly consumed.\n\n\u201cThe ceremonies attending cremation vary very much, according to the\nstanding of the deceased, age, sex, and so on.\n\n\u201cThe only reason I have ever heard given by the Indians why they cremate\nwas that if not burned, the body would always remain cold in the happy\nhunting-grounds.\n\n\u201cI was unable to find out why they do not burn doctors.\n\n\u201cI believe cremation among the civilized will necessarily become\ngenerally practiced in the future, and without ideas of horror, when\npeople are more fully enlightened, especially in hygienic principles.\u201d\n\nIn recent times, the missionaries are trying to put a stop to cremation\nin Alaska. This is a great mistake; and they will find it out before\nlong. The missionaries should endeavor to do what the English in India\nhave done and are doing still\u2014attempt to substitute scientific\nincineration for the crude ancient method of burning the dead on pyres.\nAnd in this undertaking, I am sure, they would have the support of the\nmost intelligent among the Indians. The natives of Alaska, no doubt,\nlearned by some terrible, never-to-be-forgotten experience the dangers\nand evils of burial in the ground; and, although their method of\nobviating these dangers and evils is rude and barbaric, the principle\nwhich impelled them to adopt cremation is right.\n\nThe first Caucasian who was cremated in the United States was Colonel\nHenry Laurens, who was the president of the first Congress, which\nconvened at Philadelphia in 1774; he was also a member of the military\nfamily of General Washington. Laurens was of Huguenot descent, born in\nCharleston, S. C., in 1724, and eminent as a statesman before and during\nthe Revolutionary War. He was educated in one of the best universities\nof Europe, and although following the vocation of a merchant during many\nyears, he achieved great distinction as a writer on political topics;\nhis pamphlets on the public questions of the time received much\nconsideration. Appointed minister to Holland, he was taken captive on\nthe voyage thither by a British man-of-war, and was imprisoned for some\ntime in the Tower as a rebel. Among his visitors there was a friend of\nother years, Edmund Burke, by whose influence he was finally set free.\nOne of Laurens\u2019 daughters had, when a child, apparently died of\nsmall-pox, but, being placed near an open window, she revived. Since\nthis occurrence, the colonel lived in constant fear of being buried\nalive, and therefore requested his daughters, by an injunction and\ndetailed directions given in his will, to burn his body after death; his\nfervent wish was carried out in his garden at Charleston, S. C., in\n1792.\n\nThe second to be burned was Mr. Henry Barry, who lived and was cinerated\nin the vicinity of Marion, S. C.\n\nIn the spring or winter of 1855, Count Pfeil, a German aristocrat, then\nproprietor of a farm in the neighborhood of Milwaukee, attempted to\nincinerate the corpse of his wife in accordance with her own request. He\naccordingly erected a funeral pile in his own yard, on the soil that he\nowned. When his intention to burn his wife became known among the\nfarmers in the vicinity, there was a great uproar; they finally went so\nfar as to march in a body to the residence of the count, and to declare\nthat they would mob him if he would dare to execute the cremation. He\nthen proposed, since the matter was creating a disturbance in the\nneighborhood, to transfer the incineration to the lake shore. But the\nprejudice of the farmers was so great that they would accept no\ncompromise. They finally petitioned the governor, and were successful in\nobtaining a decree prohibiting the cremation. The count, disgusted at\nthe lack of our boasted liberty, interred his wife, sold his estate, and\ndeparted for Europe.\n\nThe third reduced to ashes in the United States was the Baron de Palm,\nprince of the Holy Roman Empire, a native of Augsburg, Bavaria, who was\nincinerated in the Le Moyne crematory at Washington, Pa., on the 6th of\nDecember, 1876. The baron had died at the age of sixty-seven at New\nYork, in May, 1875, and his body had been immediately embalmed and\nplaced in the receiving vault of the Lutheran cemetery, where it was\nkept until the Le Moyne crematorium was finished.\n\nOn this day mentioned, many members of the secular press, and\ndelegations from various scientific and sanitary societies, assembled at\nthe crematory to witness the cineration of the defunct nobleman; many of\nthe leading newspapers of this country, and also of France, Germany, and\nEngland, were represented. About 30 invitations had been issued, and\nmany members of the prominent boards of health were present. The fires\nhad been started at two o\u2019clock in the morning. On opening the casket it\nwas found that the weight of the body had been reduced from 175 to 92\npounds. At 27 minutes past eight o\u2019clock, everything being pronounced\nready, the body, lying in the iron cradle and covered with a shroud\n(which had previously been soaked in an alum solution, to prevent its\ntoo rapid ignition), and decorated with flowers and evergreen, was\nconsigned to the retort, which was instantly shut. The actual\ntemperature of the retort could not be ascertained, as no pyrometer was\nat hand; it was, no doubt, a little over 2000\u00b0 Fahrenheit. Through a\nsmall opening in the cast-iron door, which closed the retort, an\noccasional glimpse of the interior was obtained, and the effect of the\nheat upon the body observed. In about 15 minutes the aqueous vapor had\nall been expelled, leaving the shroud completely charred, but still\nretaining its form sufficiently to completely conceal the outlines of\nthe body. In an hour the outlines of the prominent bones were plainly\nvisible, and an hour later the incineration was complete, but it was\ndeemed advisable to continue the heat for four hours from the time the\nbody had been first placed in the furnace. When last seen, much of the\nform of the body had remained, owing to the exclusion of the atmospheric\nair. During the burning, the ordinary draft of the furnace was increased\nby means of a fan-blower. The body was not removed from the furnace\nuntil some 24 hours had elapsed, to allow the retort to cool. During the\nentire process there was no offensive odor, either at the top of the\nchimney or elsewhere. The cremation was entirely satisfactory, and\nnothing of an unpleasant nature occurred. The residue left, after the\nincineration was completed, was three pints of ashes, which were\ncarefully collected, and, after being sprinkled with perfume, were\ndeposited in an antique vase, which was delivered to the officers of the\nTheosophical Society in attendance, of which the baron was a member.\n\n[Illustration: CREMATORY AT WASHINGTON, PA.]\n\nForty bushels of coke were consumed in burning Baron Palm, the whole\ncost of the operation being $7.04.\n\nIn the afternoon a meeting was held at Washington, presided over by J.\nLawson Judson, Esq., at which addresses were made by Colonel Olcott on\nthe history of cremation; Rev. George P. Hayes (president of the\nWashington and Jefferson College) on the bearing of the Bible and\nChristianity upon the subject of cremation; Dr. James King on\nincineration from a sanitary point of view; Dr. Le Moyne on the general\nadvantages of cremation; Boyd Crumine, Esq., who spoke of the popular\nprejudices against this method of disposing of the dead; and Mr.\nNicholas K. Wade, who alluded to the mechanical necessities of a perfect\ncremation.\n\nIt is to be regretted that so many of the persons who attended this\nincineration had a preconceived notion of the practice, which rendered\nthem totally unfit to judge of it. Being prejudiced from the beginning,\nit is not at all surprising that they should have given unsatisfactory,\nhighly sensational, and misrepresenting accounts of the affair to the\nworld; but as Mr. W. Eassie pertinently remarks, the same thing has\noccurred in every case of modern cremation up to the present time, and\nwill, no doubt, continue until the reform is more commonly practiced.\n\nThe fourth body that was cremated in the United States was Mrs. Jane\nPitman, from Cincinnati, who was destroyed in the Le Moyne crematorium,\nFeb. 6, 1877. The fifth disposed of by fire in America was Dr. Winslow,\nof California, who was burned at Salt Lake City on the 31st of July,\n1877, in a primitive furnace temporarily erected through his request by\nthe administrators of his estate. The sixth was a child of Mr. Julius\nKircher, who cremated it in his oven at New York City, in the fall of\n1877.\n\nThe Le Moyne crematory was closed to the general public Aug. 1, 1884.\nAfter that date no bodies were received by the trustees of the\ncrematorium, outside of Washington County, for cremation. Bodies were\nadmitted to the Le Moyne furnace for incineration from all parts of the\ncountry, only in order to carry out Dr. Le Moyne\u2019s view of\nreform\u2014keeping the subject before the public. Since the interest\nmanifested by the people of the United States in the subject of\ncremation is speedily growing, other crematories are building where the\npublic will be accommodated; and as the business increased to such an\nextent that it occupied more time than the trustees could possibly\ndevote to it, they were compelled to limit the use of the crematory.\nHereafter, therefore, no body will be cremated in this furnace, who has\nnot lived within the county in which Dr. Le Moyne lived and died. And\nwhereas not one of the persons consumed in this crematorium (except the\nowner himself) hailed from Washington County, we may presume that this\npioneer furnace of cremation in America has been closed forever.\n\nOf all the cremations which took place in the Le Moyne furnace, that of\nProfessor S. D. Gross, M.D., LL.D., attracted the greatest attention. It\nwas in accordance with his expressed wish that he was committed to the\nflames. He more than once declared he had no desire that some \u201ccurious\nimpertinent\u201d should, a hundred years hence, hand around his jawbone for\ninspection and comment, and to avoid such a contingency he gave positive\ndirections for the burning of his body. Cremation as a mode of decently\ndisposing of the dead could receive approval from no higher source, and\nin no more conspicuous manner, than in the disposition of his remains by\nthat means. Dr. Gross stood without a peer among his fellows; he was\nvenerated not only by the medical profession of America, but even by\nphysicians of foreign lands. He was to the profession of medicine what\nCharles O\u2019Connor was to the profession of law, and his deliberate choice\nof incineration in preference to burial attracted wide and respectful\nattention even in so conservative a class as doctors. Perhaps no man\never drew breath who was better qualified to express an opinion on this\nsubject. Who is so well entitled to form a correct opinion as the man\nwho for nearly three-quarters of a century had the closest possible\nrelations with the dying and the dead? That his example gave a new\nimpetus to incineration there is no room to doubt. He sought to be a\nteacher even after his death; he wanted to benefit his race even in his\ndecease. Perhaps he believed that others might follow where he led, as\nthey had done in life. Others will follow his example, and the work go\non until the present custom shall give way to the better one. It may be\nlong before that time comes, but come it will.\n\nOn its way to Washington, Pa., the body was accompanied by Mr. A. H.\nGross and Dr. Horwitz. There were no ceremonies at the incineration, and\nthe remains were reduced to ashes in two hours. The ashes weighed about\nseven pounds, were hermetically sealed in a tin box, and placed in the\ncoffin in which the body was carried to Washington. On reaching\nPhiladelphia the coffin was removed to the late residence of Dr. Gross,\nand subsequently the ashes were enclosed in a marble urn about three\nfeet high, unornamented and without inscription, and placed beside the\ncoffin of Dr. Gross\u2019 late wife in the family vault at Woodlawn Cemetery,\nwhere the Rev. Dr. Charles Currie read the Episcopal burial service.\n\nVoltaire derided his contemporaries by declaring that they could not\nprotect themselves from the fatal power of the dead. But when the great\nRevolution came along, overthrowing the then existing order of things,\nand performing a painful but necessary work, the same France that had\nlistened to the voice of the great philosopher became aware of a means\nthat shielded from the dangers of the burial-ground\u2014cremation.\n\nOn the 28th of March, 1794 (28 Germinal, An II), the deceased republican\nBeauvais, physician at Montpellier and member of the National Assembly,\nwas cremated in the Champ-de-Mars at Paris. The urn containing his ashes\nwas deposited in the archives of the nation.\n\nIn the year V of the republic (1797), a motion by Daubermesnil, to\nintroduce facultative incineration, providing that the act would take\nplace outside of Paris, was rejected by the Council of the Five Hundred;\nbut in 1799 (year VII of the republic), a law was passed by the Seine\ndepartment in favor of cremation. Advantage was frequently taken of the\npermission granted. At this time the Institute of France offered a prize\nof 1500 francs for the best essay on the question whether interment or\ncineration is preferable. In consequence, 40 dissertations were sent in,\nand all of them demanded optional cremation. The prize was accorded to\ntwo essays: those of MM. Mulot and Amaury-Duval.\n\nFrom 1856 to 1867, the French cremationists were led by M. Bonneau and\nDr. Caffe; the latter has retained the leadership till the most recent\ntimes, and has done much, by his admirable expositions of the subject,\nto popularize cremation in France. One point was brought out by him that\nis deserving of mention here, namely, that one tempted to stray from the\npath of honor and virtue may be restrained by the presence of ancestral\nurns.\n\nDr. Prosper de Pietra-Santa is to-day the foremost incinerationist in\nFrance, a position to which he does honor and which he well merits. His\nessays, first published in _L\u2019Union Medicale_, are the chief\ncontributions to modern French cremation literature. In 1873, he issued\na complete manual of the subject, in which he deplored the absence of\npopular sympathy with incineration in France. But the time will come\nwhen France will recognize the value of the labors of this ardent\nreformer, whose name is destined to occupy a most prominent place on the\nroll of honor of his native country.\n\nThe cremation society of France, the proper designation of which is \u201cLa\nSociet\u00e9 pour la propagation de la cremation,\u201d was founded in 1880, and\nincorporated on the 23d of December of the same year. The late Edmond\nAbout and Leon Gambetta\u2014_L\u2019illustre citoyen que la France a perdu_\u2014were\nmembers of this association. At present the society numbers 570 members.\nIts principal object now is to obtain a law permitting cremation; when\nthis is secured, it will devote its funds to the erection of crematories\nand the purchase of inventions which tend to simplify the process.\n\nAccording to Professor R. Beverly Cole, M.D., for many years past\ncremation is not infrequently practiced in Paris, the retorts of the gas\nfactories being employed for the purpose.\n\nThe first and only incineration in Belgium took place in 1798 or 1799,\nwhen a certain M. Yoidel, a resident of Mons, cremated the body of his\nchild in the yard of his house, and preserved the ashes in a golden urn.\n\nThe cremation society of Brussels was founded on the 28th of February,\n1882, and numbers now over 600 members.\n\nThe cremation society of Holland, which boasts a very complete\norganization, extends over the entire kingdom by means of branch\nsocieties. It was founded on the 28th of December, 1874, and\nincorporated by the royal decree of Sept. 1, 1875. Over 1500 members\nbelong to it. The branch societies are located at Amsterdam, Rotterdam,\nNijwegen, Delft, Leyden, Shiedam, Zutphen, Dortrecht, and Harlem. Since\n1876 a small periodical is published quarterly by the society of\nHolland, containing occasional communications concerning cremation, and\ndetailing the proceedings of the society. The funds of the association\nare in good condition, being mostly invested in government stock.\n\nThe first cinerary furnace built in the German Empire was erected at\nDresden, Saxony, and put in use in 1874, when bodies were cremated on\nthe 9th of October and 6th of November; the wife of Sir Charles Dilke\nwas one of them. No incineration occurred in this apparatus since that\ntime, owing to a refusal of the Saxon government to permit the same.\n\nOn the 6th and 7th of June, 1876, an international cremation congress,\nwhich was attended by representatives from almost all countries of the\nglobe, was held at Dresden, and did much to promote the interests of\nincineration in Germany. Many important resolutions were adopted, among\nothers that of forming an international committee to establish a journal\nfor the propagation of cremation. On June 7, the delegates witnessed the\ncineration of several animals in a Siemens apparatus, which completely\nreduced the animals experimented upon in one hour and one-half.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  INTERIOR OF WASHINGTON CREMATORY.\n\n  The accompanying wood-cut represents that part of the crematory at\n    Washington, Pa., in which the incineration takes place. The numbers\n    refer respectively to (1) the incinerator, closed; (2) the fire-box,\n    open; (3) the ash-pit; and (4) coal-bin. The room, as will be seen,\n    is needlessly plain, and might with slightly increased expense in\n    building be made more attractive. An ornamental front concealing the\n    brick-work and the coal-bin would serve greatly to improve its\n    appearance. With a slightly different arrangement the fire-box and\n    ash-pit might be kept continually out of sight. If the incinerator\n    were turned end for end and made to open from the opposite side,\n    nothing would be seen by the friends of the deceased but its open\n    door and rosy light, which are most attractive to the eye.\n]\n\nCremation is now most extensively practiced in Gotha, in the new\ncrematory established by the municipal council of that city, which was\nopened to the public on the 17th of November, 1878.\n\nThe first cremation at Gotha came off on the afternoon of the 10th of\nDecember, 1878, when Mr. Stier, a civil engineer whose embalmed body had\nawaited the completion of the crematorium for some time, was consigned\nto the furnace. Since the establishment of the crematory, over 500\npersons have been incinerated at Gotha, many of whom were from foreign\nlands,\u2014Russia, England, France, America, etc.\n\nBerlin is the center of the reform in Germany. The Berlin cremation\nsociety has an enormous membership, and counts among its members many\npersons of distinction. Altogether the society numbers 534 members, 45\nof them being physicians.\n\nItaly may be considered the pioneer of cremation in modern times; for\nthere, for the first time, incineration was practiced in a systematic\nand improved manner, and in no land have the cremationists been so\nactive and energetic in advocating the reform as in this.\n\nFrom 1774 till 1874 cremation was advocated by Piattoli, Moleschott,\nColetti, Morelli, Du Jardin, Bertain, Castiglione, Pini, and Polli.\n\nBaron Albert Keller, who, though of German descent, was an Italian\ncitizen and a resident of Milan, and above all an enthusiastic patron of\ncremation, deposited 10,000 lire for the cineration of his own body, and\ndirected that after defraying the costs of his cremation, the remaining\nmoney should be used to form a fund for the erection of a building\nexclusively devoted to the burning of the dead. When this nobleman died\nin 1874, his last directions were carried out, and the cremation temple\nwhich bears his name became, in accordance with the testament of the\ndeceased, the property of the city of Milan.\n\nThe Italian clergy opposed incineration but very little. In the capital\nof Lombardy a distinguished prelate even declared that the burning of\nthe dead is in no wise contrary to the dogma of the church; and here one\nalso can witness how priests accompany the body to be incinerated to the\n_Tempio Crematorio_, where they say a last prayer: indeed proof of\ntolerance and genuine Christianity.\n\nThe Fourth Medical Congress held at Milan on the 5th of September, 1877,\nendorsed cremation, stating that it is a veritable scientific progress\nwhich has the advantage over inhumation in corresponding to the\nexigencies of hygiene. It also expressed its conviction that\nincineration in no way offends against the affection of families for\ntheir defunct, the respect and veneration for human remains, and the\nreligions principles of the surviving.\n\nThe Milan cremation society was organized chiefly through the efforts of\nDrs. Pini and Cristoforis, the latter being elected president. As the\nPolli-Clericetti apparatus in the crematorium had not given general\nsatisfaction, the gasometer behind the temple was removed, in 1880, and\nsuitable wings were built. Two furnaces were then erected, one being\nbuilt on the Gorini system, in which the ordinary cremations are\nperformed, and the other on the Venini system, where cremation of the\nremains of persons who died from contagious diseases, and of strangers,\ntakes place. The building also has three columbaria, one on each side of\nthe crematorium, and an ordinary one in the vaults below.\n\nOwing to the success of the Milan crematory, crematoria were built at\nPadua, Cremona, Varese, Lodi, Brescia, and Rome. A cinerary furnace was\nalso speedily erected in the hospital at Spezzia, by order of the\nSecretary of the Navy; this apparatus was principally used for the\ncremation of cholera victims.\n\nThe urns holding the ashes of the cremated cannot be removed from an\nItalian columbarium except by permission of the prefect of the province.\nThe urns must be tightly closed, and must bear the name of the deceased\nand the date of his or her death. The ashes of only one body may be\nplaced in an urn, the reverse being strictly forbidden. Every cremation\nis registered both by the board of trustees of the crematory and by the\ncivil authorities.\n\nLooking over the history of cremation in Italy, one needs must gain the\nfirm conviction that Dr. Gaetano Pini of Milan is the most ardent\ncremationist in his native country. Whenever a cremation society was\norganized there, the indefatigable doctor was on hand, giving advice and\ndelivering addresses, increasing the zeal of the advocates of the\nreform, and encouraging its timid friends. Really, the amount of labor\nperformed by this gentleman is truly marvelous. Already the doctor is\nreaping the fruits of his philanthropic work. Incineration is steadily\nadvancing in Italy, and is gaining popular favor rapidly, and Dr. Pini\u2019s\nname will be handed down to succeeding generations as that of a\nbenefactor of his land and people.\n\nCremation societies now exist at Ancona, Asti, Bologna, Brescia, Capri,\nCodogno, Como, Cremona, Demodossola, Florence, Genoa, Intra, Livorno,\nLodi, Milan, Modena, Novara, Padua, Parma, Pavia, Perugia, Piacenza,\nPisa, Pistoga, San Remo, Siena, Turin, Undine, Varese, Venice, and\nVerona.\n\nIn Spain, where the body of Merino, the man who attempted the\nassassination of Queen Isabella, was burned in 1852, cremation has made\nas yet but little progress, but even in this stronghold of Catholicism\nit can point to friends.\n\n_El Anfiteatro Anatomico Espa\u00f1ol_ of March 15, 1874, contains an\nadmirable article on incineration by Don Federico Gilman. Two pamphlets\non the subject also appeared, one by Enrico Salcedo at Valencia in 1876,\nthe other by L. Gallardo at Madrid in 1878.\n\nThe Board of Public Health at Madrid resolved in 1884 to request the\ngovernment to make cremation obligatory during epidemics, and to permit\nincineration in all cases where the family of a deceased wish to dispose\nof him so.\n\nDr. Cervera, member of the municipal chamber of Madrid, proposed the\nerection of a crematory temple in the new cemetery of that city.\n\nAt Lisbon, Portugal, cremation is not only optional, but the authorities\nof the city have even issued a decree making cremation compulsory in\ntime of epidemics.\n\nThe cremation movement in Switzerland began in the spring of 1874. On\nthe 20th of December, 1878, the municipal council of Zuerich granted\nleave to erect a crematorium on a ceded piece of ground in the new\ncemetery of that town. I am sorry to say that a crematory has as yet not\nbeen erected, owing to a lack of funds. This deplorable condition is due\nto a great extent to the ridiculously small membership-fee and annual\ndues of but two francs; yet, in spite of all this, success is sure to\ncome in the end, for even this lagging fund grows yearly. The society at\nZuerich now numbers nearly 400 members, and is (the fund dilemma\nexcepted) in a prosperous condition. Wegmann-Ercolani is its recognized\nleader, and must be looked upon as the foremost champion of incineration\nin Switzerland.\n\nIn Austria the outlook for cremation is not favorable, but one need not\nbe surprised at that, for Austria is known to be one of the most\nconservative countries in the world.\n\nIn 1658, when several collections of cinerary urns were discovered in\nOld Walsingham, Norfolk, England, Sir Thomas Browne, a learned\nphysician, came forward with a brilliant dissertation on cremation,\nwhich still holds its rank among standard English literature. This\nessay, conspicuous for the erudition displayed, was a singularly\npowerful and idiomatic plea for incineration. The next to take up the\nrighteous cause of cremation in Great Britain was no less a person than\nSir James Y. Simpson, the eminent surgeon of Edinburgh, Scotland. He\ndemonstrated how easy it would be for his fellow-townsmen to maintain a\nfire constantly on the hill of the Hunter\u2019s Bog, near Edinburgh. But he,\ntoo, only had in view the ancient pyre; therefore it is not astonishing\nthat his efforts were not crowned with success.\n\nIt appears that about the year 1844, the sanction of the authorities of\nthe city of London was obtained for the cremation, within the City of\nLondon Gas Works, of the dead of Bridewell Hospital; an arrangement was\nalso concluded with the city authorities for the incineration of bodies\nof dead prisoners, and of the condemned meat and offal of the markets.\nThe project, however, met with so much opposition from certain churchmen\nthat it fell into abeyance.\n\nIn modern times the gong of cineration was first struck by Sir Henry\nThompson, who had become enamored with incineration at the Vienna\nExposition, and who earnestly treated of cremation in a brilliant paper,\n\u201cThe Treatment of the Body after Death,\u201d in _The Contemporary Review_\nfor January, 1874. This article, as might be expected, elicited great\npopular interest, much approval from all classes of the public, and some\nvigorous opposition. It was replied to, in the February issue of the\nsame periodical, by Mr. Philip H. Holland, the Medical Inspector of\nBurials for England and Wales, whose statements and arguments, adroit\nthough some of them were, were properly refuted in the succeeding number\nof the _Review_. Sir Henry fortified his arguments by citing some\nexperiments with the bodies of lower animals, which he had burned, with\nlittle cost and no inconvenience, in a Siemens furnace.\n\nFor many years prior to 1874, Dr. Lord, health officer for Hampstead,\ncontinued to urge the practical necessity for the introduction of\nincremation.\n\nThe Cremation Society of England was founded on the 13th of January,\n1874, and no sooner was it established than letters of encouragement\npoured in from all parts of Great Britain, and there was a great influx\nof new members and subscribers to its declaration. Every cremationist\nmust feel proud to know that among those who, under Sir Henry Thompson\u2019s\nable presidency, founded the society, were such men of distinction as\nthe late Shirley Brooks and Anthony Trollope, the well-known novelist.\nThe English Cremation Society was founded for the propagation of the\ntenets of incineration, not for trading purposes, as may have been\nsupposed by some incredulous, ill-disposed, or ignorant minds.\n\n[Illustration: THE CREMATORIUM AT GOTHA.]\n\nIn 1878, the society purchased an acre of ground in a secluded part of\nSt. John, Woking, in Surrey, especially adapted by position for the\npurpose, and erected thereon a building, with an apparatus of the most\napproved kind, for effecting cremation of the dead. After some\ndeliberation, the system of Professor Gorini, of Lodi, in Italy, was\nadopted, since it was considered the best for the site, inasmuch as no\nsupply of gas is required to insure combustion, but only coal or wood.\nIt is to be regretted, that owing to a lack of funds, only the furnace\ncould be built, which standing alone in spacious fields, must present\nrather a dreary aspect; must, I take it, appear far too realistic. It is\nto be hoped that the society will, by means of large bequests or\nsufficient contributions from the public, be placed in a position to\nroof over the furnace, and to erect a chapel or a hall in front of it,\nso as to accommodate the friends and mourners. The apparatus was next\ntested by an experiment, which consisted of the burning of a portion of\nthe carcass of a horse weighing 140 pounds, that was consumed in two\nhours, at a cost of a very small quantity of fuel. The ashes resulting\nfrom the combustion were perfectly white, and weighed a little under six\npounds; not the slightest odor could be detected in the closest\nneighborhood of the furnace, or even with the doors of the crematory\nchamber open; and there was, moreover, no escape of smoke from the\nchimney. The success of the system was established, and the possibility\nof cremation without offence completely demonstrated.\n\nSince that time the place has been maintained in perfect order, but has\nnot been used, owing to a doubt raised soon after the date referred to,\nas to the legality of adopting the process in England. A deputation of\nthe cremation society waited upon the Home Secretary on the 20th of\nMarch, 1879, with a view of representing to the government their own\nwishes in respect to the crematory at Woking. The Home Secretary\nadmitted that the proposed practice was unaffected by existing law, but\nhe had been advised that inasmuch as the registration of deaths in her\nMajesty\u2019s country had always been associated with burial, he was\nconstrained to conclude that cremation must first be approved by\nParliament, and that if persisted in, he saw no other course open than\nto legislate against it. He further advised the council to introduce a\nshort bill into the House of Lords, and not to rely upon the opinions of\nQueen\u2019s counsel which had been obtained by them affirming that it might\nbe practiced. Thus the so-called Cameron bill originated. It is strange\nthat England, so far advanced in political freedom, should yet be so\ndeficient in intellectual liberty. Among the English there are doubtless\nas many unbiased investigators as among any other nation, but both the\nrepresentatives of the people and the government present the deplorable\npicture of solicitous embarrassment, and maintain an obstinate\nconservatism when any question involving religion or ecclesiastical\nrites comes up before them; any act that is not seconded by the Church\nof England is rejected through non-support; any abuse which the\nEstablished Church desires to retain cannot be removed. That this holds\ntrue is evinced by the repeated failure of the bill permitting a widower\nto marry his sister-in-law, notwithstanding that even the royal family\ndesire to contract such a marriage. Finally the bill was accepted by the\nHouse of Commons, but has been since stubbornly rejected by the House of\nLords.\n\nDr. Cameron\u2019s cremation bill\u2014providing legal sanction for the adoption\nof cremation in Great Britain\u2014was submitted to the House of Commons some\ntime in 1884\u2014I do not remember the exact date. This bill, which asked\nbut for permissive incineration, a privilege that is readily granted in\nall civilized countries of the globe, was rejected on the second reading\nby a vote of 149 to 79. It is a solace to know that the minority\nincluded the scientific men, men of such world-wide fame as Sir Lyon\nPlayfair, Sir John Lubbock, and many others. Mr. Gladstone, zealous in\nhis endeavors to serve the Church, brought the influence of the\nGovernment to bear against the bill, pleading in excuse that it was\ncontrary to public opinion. Every well-balanced mind must conceive\ninstantly that the Premier might have reserved the expression of the\npublic will and opinion for Parliament, but that he wished to oblige the\nChurch of England. That Englishmen regard cremation from the same\nstandpoint as other people is proven by the 79 favorable votes that were\ncast.\n\nMr. W. Eassie delivered excellent addresses on cremation before the\nfirst congress of the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, held in 1877,\nat Leamington, and before the congress at Manchester, in 1879, when he\nexhibited the model of the Polli-Clericetti apparatus. In March, 1879,\nthe question of cremation was also presented to the House of Lords, but\nwithout practical results.\n\nIn August, 1880, Sir T. Spencer Wells, late president of the Royal\nCollege of Surgeons of England, and Surgeon to the Queen\u2019s Household,\nread a masterly paper on incineration, entitled \u201cCremation or Burial,\u201d\nat the meeting of the British Medical Association, at Cambridge. At its\nconclusion a memorial was drawn up, addressed to the Home Secretary, and\npraying that permission be granted for the practice of cremation. The\naddress was as follows:\u2014\n\n\u201cWe, the undersigned members of the British Medical Association,\nassembled at Cambridge, disapprove the present custom of burying the\ndead, and desire to substitute some mode which shall rapidly resolve the\nbody into its component elements by a process which cannot offend the\nliving, and may render the remains absolutely innocuous. Until some\nbetter mode is devised we desire to promote that usually known as\ncremation. As the process can now be carried out without anything\napproaching to nuisance, and as it is not illegal, we trust the\ngovernment will not oppose the practice, when convinced that proper\nregulations are observed and ampler guarantees of death having occurred\nfrom natural causes are obtained than are now required for burial.\u201d\n\nThis memorial was signed by Sir T. Spencer Wells and many other\nprominent physicians and surgeons, altogether by over one hundred\nmembers of the association.\n\nOn Jan. 13, 1884, an incident occurred that speedily wrought a\nmetamorphosis of the whole question regarding the legality of cineration\nin the United Kingdoms. There is an eccentric physician of South Wales,\nwho is known as Dr. Price. He claims to be the nineteenth century\nrepresentative of the ancient Druids. His costume is green trousers,\nwhite smock coat, and fox-skin head-covering. He is an educated\nphysician and a member of the British Medical Association. The Druids of\nold burned their dead, and the child of Dr. Price having died, he\ndetermined to dispose of her remains by cremation. He retired at\nnightfall to a hill-top, where, placing the corpse in a cask of\npetroleum, he applied the torch. The burning aroused the populace, who,\non nearing the spot, discovered its purpose. Amid much excitement the\ncharred remains were rescued, and the Druid doctor placed under arrest.\nHe was tried at the Glamorganshire Assizes, Cardiff, and acquitted. Sir\nJames Stephen, the learned judge, when charging the grand jury at the\ntrial, stated that Lord Justice Fry agreed in the views about to be\nexpressed by him. He reviewed elaborately all the authorities bearing on\nthe case, and, after discussing the methods of disposing of the dead in\nancient Europe, failed to discover any law, ancient or modern, which\nforbids cremation, providing it be done in such a manner as to cause no\nnuisance.\n\nThis decision, of course, rendered the society free to act as it\npleased. Advertisements were immediately put in the newspapers, to say\nthat anybody could be cremated who would adhere to the rules formulated\nby the society. Under these circumstances the cremation society felt it\na duty to indicate, without delay, those safeguards which they deemed it\nessential to associate with the proceeding in order to prevent the\ndestruction of a body which might have met death by unfair means. They\nwere aware that the chief practical objection which can be urged against\nthe employment of cremation consists in the opportunity which it offers,\napart from such precautions, for removing the traces of poison or other\ninjury which are retained by an undestroyed body, and therefore framed\nthe sequent rules, which still hold good:\u2014\n\n\u201c1. An application in writing must be made by the friends or executors\nof the deceased,\u2014unless it has been made by the deceased person himself\nduring life,\u2014stating that it was the wish of the deceased to be cremated\nafter death. 2. A certificate must be sent in by one qualified medical\nman at least, who attended the deceased until the time of death,\nunhesitatingly stating that the cause of death was natural, and what the\ncause was. 3. If no medical man attended during the illness, autopsy\nmust be made by a medical officer appointed by the society, or no\ncremation can take place. These conditions being complied with, the\ncouncil of the society reserve the right in all cases of refusing\npermission for the performance of the cremation, and, in the event of\npermitting it, will offer every facility for its accomplishment in the\nbest manner.\u201d\n\nThe Cremation Society of England owes much to its indefatigable honorary\nsecretary, Mr. William Eassie, C.E., whose propaganda for incineration\nis not confined to the British Isles, but extends all over the world. I\nam sure that his name will always head the list of those who have\npromoted cremation in the country of Shakespeare, and in this respect\neven place him over and above that illustrious surgeon and physicist,\nSir Henry Thompson. I would not, I am certain, experience the least\nastonishment should I hear that Mr. Eassie sent some of his valuable\nessays on cineration to some savage in Africa, for instance the king of\nDahomey, and that the royal negro, pleased with the idea, instantly had\nseveral hundred of his subjects cremated before him, which, being a\ncomplete success in every respect, led his dusky majesty to swear by all\nthe holy idols with which he is familiar that he too should be reduced\nto ashes after death.\n\nPublic sentiment reflected in the press of the United Kingdoms has been\nalmost unanimously in favor of cremation. Journals of all classes,\nreligious, fashionable, popular, Whig, Radical, or Tory, from the _Court\nCircular_ to the _Rock_, from the _Times_ to _Lloyd\u2019s Weekly Newspaper_,\nhave by a vast majority pronounced in its favor.\n\nThe Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers have appointed a committee with\nthe view of considering the propriety of erecting a crematorium at\nIlford.\n\nThe oldest case of cremation on record in Great Britain was that of a\nwidow, Mrs. Pratt, of George Street, Hanover Square, London. The lady\nwas burned, in obedience to directions given in her testament, in the\nnew graveyard adjoining Tyburn turnpike, on the 26th of September, 1769.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  THE CREMATORIUM AT MILAN.\n  (From Dr. Pini\u2019s work.)\n]\n\nOn the 8th and 9th of October, 1882, the wife of Captain Hanham, and his\nmother, Lady Hanham, wife of the late Sir James Hanham, Bart., of Dean\u2019s\nCourt, Dorset, were cremated in a cheap temporary crematory, devised by\nMr. Richards of Wincanton. The furnace had been built under the\nsupervision of Captain Hanham himself. The coffins were placed on iron\nplates, and fire bricks above the furnace, a chimney 22 feet high\nfurnishing the draught. The process lasted two hours, and was successful\nin every respect.\n\nA year later, on the 7th of December, 1883, the captain, Thomas C.\nHanham, was reduced to ashes in the same apparatus at his residence in\nManstone, Dorsetshire. The incineration was public, and in conformity\nwith the last testamentary dispositions of the deceased. The cremation\nwas accomplished in 9 hours and 40 minutes. The ashes were deposited in\nthe family mausoleum.\n\nThe Danish Cremation Society at Copenhagen was founded in 1881, and is\nin a flourishing condition. It has several branch societies in the\nprovinces. Soon after its organization it numbered 1500 members; it now\ncounts 1800 members, among them 120 physicians. Several attempts were\nmade in Denmark to legalize incineration, but in vain: as there is,\nhowever, no law prohibiting the act, the society is determined to\nimitate the example of England, to execute incineration at their own\nrisk, and await further legislation.\n\nMr. Per Lindell, a civil engineer, did much to popularize cremation in\nSweden. For many years he treated of the subject in the columns of the\n_Norden_, a journal edited by him. It was through his influence that the\nSwedish Cremation Society was established on the 31st of May, 1882, at\nStockholm, under the presidency of Colonel E. Klingenstierna. At present\nthe society numbers from 700 to 800 members. There is no law forbidding\nincineration; the prospects are therefore very good. As soon as\nsufficient money is on hand a crematory will be erected and put in use.\nA society, affiliated with the central one, was recently organized at\nGothenburg.\n\nIn the neighborhood of the new cemetery, St. Francisco Xavier, at Rio de\nJaneiro, Brazil, a large space of ground has been assigned for the\nerection of a crematory temple. Incineration will be practiced there in\norder to lessen, if possible, the alarming rate of mortality in that\nunhealthy place. Dr. A. Vinelli deserves great credit for his admirable\narticles in support of cremation in the _Revista Medica de Rio de\nJaneiro_ of 1878.\n\nIn the Argentine Republic, Mexico, and Uruguay, a steady movement is on\nfoot in favor of the reform. The authorities in Mexico have already\ngranted permission for the construction of a crematorium on the Gorini\npattern.\n\nIt is said that the government of Venezuela has also decided to erect a\ncrematory, wherein to reduce to innocuous ashes the bodies of persons\ndeceased of yellow fever.\n\nThe idea to propagate cremation at Valparaiso, Chili, originated with\nthe Lessing Lodge of Free Masons, which, on the 6th of August, 1881,\ndirected a circular to the other Masonic lodges of the city, requesting\nthem to send representatives to a preliminary meeting. This meeting came\noff on the 3d of December of the same year. Cremation was freely\ndiscussed from every standpoint, but on the whole the meeting was not\nfollowed by any practical result.\n\nOn the last of December, 1881, a proclamation to organize a cremation\nsociety was published in the journal _Il Mercurio_ by the committee\nhaving the matter in charge. On the 20th of May, 1882, the Cremation\nSociety of Chili was formed under the presidency of Se\u00f1or O. Malvini.\nThis society is in a flourishing condition, and now numbers over 200\nmembers.\n\nTowards the end of 1883 a committee to organize a cremation society at\nAlexandria, Egypt, was formed by M. Lumel, who, unfortunately, died in\nthe same year. The committee, however, is still in existence, and is at\npresent occupied in realizing the ideas of M. Lumel. At Cairo Messrs.\nTitus Figari and Cesare Praga labor to found a cremation society.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER II.\n       THE EVILS OF BURIAL; THE SANITARY ASPECT OF INCINERATION.\n\n\nThe grave, hallowed by religion and the queen of arts, poetry, has\nbecome to us the emblem of eternal rest\u2014something that is beautiful;\nsomething in which we may sleep long and well. The weeping-willow droops\nits slender branches over it, sweet, fragrant flowers thrive upon its\nsoil, and the little birds perch there to sing their song.\n\nThe rays of the sun often play upon the small earth elevation, and lend\nadditional beauty to the green foliage of the trees, the bright color of\nthe many flowers.\n\nBut verily, we are like the sunshine\u2014superficial. It is the great fault\nof mankind to be satisfied with a film-like knowledge of things. To go\ndeeper, to dive below the superstratum, would mean to meet, perhaps,\nwith matters not at all pleasant; to become cognizant of facts never\nbefore dreamt of. Consequently, the majority of men is content to remain\non the surface; content to know a little, but not all.\n\nThank God, there are happily individuals left who descend to the bottom\nof every question, scientific or social, and who daily enrich all\ndepartments of learning.\n\nAs regards the grave, let us first of all listen to him who has held\ngenerations of folk spellbound; let us bow reverently before the opinion\nof one of the masters among English novelists\u2014Charles Dickens.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  THE CREMATORIUM AT CREMONA.\n  (From Dr. Pini\u2019s work.)\n]\n\nIt is he who tells us in measured words that the grave is naught but\u2014\n\n            \u201cBrave lodgings for one, brave lodgings for one,\n            A few feet of cold earth, when life is done;\n            A stone at the head, a stone at the feet,\n            A rich, juicy meal for the worms to eat;\n            Rank grass overhead, and damp clay around,\n            Brave lodgings for one, these, in holy ground!\u201d\n\nThe late Prof. Samuel D. Gross, M.D., one of the greatest surgeons the\nworld ever possessed, called burial a horrible practice, and maintained\nthat:\u2014\n\n\u201cIf people could see the human body after the process of decomposition\nsets in, which is as soon as the vital spark ceases to exist, they would\nnot want to be buried; they would be in favor of cremation. If they\ncould go into a dissecting-room and see the horrid sights of the\ndissecting-table, they would not wish to be buried. Burying the human\nbody, I think, is a horrible thing. If more was known about the human\nframe while undergoing decomposition, people would turn with horror from\nthe custom of burying their dead. It takes a human body 50, 60, 80\nyears\u2014yes, longer than that\u2014to decay. Think of it! The remains of a\nfriend lying under six feet of ground, or less, for that length of time,\ngoing through the slow stages of decay, and other bodies all this time\nbeing buried around these remains. Infants grow up, and pass into\nmanhood or womanhood; grow old, and get near the door of death; and\nduring all that time the body which was buried in their infancy lies a\nfew feet under ground in this sickening state, undergoing the slow\nprocess of decay. Think of thousands of such bodies crowded into a few\nacres of ground, and then reflect that these graves, or many of them, in\ntime fill with water, and that water percolates through the ground and\nmixes with the springs and rivers from which we drink.\n\n\u201cPeople turn with dread from the subject of cremation. Why, if they\nknew what physicians know,\u2014what they have learned in the\ndissecting-room,\u2014they would look upon burning the human body as a\nbeautiful art in comparison with burying it. There is something\neminently repulsive to me about the idea of lying a few feet under\nground for a century, or perhaps two centuries, going through the\nprocess of decomposition. When I die, I want my body to be burned.\n\n\u201cAny unprejudiced mind needs but little time to reflect in forming a\nconclusion as to which is the better method of disposing of the body.\nCommon sense and reason proclaim in favor of cremation. There is no\nreason for keeping up the burial custom, but many against it; some of\nthe most practical of which are but too recently developed to need\nmention. There is nothing repulsive in the idea of cremation. People\u2019s\nprejudice is the only opponent it has. If they could be awakened to a\nsense of the horror of crowding thousands of bodies under the ground, to\npollute in many instances the air we breathe and the water we drink,\ntheir prejudice would be overcome; cremation would be taken for what it\ntruly is\u2014a beautiful method of disposing of the body. The friends of the\ndeparted can do as they please with the remains. Take the ashes of a\nwife or daughter and put them in an urn; place it on your mantelpiece,\nor in as private a place as you please. Strew them on the ground if you\nlike, and let them assist in bringing forth a blade of grass. This would\nbe an advantage over the burial method, where human bodies only cumber\nthe ground.\u201d\n\nThis was said by a man who not only showed considerable ability as an\noperator, and writer on topics of medicine, but who also was honored by\nthe famous universities of Cambridge and Oxford, receiving from them\nacademical titles never conferred except upon the most distinguished.\n\nWe will take a spade (only metaphorically, of course) and investigate\nthe narrow pit which serves to hold all that is mortal of man after the\nspark of life has extinguished. Now we remove the plants, the clinging\nvines, the blooming flowrets. We throw the earth aside and finally lay\nbare a coffin. A coffin? Something that must have been one in the remote\npast. A sickening odor greets us. We step back to draw a breath of pure\nair. At last we muster up sufficient courage to return to the grave. A\ntouch of the spade causes the top-board of the box to fall to pieces,\nand there is revealed to the sight a spectacle that is horrible. The\nground around the body has been moist and non-porous; what has remained\nof the corpse is only a mass of foul flesh in a state of putrefaction.\nIs there anything more disgusting than such a sight?\n\nShakespeare says in \u201cAs You Like It\u201d:\u2014\n\n             \u201cAnd so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe,\n             And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot;\n             And thereby hangs a tale.\u201d\n\nTrue! The tale that hangs thereby is illustrative of the carelessness\nand ignorance of man alike. The grave has been at all times a kind of\nbox of Pandora, with this difference,\u2014it did not require unclosing:\nunopened, the grave sent forth its children\u2014pestilence and death\u2014to\ndecimate the ranks of the population of the globe. But all calamities\ncaused by burial have been endured by people with perfect indifference,\nand it was not until modern times that any reforms were attempted at\nall. But in spite of these so-called reforms, the murder of the living\nby the dead has continued. The reforms I mentioned generally resulted in\nthe removal of cemeteries to the suburbs of cities. In this way the evil\neffects of interment were deferred for some time, till the city\nenlarged, and the population closed in around the burial-grounds.\n\nWhat is burial? For what purpose do we place the bodies of our dead in\nthe earth? It is the beginning of a chemical process\u2014a process which\nends finally in the total dissolution of the corpse. The chemical\nconstituents of our body are returned to nature. Burial and cremation\nare in a sense the same; in either case the body oxydates. The great\ndistinction between the two lies in the fact, that the burning in the\ngrave requires years for its completion, and is fraught with danger to\nthe living, whilst in case of incineration the body is reduced to its\nprimitive elements in the brief space of a few hours, and is\nunaccompanied by anything that may do harm.\n\nDr. A. B. Prescott, Professor of Chemistry in the University of\nMichigan, has determined what elements of the human body are destroyed\nor dissipated by cremation, and what remain in the ashes. In a letter to\nthe _Detroit Post_ he states:\u2014\n\n\u201cOf the 70 chemical elements or ultimate simples, known to man, 15 are\nfound in the human body. Of these, four\u2014carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and\noxygen\u2014are derived from the air, and in combustion, as in decay, they\nreturn to the air again. These four in their various compounds make up\nby far the greater part of the animal tissues. Of the remaining 11\nchemical elements, six are metals,\u2014potassium, sodium, calcium,\nmagnesium, iron, and manganese; and five are non-metals,\u2014sulphur,\nphosphorus, chlorine, fluorine, and silicon. When combustion of the\ntissues is completed, the six metals, in combination with the five\nnon-metals last named, are left behind in the ash. These were drawn from\nthe earth. There are about 19 chemical compounds in the ash so left,\ncompounds such as phosphate of lime, carbonate of lime, sulphate of\npotash, chloride of sodium, etc. The greater number of the ultimate\nelements contained in the living body are left behind in the ash, but\nthe proportional quantity made up by all these elements is, of course,\nvery small. In the first place, about two-thirds of the tissues consist\nof water. The proportion of the \u2018ash\u2019 to the tissues varies from two per\ncent in muscle and seven-tenths per cent in blood, to 66 per cent in\nbone. The \u2018ash\u2019 left by combustion is very nearly the same, in kind and\nin quantity, as the \u2018dust\u2019 left after the final completion of decay.\u201d\n\nWhat is decomposition? How does it take place normally? Decomposition is\nthe decay of an organic substance, which is completely destroyed through\nthe influence of the atmospheric oxygen. Decomposition is facilitated by\nmoisture. The organic mass undergoing such change assumes a different\ncolor and consistency and gives up carbonic acid, ammonia, and water;\nthe same products originate in the rapid destruction of an organic\nsubstance by means of fire.\n\nOnly those parts of the body (the bones) that can best resist the\ninfluence of the air remain secure from decay a longer time; at last\nthey also crumble into dust and mingle with the rest.\n\nWetness accelerates decay. When we hear the rain fall in the silent\nnight, we are compelled to think, shuddering, how the horrible process\nof destruction begins in the grave of some beloved one whom we have\nrecently buried.\n\nThe same stench that assails our nostrils when we approach a corpse that\nhas lain a long time above ground, meets us when we open a grave; the\nsame poisonous gases are evolved under ground from a decaying corpus as\nupon the surface of the earth. It makes no difference whether the grave\nwe explore be that of a prime minister, upon which a magnificent\nmonument rears its costly shaft high into the air, or that of a common\ncriminal who tried to enjoy existence by spending three-quarters of his\nlifetime in prison; the result remains the same: in each we find the\ndisgusting and sickening evidence of slow destruction,\u2014a formless,\nputrid mass of flesh, and sometimes numberless revelling worms.\n\nThe conditions under which decomposition can take place are a certain\ndegree of moisture and a constant supply of air. When a corpse is\nembedded in a soil that is very wet, a curious change takes place. There\nis no decay, but instead a fatty metamorphosis, giving the body a waxy\nappearance and preserving its original form. The result of this\ntransformation is called adipocere. The process by which the body is\nchanged into this stearine-like mass is entitled saponification, and is\nnot very well understood as yet by the scientists. Such preserved bodies\nwere found in the burial-grounds at Paris, Brussels, London, and many\nother cities.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  THE CREMATORIUM AT VARESE.\n  (From Dr. Pini\u2019s work.)\n]\n\nIn 1874, the cemetery board of the burial-ground at Zuerich,\nSwitzerland, discovered that the bodies interred in the graveyard since\n1849 had not undergone decomposition, but had turned into adipocere.\nThis horrible discovery materially assisted the progress of incineration\nin Switzerland.\n\nTripp relates that when eight bodies were taken up in a cemetery near\nWorcester, England, the soil of which was composed chiefly of gravel and\nclay that was always very moist and at times so wet that the water had\nto be pumped out of the graves, the undecayed body of a\nnineteen-year-old girl was found which had been buried 51 years and had\nundergone saponification; the other corpses were decomposed, also the\ncoffins, while the casket which had contained the saponified body was\npreserved.\n\nI have seen but one saponified corpse. It was at the museum of the New\nYork College of Physicians and Surgeons; I have forgotten whether it was\na man or woman. But I still remember how I shuddered at the sight and\nhow I walked close up to the glass case to make sure that the waxy mass\nwithin was a human being.\n\nIt is superfluous to point out here that cremation puts a stop to\nsaponification. One need not be a chemist to know that a body cannot\nturn into adipocere after it has been reduced to ashes.\n\nWhenever the earth of a graveyard yet contains enough oxygen for the\ncorpses deposited there, the dangers are very few; but whenever this is\nnot the case, the bodies of the dead undergo a horrible metamorphosis,\nknown as putrefaction, and become dangerous to the living on account of\nthe poisonous gases and other effluvia generated.\n\nWe observe the same phenomenon in our stoves. When but very little air\nis admitted into them, the combustion of even very inflammable material\nremains incomplete; and stifling gases (for instance, carbonic oxide\ngas) are produced.\n\nIt is evident that a porous soil facilitates decomposition, the products\nof which it absorbs and retains till they have entered into some\nharmless combination. There is, however, a limit to its efficiency. When\nit becomes overcharged with the products of decomposition, it can only\nhold a small quantity of them; the rest are delivered to the water,\nwhich permeates it and the air which passes over it. On the other hand,\nit is clear that a very damp, non-porous soil into which the air cannot\nenter favors putrefaction.\n\nA state of saturation is produced in the course of time in the best of\ncemeteries by a continued system of overcrowding.\n\nAlthough overcrowding of cemeteries is confined almost entirely to the\ncountries of Europe, yet there are many American burial-grounds in\nwhich this condition exists; and, what is worse, they are annually\nmultiplying. Some of these overcrowded graveyards are situated in\nlarge cities, in the centre of a dense population. In these\nchurchyards it is impossible to dig a single grave without the\ndisinterring of the bones of one previously buried there. Imagine the\nconsequences of such a state! Isn\u2019t it far better to remove the\npossibility of future disease and danger at once than to allow it to\ngrow by degrees, till it assumes a terrible and fatal dimension? Isn\u2019t\nit better to refrain from the use of cemeteries entirely, and resort\ninstead to the clean, pure, and undangerous system of incineration?\nConsider! Does it agree with our ideas of right and wrong to endanger\nthe lives of our great-grandchildren or their offspring by our methods\nof disposing of the dead? For, by the time they appear on the stage of\nthis world, the burial-ground now sanitary will have become a\nbreeding-place of disease from overuse.\n\nWhen we remove burial-grounds to a distance, we only postpone the evil.\nWe insure our own safety, it is true, by so doing; but we encumber the\nground with most virulent seeds, and leave to future generations\u2014to\nthose who come after us\u2014a terrible crop of pollution, disease germs, and\ndeath. Our own security from harm should not actuate us in this matter.\nWe should be wise enough to prevent the evil while we have the power, so\nthat our offspring will not justly reproach us for entailing upon them\nsuch a terrible legacy.\n\nAmong American cities there is none that needs a change of method in the\ndisposal of its dead as greatly as New Orleans, in Louisiana.\n\nThose that are mowed down by the grim rider of the white horse cannot be\nburied there, owing to the excessive moisture of the ground which\nsurrounds the city and the proximity of the water to the surface. It is\nimpossible to dig two feet under ground without coming to water. At all\ntimes the dead have been disposed of in a very careless manner in New\nOrleans. It is related that during the yellow-fever epidemic of 1853,\nwhen New Orleans had a population of 150,000 inhabitants, those that had\ndied of the dread disease were thrown into trenches not over 18 inches\nor two feet deep, and covered with very little earth; so little, indeed,\nthat the first rain that came along washed it away. In a graveyard\nsituated in the central part of the city, were buried in this manner 400\nbodies, recent victims of yellow fever, and contaminating the air with\npoisonous exhalations. The mayor of the city was asked to remove the\ndangerous condition of the burial-ground. He replied, \u201cThat\u2019s not my\nbusiness!\u201d And the commissioner of streets, who was next approached,\nanswered in a like spirit. The state of affairs grew worse and worse;\nand at last, even the negroes refused to act as grave-diggers.\n\nAt present, they have a system of entombment in the Crescent City. These\ntombs are in the municipal cemeteries, 35 of which are within the city\nlimits, giving them the appearance of a collection of bakers\u2019 ovens. The\ntombs are almost universally made of brick, and whitewashed. They vary\nin size from 3 \u00d7 6 feet to 10 \u00d7 10 feet or 10 \u00d7 20 feet; there is a post\nin the centre, which is surrounded by shelves, on which the body\u2014that\nis, the coffin\u2014is deposited. There the dead rests for about a year, when\nit becomes necessary to use the tomb for another corpse; then the\nremains of the preceding occupant of the vault are rudely taken from the\ncasket and dashed head over heels into a pit, where they are left to\nbreed disease.\n\nWhat wonder, exclaims Kate Field, that yellow fever runs riot in New\nOrleans, when the air reeks with the festering corruption of 35 plague\nspots, exposed for six months of the year to a tropical sun! Think how\nthe death-rate of New Orleans might be reduced by abolition of\nearth-burials! What better field for missionary work than our own \u201cSunny\nSouth\u201d?\n\nThe unhealthfulness of these vaults is apparent to all, but, owing to\nprejudice, no other disposition of the dead has been adopted. But sooner\nor later the inhabitants of New Orleans must have recourse to cremation,\nand burn their dead, as they were forced to do once during a cholera\nepidemic, when 135 corpses were consigned to the devouring element.\n\nFor 300 years English churchyards have been so full that, like the one\nin Hamlet, Yorick\u2019s bones have had to be dug out in order to put\nOphelia\u2019s in. From time to time the attention of the British authorities\nwas directed to the shameful state of the cemeteries of the metropolis\nand other places. In that case the matter was brought before Parliament,\nthe government ordered an investigation, a committee was appointed to\nexamine the grievances, the committee returned a report with the\ntestimony of witnesses, and the report was ordered printed. The report\ncommonly made a very large volume, which looked exceedingly pretty on\nthe shelf on which it was placed, but became dusty in a comparatively\nshort time from non-use. The excitement had quieted down, public opinion\nand the press were pacified, Parliament was satisfied, and the condition\nof the burial-grounds remained the same as before.\n\nThe cemeteries of Paris, France, are in no better condition; the mould\nin the old Cimeti\u00e8re des Innocents is literally saturated with corpses;\nMontmartre and Mont Parnasse are overcrowded. As for P\u00e8re la Chaise,\u2014the\nburial-place that has been praised in poetry and prose (the\nresting-place of Racine and Moli\u00e8re), that has been adjudged the most\nbeautiful cemetery in the world,\u2014P\u00e8re la Chaise is packed with decaying\nbodies. A cable dispatch dated Dec. 27, 1883, reported that the\nmunicipal council of the city of Paris had resolved upon leaving those\nthat fell during the reign of bloodthirsty La Commune at P\u00e8re la Chaise\nfor a period of 25 years. Ordinary cadavers must be dug up after five\nyears, to make room for their ghastly successors.\n\nIn Portugal the soil has become so packed with corpses that an effort\nwas made to enact a law that after five years all interred bodies should\nbe dug up and subjected to cremation. This means that after the dead\nhave saturated the ground with disease-producing emanations, and have\nexhaled nearly all their virulent effluvia into the atmosphere,\nsacrificing the welfare of the living to superstition and prejudice, a\nlater incineration shall take place to save space.\n\nOf American cemeteries, I only need mention Pottersfield of New York,\nthe name of which is not spoken or heard by an American without an\ninvoluntary shudder. Our graveyards are, of course, not like the\ncemeteries of the Old World, where the exhumation of bones takes place\ndaily to make room for the recently deceased, but they will become so\nunless the damaging prejudices are laid aside and something is done to\nprevent such a poisonous and dangerous situation. In some of the old\ncemeteries in our cities it has become impossible to dig another grave.\n\nRev. John D. Beugless, D.D., thus describes the burial-grounds of New\nYork City: \u201cOf the great cemeteries about New York, there is not one,\nnot even Woodland or Greenwood, in the public lots of which three or\nmore bodies are not put in one grave,\u2014that of John Doe, who died from \u2018a\nbare bodkin,\u2019 being sandwiched between those of Richard Roe and James\nLow, who were victims respectively of small-pox and yellow-fever. In the\npublic or poor quarter of Calvary Cemetery a far worse state of things\nobtains\u2014more appalling than even the _fosse commune_ of Paris, for it is\nthe _fosse commune sans chaux_. A trench is dug, seven feet wide, ten to\ntwelve feet deep, and of indefinite length, in which the coffins are\nstowed, tier upon tier, making a flight of steps, five or more deep, and\nwith not enough earth to hide one from the next. And this is our vaunted\n\u2018Christian burial\u2019 in this new country, with its myriads of broad acres!\nWhat shall our children say of us, when they come, perforce, from stress\nof space, to build their dwellings upon these beds of pestilence?\u201d\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  THE CREMATORIUM AT BRESCIA.\n  (From Dr. Pini\u2019s work.)\n]\n\nThat is the way we, \u201cthe Christian nation par excellence,\u201d treat\nfriendless paupers and criminals. Shame! shame! A dog is more decently\ninterred.\n\nThe cemeteries of the city of Brooklyn occupy nearly 2000 acres of land.\nA thoughtful eminent physician gives it as his opinion that the\nprevailing southwest wind, blowing over these corruption festering\nplague spots, carries to Flatbush the germs of typhoid fever and\ndiphtheria, and swells the death-rate of that city to its present\nalarming magnitude.\n\nThe more one considers cremation, the more one finds himself wondering\nhow it has come to pass that we practice interment, with its many faults\nand dangers, and do not burn our dead.\n\nIt is clear that overcrowding of burial-grounds must lead to evil\nconsequences. A ground that is saturated with putrefying material can\nemit naught but poisonous odors, cannot fail to contaminate the purest\nand clearest water, must vitiate any atmosphere.\n\nIncineration deserves the respect to-day which the ancients paid to it,\nand is the only way of disposing of the dead so as to avoid the terrible\nconsequences of the mephitic graveyard gases, of the dangers with which\nthe ordinary mode of burial threatens us.\n\nThe truth was taught us by the Tuscans some three hundred years ago. At\nthat time a whale was cast upon the shore of Tuscany. The inhabitants of\nthe surrounding country hastened to the spot, and removed the ribs of\nthe large fish, to hang them in the churches as a memento of the rare\noccurrence. The flesh was left to rot in the scorching southern sun. An\nepidemic of typhoid fever was the result; and when, ten years later,\nanother whale happened to strand in the same locality, the people,\nhaving become wise by its previous experience, destroyed the monster by\nchopping it to pieces, and burning these, one after another.\n\nThere are many lurking dangers, ready to destroy the living, in the\nburial-grounds of the present day. The mephitic vapors increase in\nquantity as decomposition advances, and become far more poisonous than\neither arsenic or prussic acid, if these were uncombined in their\nnatural state.\n\nThese dangerous graveyard gases can spread to quite a distance, and\ntherefore can communicate the most malignant maladies at all times. Dr.\nAyr claims that they extend to a distance of a hundred meters; some\nauthorities assert that they reach sometimes twice the distance. This\noccurs generally when the grave is air-tight above, and the surface\nlayer of the cemetery soil is imporous. Then the gas escapes where it\nfinds the least resistance,\u2014at the sides,\u2014and burrows along under the\nearth until it strikes a cavity, and bursts into it, or diffuses into\nthe air. When the grave offers no resistance above, the gas enters the\natmosphere directly. Burial-grounds best fitted for cemetery purposes\nshould be feared most, for it is evident that dryness and porousness are\nqualities which, although conducive to the rapid decay of a body, very\nmuch facilitate the escape of gases.\n\nThe danger is not obviated by deep burials. In that case the morbific\nmatter is diffused through the subsoil. If the inhumations are so deep\nas to impede escapes at the surface, there is only the greater danger of\nescape by deep drainage, and the pollution of springs and wells. Dr.\nReid detected the escape of deleterious miasma from graves more than\ntwenty feet deep.\n\nThe danger from inhaling graveyard gases is great.\n\nRamazzini relates how an avaricious grave-digger, by the name of Pisto,\nmet with instantaneous death on descending into a vault to steal the\nshoes of a corpse; he was found dead upon the body.\n\nLancisius (De noxiis palud. effluv. II, Ep. 1, c. 2, p. 152) states that\nseveral grave-diggers died in a like manner after entering a newly\nopened vault, which had been set under water by an inundation of the\nTiber, and in which the stagnant water had regenerated the virulent\ngases.\n\nUnger gives an account of a case similar to that of Haguenot, reported\nfurther on. A vault was reopened in a convent at Madrid, for the purpose\nof depositing therein a fresh corpse. When the grave-digger was about to\ndescend into it, he fell down dead. Two other persons, who tried to save\nhim, shared his fate.\n\nFortunatus Licetus (De annull, antiquitt. c. 23) relates that three men,\nwho went into a vault that was full of semi-decomposed bodies with the\nintention of robbing, lost their lives. When the bodies were extracted,\nthey were found to be swollen and black.\n\nTh. Bartholini (Historiar. anat. rarior. C. IV, obs. 32, p. 296) made\nexperiments in Denmark which confirm these reports concerning the lethal\naction of graveyard gases, and prove the especial danger from the gases\nof the dead long pent up in vaults. He affirms that these noxious gases\noften prove fatal, death being preceded by dizziness and fainting.\n\nThe gases of Francis I operated with fatal effect upon the vandals who\nbroke open his coffin, in the time of the French Revolution, to rob it\nof its treasures.\n\nBooks on hygiene teem with examples of the lethal properties of an\natmosphere containing carbonic acid in excess. A familiar instance is\nthat of the passengers of the ship _Londonderry_, in 1848, 150 of whom\nwere shut up by the captain during a storm, in the steerage 18 \u00d7 11 \u00d7 7\nfeet. Seventy of them died in an incredibly short space of time, with\nconvulsions and bleeding at the eyes and ears.\n\nHaguenot reports that, in 1744, the corpse of a monk of the Penitent\nOrder, who had been buried in a vault under the church, was exhumed in\nthe church of Notre Dame, at Montpellier, France. A man descended into\nthe vault to remove the cadaver, but, before he got quite down, he was\ntaken with convulsions, and fell unconscious into the vault, where he\ndied of suffocation. A monk went down to rescue him, but he too was\ntaken sick, and, on having been pulled out immediately, succumbed\nquickly. A third, who had the courage to follow his example, fell dead\nwithout being able to retire. The same fate was reserved for a fourth\nvictim,\u2014a brother of the first. The bodies were pulled out with hooks;\nthe stench of their clothing was unbearable. Lights held near the\nopening of the vault extinguished; dogs, cats, and birds, on being\nbrought in contact with the poisonous gases, died, with all symptoms of\na severe convulsion, in a few minutes. Some of the mephitic gas was\nbottled; but when experimented with after two and one-half months, it\nstill had all of its dangerous qualities.\n\nIn 1749, when new vaults and graves were made in the St. Eustachius\nChurch at Paris, France, cadavers were dug up and placed temporarily in\nan old vault of the church, which had remained locked a long time.\nChildren coming to church to prepare for confirmation, and even adults,\nfainted on entering the sacred edifice, and some had serious attacks of\nillness. The same took place in St. Sebastian Church at Madrid, Spain,\nin 1786; three times a grave burst open, in which, but a short time\nbefore, a very corpulent lady had been buried. The horrible smell that\narose from this grave prevented the reading of the holy mass at the high\naltar during a period of eight days. At one time the Parish Church of\nMetz was so infected by the gases of a female corpse that it had to be\nabandoned, and the divine service removed to another church.\n\nIn 1841 two men who had some work to do in a grave in St. Botolph\u2019s\nChurchyard, Aldgate, England, died almost instantly on entering it.\n\nIn the churchyard at Cobham, in Surrey, England, on account of some\nchanges in the church, some bodies had to be raised. The work of the\nnavvies was horrible beyond description, and dangerous beside. It was\nperformed very early in the morning, and was beset with difficulties.\nRepeated doses of gin had to be given to the men to keep them at a kind\nof work which they could only do under the influence of alcohol. Three\nmen perished in 1852, at Paris, from inhaling the gas that escaped from\ncoffins.\n\nFourcroy affirms that grave-digging is an unhealthy and dangerous\noccupation, and that all grave-diggers he examined showed symptoms of\nslow poisoning.\n\nGeorge A. Walker declared that no grave-digger ever wholly escaped the\ninfluence of graveyard gases. Some of the men employed in this way have\nnoticed the peculiar smell of the gases on beginning to dig.\n\nMonsieur Patissier reports several deaths due to grave-digging; and Mr.\nChadwick asserts that the vocation of a sexton shortens life one-third.\nUsually grave-diggers are heavy drinkers; they take to drinking to\nresist the malignant influence of the vapors which arise slowly but\nsurely out of the cemetery soil, and to do away with any \u201cmaudlin\nsentimentality\u201d that may still linger in their hearts, and that might\ninterfere with their horrible work.\n\nOn March 1, 1886, Marke Thornton, of Washington, Ga., met with a\nsingular death. His decease resulted from inhaling poisonous gas which\nseeped through into a grave he was digging by the side of another. The\nother men at work with him left the grave as soon as they detected the\ngas, but Thornton, thinking there was no danger in it, remained and\ndied.\n\nThe action of cemetery gases on the human body manifests itself in a\nvariety of ways. Sir T. Spencer Wells states that decomposing human\nremains so pollute earth, air, and water as to diminish the general\nhealth and average duration of life.\n\nDr. Lyon Playfair affirms that the inspiration of graveyard gases does\nnot always cause one form of decay or putrefaction, but that it depends\nentirely upon the organs attacked. Entering the blood, it produces\nfever; communicated to the viscera, it gives origin to diarrh\u0153a, and\nmay, Dr. Playfair thinks, even be the source of consumption. When the\nirrespirable gas enters the respiratory tract, Dr. Southwood Smith\nclaims that it is conveyed into the system through the thin and delicate\nwalls of the air-vesicles of the lungs in the act of respiration. He\nstates that turpentine, for instance, if only inhaled when passing\nthrough a room that was recently painted, will exhibit its effects in\nsome of the fluid excretions of the body even more rapidly than if it\nhad been taken into the stomach. Dr. Riecke thinks that putrid\nemanations operate also through the olfactory nerves by powerful,\npenetrating, and offensive smells.\n\nCemeteries are breeding grounds as well as foci of disease and death.\n\n[Illustration: THE CREMATORIUM AT WOKING, ENGLAND.]\n\nMr. Chadwick, in his \u201cReport on the Practice of Interment in Towns\u201d\n(London, 1843), writes:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe injurious effects of exhalations from the decomposition in question\non the health and life of man is proved by a sufficient number of\ntrustworthy facts. The injurious influence is manifest in proportion to\nthe concentration of the emanations. Sometimes it produces asphyxia and\nsudden death. In a less concentrated state the emanations produce\nfainting, nausea, headache, languor. If, however, they are often\nrepeated, they produce nervous and other fevers, or impart to fevers\narising from other causes a typhoid type.... As there appear to be no\ncases in which the emanations from decomposing human remains are not of\na deleterious nature, so there is no case in which the liability to\ndanger should be incurred by interment amidst the dwellings of the\nliving, it being established as a general conclusion that all interments\nin towns where bodies decompose, contribute to the mass of atmospheric\nimpurity which is injurious to public health.\u201d\n\nThe Italian physician Felix Dell\u2019Acqua gives it as his opinion (in his\nstudy on cremation), that graveyards infect the earth, the air, and the\nwater, and constantly endanger public health during an epidemic. Dr.\nPolli proved that graves deteriorate the air we breathe and contaminate\nthe water we drink, by loading them with organic matter.\n\nProf. Antonio Selmi, of Mantua, claims to have discovered organic germs\nin the air above graves, which he called septopneuma, and which, when\ninjected under the skin of a pigeon, caused a typhus-like disease that\nended in death within three days.\n\nSpecific germs may enter the atmosphere from the graves, which convey\nthe deadliest of maladies, being carried very far by the wind. But the\nagent that makes cemetery gases so dangerous is carbonic acid.\n\nDr. Parkes (Practical Hygiene), the eminent English scientist, says:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe decomposition of bodies gives rise to a very large amount of\ncarbonic acid. Ammonia and an offensive putrid vapor are also given off.\nThe air of most cemeteries is richer in carbonic acid, and the organic\nmatter is perceptibly large, when tested by potassium permanganate.\u201d\n\nIt is a well-known fact that carbonic acid, when inhaled in an undiluted\nstate, causes death; it is fatal to all forms of life. When inhaled\ndiluted with air it interferes with the introduction of oxygen into the\nbody, and causes the carbonic acid, which should be eliminated, to be\nretained. This, no doubt, prevents the proper tissue changes, and must\nin time undermine the healthiest body by seriously affecting its\nnutrition.\n\nDr. E. J. Bermingham (Disposal of the Dead) says:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe effect of constantly breathing an atmosphere containing an excess\nof carbonic acid is not perfectly known. Dr. Angus Smith has attempted\nto determine the effect of carbonic acid _per se_\u2014the influence of\norganic matter of respiration being eliminated. He found that three\nvolumes per thousand caused great feebleness of the circulation, with\ndiminished rapidity of the heart\u2019s action; the respirations were, on the\ncontrary, quickened, and were sometimes gasping. These effects were\nlessened when the amount of carbonic acid was smaller; but were\nperceptible when the amount was as low as one volume per thousand.\u201d\n\nAccording to Haberman, sensitive and nervous persons have been taken ill\nwhen walking by a cemetery.\n\nP. Frazer, Jr., says: \u201cA sexton and the son of a lady who died seven\ndays before went down into the vault. Both were affected with sickness\nand nausea; one was affected for some years; the son had ulceration of\nthe throat for two years.\u201d\n\nMr. William Eassie affirms that, \u201caccording to a report of the French\nAcademy of Medicine, the putrid emanations of P\u00e8re la Chaise,\nMontmartre, and Montparnasse have caused frightful diseases of the\nthroat and lungs, to which numbers of both sexes fall victims every\nyear. Thus a dreadful throat disease which baffles the skill of our most\nexperienced medical men, and which carries off its victims in a few\nhours, is traced to the absorption of vitiated air into the windpipe,\nand has been observed to rage with the greatest violence in those\nquarters situated nearest to cemeteries.\u201d\n\nThe most common diseases produced by graveyard gases are diphtheria,\nthroat and pulmonary affections, severe diarrh\u0153a, and dysentery. The\nnumber of cases reported is enormous. Many cases have been made public\nby Drs. Parkes and Tardieu.\n\nRamazzini (Maladies des Artisans, p. 71) asserts that sextons, whose\nbusiness often compels them to enter places where there are putrefying\nbodies, are subject to malignant fevers, asphyxia, and suffocating\ncatarrhs.\n\nFourcroy affirms that there are innumerable examples of the pernicious\neffects of cadaveric exhalations.\n\nIt has been stated that the carbonic acid generated by the decaying\nbodies is taken up by the plants, shrubbery, and trees abounding in\ncemeteries and their neighborhood. That excellent and well-edited\nnewspaper _Iron_ declares: \u201cThe consumption of vegetables whose roots\nhad been nourished by the defunct members of a family would hardly be\nenjoyed by the survivors, unless, indeed, they possessed the philosophic\nmind and robust appetite of the French gentleman who declared that, with\na certain sauce, \u2018_on mangerait bien son p\u00e8re_.\u2019\u201d\n\nI do not believe that very much carbonic acid is absorbed by the\nbotanical burial-ground decorations; certainly not enough to prevent its\ntoxic action and the vitiation of the air.\n\nMany a time was premature exhumation followed by fatal consequences.\n\nIn the church of a village near Nantes, France, the remains of an\naristocrat were buried in 1774. By accident some of the other graves\nwere opened, among them one which contained the corpse of a man who had\nbeen buried three months before. An unbearable odor immediately filled\nthe church. Many persons who had attended at this burial were taken\nsick; fifteen died in a short time, the first to depart being the\ngrave-digger who had opened the graves.\n\nVicq d\u2019Azyr states that an epidemic was produced in Auvergne, by the\nopening of an old graveyard.\n\nNorman Chevers (European Soldiers in India, p. 404) refers to the\nunhealthiness of the continent at Sukkur, India. Fevers of the most\nmalignant type were abounding, owing to an ancient Mussulman\nburial-ground on which the station was placed.\n\nTardieu, the eminent French physician and scientist, relates (Dict.\nd\u2019Hygiene, p. 517) that the excavation of an old cemetery of a convent\nin Paris caused illness in the occupants of the adjacent dwellings.\nTardieu (Ibid., p. 463) compiled a very considerable number of cases,\nnot only of asphyxia, but of several febrile affections produced by\nexhumation and disturbance of bodies.\n\nBascom relates that when the parish church in Minchinhampton, England,\nwas rebuilding in 1843, the black earth of the cemetery surrounding it,\nor what was superfluous, was disposed of for manure, being spread upon\nadjoining fields. The earth was removed to change the grade of the\nchurchyard. The result was that an epidemic broke out in the\nneighborhood. Children on their way to school took it. Seventeen deaths\noccurred, and more than 200 children had measles, scarlet fever, and\nvarious eruptions.\n\nIt seems, however, as though the above figures are not quite correct,\nfor Mr. Eassie, who has lately made personal inquiries upon the spot,\ninsists that the mischief which resulted has been even understated, and\nthat the population was nearly decimated.\n\nDr. Adalbert Kuettlinger brings forward the sequent case to prove the\ndeleterious action of cemetery gases. A very obese lady died during the\nmonth of July, 1854. Previous to death she had requested, as a special\nfavor, that her remains be buried in the church to which she belonged.\nThis was granted and promised her. After her demise she was interred in\na vault of the church, and the next day the minister delivered the\nfuneral oration. It was very warm that day; several months before the\nlady\u2019s departure there had been aridity, and not a drop of rain had\nfallen in a long time. The funeral sermon had been delivered on a\nSaturday; on the following Sunday the Protestant clergyman preached to\nan assemblage of nearly 900, who had come to attend the Lord\u2019s Supper.\nThe warm weather still continued; many had to leave church during the\nservice to keep from fainting; many swooned away before they could\nwithdraw. In Germany people fast before they communicate. The sermon\nlasted nearly one hour and one quarter, after which the bread was\nconsecrated and stood uncovered\u2014according to custom\u2014during the ceremony.\nThere were 180 communicants. One quarter of an hour after the solemnity,\nbefore they had time to leave the church, more than 60 became ill; some\ndied in severe convulsions; others, who had placed themselves\nimmediately under medical treatment, recovered. The consternation among\nthe whole congregation and citizens was great. There was a general\nbelief that the wine used at the communion had been poisoned. The sexton\nand some other individuals who assisted at divine service were\nimprisoned. The next Sunday the minister delivered a severe sermon, and\npointed out several of his parishioners as participants in the\nconspiracy. This enthusiastic sermon was printed and widely circulated.\nThe prisoners had to endure cruel treatment. They remained incarcerated\na whole week, and some, it is said, were tortured; yet they always\ninsisted upon their innocence. The second Sunday from the time of the\nfatal occurrence, the city authorities ordered that a chalice should\nstand uncovered on the altar one hour. The time had hardly passed when\nit was noticed that the wine was covered with thousands of little\ninsects, which, by means of the sunbeams, were traced to the grave of\nthe corpulent lady who had been buried fourteen days before. Four men\nwere commissioned to open the vault and remove the coffin. When they\nattempted this, two of them died at once, and the others were only saved\nby the great efforts of the physician in attendance. The accused were\nliberated, and the city council and clergyman begged their pardon.\n\nRev. Dr. Render, in \u201cA Tour through Germany,\u201d says:\u2014\n\n\u201cTwo of the crew of an American merchant ship went ashore near Canton,\nto dig a grave to bury a dead shipmate. The spade struck and penetrated\na coffin of a man buried a few months before, and the discharge of gas\nstruck down both the sailors, who, though taken back to the ship, died\nwithin five days.\u201d\n\nI doubt that there is any one who will assert that it is delightful to\ndrink an aqueous solution of one\u2019s own grandfather or great-grandmother,\nyet there are many who do so. The emanations from our ancestors may and\ndo filter through the earth, and get into the water we drink. Think of\nthat!\n\nWells, springs, and rivers are polluted by the infiltration of water\nhighly charged with organic matter. Often such water has been the cause\nof fatal disease, yet nothing was done to guard against it.\n\n[Illustration: THE DORCHESTER-SHIRE CREMATION FURNACE.]\n\nProf. Victor C. Vaughan, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Michigan, in\na paper on \u201cWater Supply,\u201d read at a sanitary convention at Ypsilanti,\nMich., July 1, 1885, states:\u2014\n\n\u201cTo show you the stupidity and recklessness of people, even in this\nenlightened century, which is manifested concerning the contamination of\nwater, I must mention one other case. There is in the county of\nKalamazoo, in this state, a nice little village by the name of Richland.\nIt is situated in a most beautiful farming country. The farmers of that\nregion have grown rich on account of the fertility of the soil and other\nspecial advantages. A few years ago the village board desired to select\na new site for a cemetery, and chose one within the village limits, and\nwithin 30 rods of a well owned by an old physician, Dr. Patchin. I\nalways tell names in such cases, because they tell the truth, and any\none can investigate them. The old doctor objected to the location of the\ncemetery so near his house and well, and as the result of his objection\nthere was a lawsuit; and if you will pardon me, I will mention something\nof the condition of the land and some experiments that were made. There\nwere some 18 inches of rich prairie land, then below this some two or\nthree feet of hard-pan, below this there were 18 or 20 feet of gravel,\nsuch as we have all through the southern part of Michigan. In digging\nthe graves the bodies would be put into this gravel. The gravel was so\nloose and so moist that in digging graves it was necessary to put in\nboxing to prevent the gravel from pouring in while the grave was being\ndug. Below the gravel, and about 30 feet below the surface, was an\nimpervious bed of clay, with a slope from the cemetery towards the well.\nIt became a question now as to whether there was a possibility of the\ncontamination of this well from burying bodies in the proposed new\ncemetery. I was called, and after studying the geological formation,\nconcluded that there was a possibility of such contamination. The well\nwas pumped dry twice a day, and on an average fifteen barrels taken from\nit each pumping. To show how ridiculous some theories are that have been\nadvanced upon that subject, I will state that I was met in court with\nthis statement: that it would be impossible for any of the water or rain\nfalling upon this cemetery, 30 rods distant, to reach the well, because,\nas was found in some old book, all the water that goes into a well is\nthat which falls upon a surface which will be enclosed in a circle whose\ncenter was the mouth of the well, and whose radius was the depth of the\nwell. This statement was made independent of any lay of the land or the\ngeological formation, and without any consideration whatever of the\nsurrounding country. Fortunately this can be met very easily. Thirty\nbarrels of water were pumped from the well each day. We know the amount\nof rainfall in Michigan per year, and we can calculate very easily the\nnumber of barrels that would fall upon this surface enclosed in a circle\nwhose center was the mouth of the well, and whose radius was the depth\nof the well; and as the result of such a calculation we find that the\namount of rain falling upon this surface during the year would not\nsupply the well more than two or three days. Returning home and\ndetailing the trip to Dr. Langley, he suggested that a direct experiment\nmight be made to see whether matter would pass from the proposed\ncemetery to the well or not. He tested the water of the well for\nlithium, a substance easily detected, found it was absent, then had a\nsalt of lithium sown over the proposed cemetery, and then examined the\nwater of the well each day thereafter; and on the eighteenth day after\nthe lithium was sown over the cemetery it was found in the water of the\nwell, showing that the water did unquestionably penetrate the soil, pass\ndown to the impervious bed of clay which was the watershed upon which\nthe water in the well collected, and thence into the well.\nNotwithstanding proofs so positive as this, a learned judge in Michigan\ndismissed the case, and allowed the cemetery to be located there, with a\npossibility of poisoning a number of families. As a result, the families\nof the neighborhood had to discontinue the use of their well-water.\u201d\n\nProfessor Vaughan holds that the popular belief that if water filters\nfor any distance through the soil it is purified, is an erroneous\nbelief, and cites a number of experiments made by himself, and numerous\ncases, in support of the assertion.\n\nAccording to Dr. H. B. Baker, secretary of the Michigan State Board of\nHealth (_vide_ Report for 1874, p. 136), a terrible epidemic of\ncerebro-spinal meningitis, that wasted the village of Petersburg in the\nearly part of 1874, was attributable to a spring five paces from a house\nand 15 paces from a cemetery, which is on ground from 12 to 15 feet\nhigher than the level of the spring. About 18 paces from the spring was\na recent grave.\n\nProf. R. C. Kedzie, of the Michigan State Agricultural College, to whom\nsome of the water was sent for analysis, concluded his report as\nfollows:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe presence in these waters of unusual quantities of chlorides, of\nammonia, of albuminoid ammonia, of nitrates and nitrites, and finally of\nphosphates, shows these waters to be very unusual in their composition.\nWe might account for the presence of all these substances if matters\nvery rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, _e.g._, flesh, were undergoing\ndecomposition in their vicinity, and the results of this decomposition\npassed directly into this water. The fact that the spring is near and\nlies below the level of the graveyard, that the well is in the midst of\nan old Indian graveyard, gives much plausibility to this explanation.\nThe fact that the first person attacked with cerebro-spinal meningitis\nin Petersburg used the water of this well, and that others who used the\nspring water were attacked with the same disease, would very naturally\nattract very significant attention to the composition of these waters as\nhaving some possible connection with the epidemic.\u201d\n\nFor several years many residents of Nyack, N.Y., have protested against\nthe encroachment of the Oak Hill Cemetery property upon the thickly\npopulated portions of the village, objections being principally made on\nsanitary grounds. Examination of the ponds and wells of the village has\ndemonstrated that they are being constantly polluted by the emanations\nfrom the cemetery.\n\nNot long ago the _Detroit Evening News_ declared that the wells in the\nneighborhood of Woodmere Cemetery do not catch the rainwater until after\nit has been filtered through the thousands of graves in the cemetery,\nfilled with decaying bodies, and that no water is obtained in the\nvicinity which is not discolored and has a brackish taste. After a heavy\nrain the impurities are most pronounced. The residents of Woodmere have\nlong ago given over the use of water as a beverage. I do not blame them.\nI would not like to drink fluid extract of dead man myself.\n\nThe _New York Staats Zeitung_, a reliable German publication, of May 27,\n1886, relates that a lawsuit of North Bergen Township, N.J., against the\nWeehawken Cemetery Company, was tried the preceding day before\nVice-Chancellor Van Fleet, at Newark, N.J. The township demands that for\nsanitary reasons the cemetery shall be closed at once and no further\nburials permitted in the same. Several physicians testified to the fact\nthat diphtheria and other infectious diseases are endemic in the\ntownship, and that they are due mainly to the unhygienic state of the\ncemetery, which lies in the most populated part of the township. One\nphysician gave it as his opinion that numerous cases of diphtheria that\nappeared among the little pupils of a school was caused by drinking\nwater from a well in the proximity of the cemetery.\n\nIn an address on \u201cPublic Health, or Sanitary Science,\u201d read before the\nmedical society of the state of West Virginia, May 24, 1882, Dr. T. S.\nCamden says:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe Board of Health report for 1879 gives the investigation of an\noutbreak of diphtheria in Northern Vermont, which occurred in May, 1879.\nIn a school of 22 persons, 16 were prostrated in two days, one-half of\nwhom died. Upon investigation the cause of the outbreak was found to be\nfrom the public drinking water from a brook into which had been thrown\nthe carcasses of dead animals. Another outbreak of the disease of great\nvirulence was caused by persons using water that was poisoned by the\ndead carcass of an animal that had been buried 75 feet distant from a\nspring. The grass in this instance showed by its luxuriance the trace to\nthe spring. After the germs were once developed in many of these cases\nby drinking the polluted water, the disease was communicated to other\npersons far removed from the cause of the primary outbreak. One\nconvalescent patient communicated the disease to six persons. Numerous\nillustrations of the importance of sanitary regulations are given in\nthese epidemics.\u201d\n\nThus we have illustrations of the origin of diphtheria from putrid\nanimal matter; and, after the germs were implanted in persons, fatal\nepidemics spread, and many lives were lost that could have been saved by\nproper hygienic measures.\n\nDr. Prosper de Pietra Santa, the most enthusiastic French cremationist,\nand a man who has investigated everything pertaining to incineration\nthoroughly, calls attention to the example of the villages of Rotondella\nand Bollita. The burial-grounds of these ill-starred villages were\nsituated on the summit of hills that were beset with woods. They were at\nthe lawful distance, and to all appearances in a most favorable\nlocation. Unfortunately, the springs from which the inhabitants were\naccustomed to derive their water supply emerged from the base of the\nhills which were surmounted by the woods. These springs were the result\nof collections of rainwater, which, percolating through the earth of the\nhills, became impregnated with the organic matter which the ground\ncontained. In the course of time, the drinking-water of these two\nvillages became so contaminated that it caused a frightful epidemic.\n\nProf. Dr. E. Reichardt, of Jena (_Gesundheit_ I, No. 1), published a\nlarge number of cases in which drinking-water was polluted by cemetery\nemanations.\n\nMany cases are on record where water contaminated by graveyard\nemanations, by poisonous fluids oozing through the soil, has proven\nharmful to health. Numerous cases of typhoid fever sprung from this\nsource. Contagious diseases can also be communicated in this way. Riecke\nand Galtie have compiled statistics of cases of typhoid fever and other\ncontagious maladies due to this cause that withstand the severest\ncriticism.\n\n            \u201cThe rivers die into offensive pools,\n            And, charged with putrefaction, breathe a gross\n            And mortal nuisance into all the air.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: CREMATION IN THE CASEMENTS OF PARIS DURING THE REIGN OF\nTHE COMMUNE.]\n\nKate Field, the well-known author and lecturer, says:\n\n\u201cThese are times that are trying men\u2019s and women\u2019s bodies quite as much\nas their souls. The zymotic diseases breaking out in what were formerly\nhealthy villages may set even the blindest to seek for causes; and\nperhaps the most prejudiced may finally be forced to admit that one\ngreat source of water contamination is the existence of multitudinous\ngraveyards contiguous to habitations. In my daily excursions on\nhorseback, which cover about 15 miles, I count seven graveyards perched\non hills, the occupants of the adjacent towns preparing for speedy exit\nfrom this world by living below the dead and using well-water. Suggest\nto them that the prevailing \u2018malaria\u2019 may be due to drinking up the\nremains of their deceased ancestors, and a howl of \u2018sacrilege\u2019 rends the\nair.\u201d\n\nAnd in an admirable essay on cremation in the St. Louis _Daily\nGlobe-Democrat_ of July 12, 1885, this graceful writer, deservedly\nnoted, states:\u2014\n\n\u201cNew England villages, once so free from ills, are taking on the airs of\ninvalids; and it is often a question whether families that remain in big\ntowns during the summer are not better off than their wealthier\nneighbors, who hie to overcrowded so-called watering places, not\nunfrequently returning with germs of typhoid fever in their systems,\nthat later breaks forth to their amazement, and for which they are at a\nloss to account. They forget how they drank well-water, the springs of\nwhich percolated through peaceful village graveyards. Man\u2019s worst\nenemies are his own superstition and ignorance.\n\n\u201cI learned by terrible experience when very young the horrors of earth\nburial. I now know its crime against the living.\u201d\n\nMiss Field is not only converted to but convinced of incineration,\nconvinced that it is preferable to any other method; the moment a\ncremation society was incorporated in New York, she became a member.\n\nCol. R. E. Whitman, U. S. A., remarks: \u201cPeople who wonder at the change\nthat has come over our New England villages, the homes of a vigorous\nancestry, and deplore the advent of this mysterious \u2018malaria,\u2019 the\nunseen vampire that sucks the red blood of the present generation, would\ndo well to look about them and see how the graveyards, old and new, have\ngrown in two centuries, how the town has surrounded them; how the water\nsupply is from the same old wells; how the town, never having arrived at\na magnitude seeming to demand a sewerage system, allows the refuse of\ngenerations to mingle with the surface soil. It would be a theme worthy\nof the magic pen of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Imagine his description of\nwater percolating through the grave of some despised Lazarus, feeding\nthe well of his life enemy, Dives, and compelling him daily to quaff the\npoison his own cruel ignorance had distilled.\u201d\n\nUndoubtedly many country towns whose cemeteries are in their midst are\ndrinking daily, despite the acknowledged impurity of the water, disease\nand death. An English writer very pertinently remarks that \u201cif the\nformation of a deep sewer will suffice to drain dry the wells near its\nline of march, then the sinking of a well near a burying-ground must\nhelp to drain the latter.\u201d\n\nMuch complaint was at one time made in England, concerning the pollution\nof wells by cemeteries. In Versailles, France, the water of the wells\nwhich lie below the churchyard of St. Louis, could not be used on\naccount of its pollution.\n\nDeep wells have been found to be infected more than 600 feet from the\ncemeteries. In France and in some parts of Germany, the opening of wells\nwithin 300 feet of a cemetery has been prohibited. The reports of the\nboards of health of Massachusetts and New Jersey give abundant evidence\nthat country graveyards often contaminate the water supply when the\nwells are on a lower level. The Michigan reports also contain a\ndescription of a case that occurred at Grand Rapids.\n\nA hygienic council held some time ago at Brussels decided that wells\ncould not be safely dug nearer than 400 yards to any graveyard, and that\neven at that distance absolute protection was not certain.\n\nThe constant prevalence of dysentery at Secunderabad, in the Deccan\n(India), seems to have been partly due to the water which filtered\nthrough an extensive burial-ground. One of the sources of water\ncontained, by analysis, according to Dr. Parkes, 119 grains of solids\nper gallon; and in some instances there were 8, 11, and even 30 grains\nper gallon, of organic matter.\n\nSir J. McGrigor partly attributed the fatality of dysentery in the\nPeninsula, at Ciudad Roderigo, to the use of water percolating through a\ngraveyard in which nearly 20,000 bodies had been hastily inhumed.\n\nMedical Councilor, Dr. Kuechenmeister, who examined the wells of\nDresden, Germany, discovered the water to be very impure, especially in\nthe new parts of the city, and in the vicinity of the so-called \u201cFrench\u201d\ngraves. The same results were arrived at in Zuerich, where it was\ndemonstrated that the typhoid fever epidemic of Auszerbuehl was due to\nwater rendered impure by cadaveric effluvia.\n\nIn Philadelphia, three cemeteries, containing 80,000 graves, are so\nsituated as to be liable to drain into the Schuylkill, the\ndrinking-water of 1,000,000 of people. The diarrh\u0153a prevalent during the\nCentennial Exhibition in the Quaker City is said (by many eminent\nsanitarians) to have been caused by burial-ground water drunk by\nstrangers unaccustomed to it.\n\nThe monumental cemetery at Milan, which is situated upon a hill some 180\nyards to the north of the city, was proved to have been the cause of\nserious illness in its neighborhood, produced by the contamination of\nthe wells in the vicinity. The water of the well of the Place Garibaldi\nwas analyzed by Professors Parvesi and Rotundi, who found it tainted by\norganic matter.\n\nThe Atlanta _Medical Journal_ states that two young ladies who drank\nwater from a spring situated on a hillside, near an old graveyard,\nbecame severely ill. One was seized with py\u00e6mia and diarrh\u0153a, the other\nwith typhoid fever; both died. Cattle that drank of the water were also\nmade sick.\n\nProfessor Pumpilly has made certain by recent experiments that sandy\nsoil does not prevent bacterial infection from entering a well situated\nat a considerable distance from cesspools and cemeteries. Indeed, he\nclaims further that \u201cdry gravel and coarse sand do not prevent the\nentrance into houses built upon them of those microorganisms which swarm\nin the ground-air, around leaky cesspools, near graveyards, and in the\nfilthy made land of cities.\u201d\n\nAnent the idea that the gases and organic matters which arise from the\ngraves rapidly undergo changes by entering into new combinations when\nbrought into contact with the earth, Dr. John O. Marble, of Worcester,\nMass., says:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe monstrous delusion that the mere contact of the corpse with fresh\nearth renders it innocuous, and suffices for safe disinfection, is\ndissipated by overwhelming evidence. I distinctly remember my boyish\nscruples concerning the water of a well situated not fifty yards from\ngraves in the churchyard adjoining my father\u2019s garden. This old \u2018God\u2019s\nacre\u2019 I have a hundred times passed, in my timid boyhood, in the shades\nof night, with palpitating heart, and a pace rivalled only by that of\nTam O\u2019 Shanter\u2019s steed from witch-haunted Kirk Alloway to the \u2018Keystone\u2019\nof the \u2018Brig o\u2019 Doon.\u2019 My father overcame my scruples concerning the\nwater by stating the belief then held, that the earth was a purifier and\na safe depurator, and that no harm could come to that well, 30 feet\ndeep, the pride and unfailing source of supply of the neighborhood. Yet\nI, that same autumn, suffered a severe and nearly fatal attack of\ntyphoid fever, and another member of the family was similarly affected a\nyear later. The fever occurred when the well was low, and I have no\ndoubt, in the light of present knowledge of such dangers, that,\nrepulsive as is the thought, I drank water filtered through the bones of\nmy revered ancestors buried there, and that the polluted water caused\nthat illness. To those who criticise the advocates of cremation for\nquoting ancient examples only, of harm from graves, this instance will\nappear sufficiently recent and intimate.\u201d\n\nOpponents of incineration, who lay great stress upon the disinfecting\npowers of the earth, forget that the soil is easily saturated by the\nemanations from the dead. Professor Presscott, of the University of\nMichigan, says in regard to this matter:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe purifying power of ground, like that of the air above it, is\nlimited and easily overcharged. If ground-air be loaded with more\nputrescent vapor than it can oxidize, then poison is carried through the\nporous earth.\u201d\n\nDr. William Porter, of St. Louis, Mo., has recorded the following case:\u2014\n\n\u201cA young man died suddenly from diphtheria, and was buried in the\nvillage churchyard. At some little distance was a well, from which the\ngood church-goers drank freely each Sunday. Finally the water of the\nwell became f\u0153tid, for the supply was infiltrated by the horrible\ndecomposition from this, the nearest grave. Was it not suggestive that\n20 from that congregation died from diphtheria while this impure well\nwas in use? These people lived in mountain homes, in a pure atmosphere,\nand though many of these cases were isolated,\u2014far removed from\nothers,\u2014yet in all the disease was alike virulent and deadly.\u201d\n\nChurchyard emanations can penetrate almost anything; they have a\nremarkable force. The chairman and superintendent of sewers of Holborn\nand Finsbury division, London, claimed that putrid matter from\ncemeteries over 30 feet distant had penetrated the cement and brick of\nhis drain.\n\nSeveral years ago, when Mr. Holland, the English government inspector of\nburial-grounds, investigated the state of Tooting Cemetery, it\ntranspired that the drainage provided for the burial-ground was\ninsufficient; there was merely a system of surface drainage. In one case\n(admitted by the cemetery board) a coffin was placed in a grave that\ncontained enough water to cover the head of it. The entire drainage of\nthe burial-ground was conducted into a ditch near by, which ended in the\nriver Wandle, from which the inhabitants obtained their drinking-water.\n\nLefort (in a monograph to the Paris Academy of Sciences) points to the\npossibility of well-contamination by neighboring cemeteries. In one\ninstance he detected, by chemical analysis, that a well was polluted by\na burial-ground 50 metres distant.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  RETORT\n\n  LANCASTER CREMATORIUM\n]\n\nThe Parisian scientist M. Duchamp detected a spring that percolated\nentirely through graveyards, picking up organic matter on the way, and\nthat tasted very strongly.\n\nNot a few analyses of water tainted by graveyard emanations testify to\nthe fact that it is harmful, nay, that it is extremely dangerous, to\nthose who consume it. Nor is the danger always apparent. In 1874 the\nBroad Street pump at London, England, carried cholera to those who drank\nits water; yet the latter looked clean, had no perceptible taste, and\nwas odorless.\n\n           \u201cThe very witching time of night\n           When graveyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out\n           Contagion on this world.\u201d\n\n                                               \u2014SHAKESPEARE.\n\nTo the question, \u201cCan an epidemic of any kind be caused by graveyard\nemanations?\u201d there is but one reply; the facts on record compel us to\nanswer in the affirmative.\n\nDr. Buck, in his excellent work on Hygiene, writes: \u201cIt is impossible\nfor any one to say how long the _materies morbi_ may continue to live\nunderground. If organic matter can be boiled and frozen without losing\nits vitality, and seeds 3000 years old will sprout when planted, it\nwould be hardihood to assert that the poison of cholera, or small-pox,\nor typhus may not for years lie dormant, but not dead, in the moist\ntemperature of the grave.\u201d\n\nDr. Wheelhouse, of Leeds, England, says: \u201cDo we not shun, and that most\nwisely, the presence of those afflicted with infectious diseases as long\nas they remain amongst us; and yet, no sooner are they removed by death\nthan we are content, with tender sympathy indeed, and most loving care,\nit is true (but with how much wisdom?) to lay them in the ground, that\nthey may slowly dissipate their terribly infectious gases through the\nsoil, and saturating that, may thereby recharge the rains of heaven as\nthey filter through it, with all their virulence and terrible power of\nreproduction in the systems of the living. I am not the thorough and\nentire believer in the disinfecting and depurating power of the soil\nthat I once was, for terrible examples of its failure have, in my\njudgment, come under my notice.\u201d\n\nOften the site of an old grave is used to make a new one, and in\nconsequence earth is brought to light that is saturated with the\neffluvia of corpses of those who, perhaps, have died of some contagious\nor infectious disease. The crime that is committed by individuals when\nthey bury persons deceased of such maladies is pithily expressed by that\nchampion of modern cremation, Sir Henry Thompson, who says: \u201cIs it not\nindeed a social sin of no small magnitude to sow the seeds of disease\nand death broadcast, caring only to be certain that they cannot do much\nharm to our own generation?\u201d But such is selfish human nature!\n\nThe first to show the connection between epidemics and the process of\ndecomposition was Professor Pettenkofer, of Munich, Bavaria. He\ndemonstrated that the presence of putrefying organic bodies, air,\nmoisture, and warmth, in a porous soil, are the potent factors which\noriginate and develop pestilential germs.\n\nThe great mortality, the severity, that attended in former times the\nappearance of epidemics in cities where graveyards were situated in the\ncenter of a large population, illustrates the deadly influence which\nthese \u201cGod\u2019s acres\u201d have.\n\nSaint Augustine pointed to the fact that epidemics are caused by\ndecomposing organic bodies.\n\nForestus reported many cases of malignant fever caused by the emanations\nof cadavers.\n\nAmbrose Par\u00e9, the renowned French surgeon, in 1562 demonstrated that a\nmalignant (pestilential) fever, then raging in L\u2019Agenois, was due to the\nputrid vapors arising from a neighboring well into which many dead\nbodies, soldiers fallen in battle, had been thrown.\n\nRaulin (Observ. de Med.) relates how the section of a corpse at\nLeicturm, in the plain of Armagnac, caused a frightful epidemic.\n\nA terrible pestilence, which decimated especially the lower classes, was\noriginated in Riorno (Auvergne) by the digging up of the ground of an\nold cemetery, done to beautify the city.\n\nJean Wolf, who reported upon an epidemic of malignant fever in 1731,\nattributed it to putrefying animal remains.\n\nIn 1752 a man who had died of small-pox 30 years ago was dug up in\nChelwood, a village near London, England. He had been buried in an oaken\ncoffin which, when taken up, was yet entire and could have been so\nremoved from the grave. But because the grave-digger could not handle it\nproperly he got impatient and beat in the cover of the casket with his\nspade, whereupon immediately a mephitic smell arose that filled the air\nto some distance. The corpse, which was to be deposited in a vault, had\nbeen a person of consequence, and therefore not only the inhabitants of\nhis native village attended the exhumation, but a good many people from\nneighboring places. But a few days after 14 persons contracted\nsmall-pox, and within a short time the entire village was infected, only\ntwo individuals enjoying immunity because they had had the disease.\nAlthough the epidemic was of a light character, two persons died of it.\nAll those in the surrounding villages who had been at the exhumation\nwere also attacked by small-pox.\n\nRiecke adduces analogous cases, and relates that the opening of a vault\nwhich contained a victim of small-pox was followed by the death of a\nworkman and the infection of another person.\n\nMaret is authority for the following statement: A fever, complicated by\ngastric and catarrhal disorders, was prevalent in 1773 at Saulieu,\nBurgundy; but few of those it attacked died. This was in the latter part\nof February. On the 3d of March, a corpulent body, a victim of the\ndisease, was buried in the cathedral, and on the 20th of April\nfollowing, very near to the first, that of a woman who, in child-bed,\nhad succumbed to the fever. Maret reports that when the coffin was\nlowered into the vault, the ropes slipped from the grasp of the men who\nheld them; the coffin fell to the ground and broke; a putrid fluid, that\nfilled the church with a most nauseating odor, oozed from it. Of 170\npersons who remained in the church from the time that the grave was\nopened until the conclusion of the ceremony, 149 were attacked by a\nmalignant putrid fever, which, bearing many of the characteristics of\nthe prevalent fever, was undoubtedly the result of the vitiation of the\nchurch.\n\nThe city of Tacna, Peru, was yearly visited at certain times by a\npernicious fever, which caused many deaths. The cemetery was in the\ncenter of the city. Finally, the dead were buried outside of the city\nlimits, and the fever disappeared.\n\nDuring the month of March, 1781, and the half-year preceding it, an\nepidemic raged at Pasajes, Spain, which befell 127 persons, of which\nnumber 83 died. This epidemic was attributed to the poisonous vapors\narising from the overcrowded vaults of the parish church.\n\nTrousseau mentions the case of a grave-digger who was attacked by\nsmall-pox soon after opening the grave of an individual who had died of\nthat malady many years ago.\n\nMr. Cooper charged an outbreak of small-pox in Eyam, Derbyshire, Eng.,\nto the excavation of an old cemetery.\n\nA dispatch from Montreal, dated Oct. 26, 1885, states that a\ngrave-digger of St. Sulpice, named Robitaille, made a grave next to\nwhere a man who died from small-pox a month ago was buried. At the time\nthere was no small-pox in the village; but Robitaille, some days after\ndigging the grave, sickened and finally died of small-pox, making it\nevident that he contracted the disease from the body of a man who had\nbeen buried for a month.\n\nRecent scientific discoveries confirm the opinion long held by persons\nendowed with common sense that the germs of many infectious and\ncontagious diseases retain their vitality and the power to spread the\nrespective malady in the grave and the layers of earth surrounding it.\nBy means of these germs, yellow fever, cholera, small-pox, splenic\nfever, scarlet fever, diphtheria, and other diseases belonging to the\nsame category, can be communicated from the dead to the living, even\nyears after burial. Concerning splenic fever, which can be transmitted\nfrom animal to man, the great French investigator and pathologist, Louis\nPasteur, says:\u2014\n\n\u201cRecently, we discovered the characteristic germs in pits in which\nanimals dead of splenic fever (charbon) had been buried for 12 years;\nand their culture was as virulent as that from the blood of an animal\nrecently dead. Anthracoid germs in the earth of pits in which animals\nhave been buried are brought to the surface by earthworms; and in this\nfact we may find the whole etiology of the disease, inasmuch as the\nanimals swallow these germs with their food.\u201d\n\nThe _British Medical Journal_ in 1880 commented on Pasteur\u2019s great\ndiscovery as follows:\u2014\n\n\u201cPasteur\u2019s recent researches on the etiology of \u2018charbon\u2019 shows that\nthis earth-mould positively contains the specific germs which propagate\nthe disease, and that the same specific germs are found within the\nintestines of the worms. The parasitic organism, or _bacteridium_,\nwhich, inoculated from a diseased to a healthy animal, propagates the\nspecific disease, may be destroyed by putrefaction after burial. But\nbefore this process has been completed, germs or spores may have been\nformed which will resist the putrefactive process for many years, and\nlie in a condition of latent life, like a grain of corn, or any\nflower-seed, ready to germinate and communicate the specific disease. In\na field in the Jura, where a diseased cow had been buried two years\nbefore at a depth of nearly seven feet, the surface earth not having\nbeen disturbed in the interval, Pasteur found that the mould contained\ngerms which, introduced by inoculation into a guinea-pig, produced\ncharbon and death. Further, if a worm be taken from an infected spot,\nthe earth in the alimentary canal of the worm contains these spores or\ngerms of charbon, which, inoculated, propagate the disease; and the\nmould deposited on the surface by the worm, when dried into dust, is\nblown over the grass and plants on which the cattle feed, and may thus\nspread the disease. After various farming operations of tilling and\nharvest, Pasteur has found the germs just over the graves of the\ndiseased cattle, but not to any great distance. After rains or morning\ndews the germs of charbon, with a quantity of other germs, were found\nabout the neighboring plants; and Pasteur says that in cemeteries it is\nvery possible that germs capable of propagating specific diseases of\ndifferent kinds quite harmless to the earthworm may be carried to the\nsurface of the soil, ready to cause disease in the proper animals. The\npractical inferences in favor of cremation are so strong that, in\nPasteur\u2019s words, they \u2018need not be enforced.\u2019\u201d\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  FURNACE OF THE BUFFALO CREMATORIUM.\n  (Venini system.)\n]\n\nSir T. Spencer Wells pointed out, in his paper read before the British\nMedical Association, in August, 1880, that the observations of Darwin,\n\u201con the formation of mould,\u201d made more than 40 years ago, when he was a\nyoung man, are curiously confirmatory of the conclusions of Pasteur. In\nDarwin\u2019s paper, read at the Geological Society of London, in 1837, he\nproved that, in old pasture-land, every particle of the superficial\nlayer of earth, overlying different kinds of subsoil, has passed through\nthe intestines of earthworms. The worms swallowed earthy matter, and,\nafter separating the digestible or serviceable portion, they eject the\nremainder in little coils or heaps at the mouths of their burrows. In\ndry weather the worm descends to a considerable depth, and brings up to\nthe surface the particles which it ejects. This agency of earthworms is\nnot so trivial as it might appear. By observation in different fields,\nMr. Darwin proved, in one case, that a depth of more than three inches\nof this worm-mould had been accumulated in 15 years; and, in another,\nthat the earthworms had covered a bed of marl with their mould, in 18\nyears, to an average depth of 13 inches.\n\nProfessor Klebs, of Prague, Bohemia, discovered the bacteria of malarial\nfever. They were called by him _bacilli malari\u00e6_. His discovery was\nverified by Prof. Tomassi Crudelli, of Rome, Italy.\n\nDr. Robert Koch, of the Imperial Sanitary Bureau at Berlin, Germany,\ndetected the _bacillus tuberculosis_; there is no doubt, to my mind, but\nthat consumption can possibly be spread by the upturning of the soil of\na grave containing the victim of tuberculosis.\n\nThe same gentleman, now professor in Berlin University, discovered the\n_comma bacillus_ of cholera. He expressed his belief in its propagation\nin the grave, especially when the latter is moist.\n\nHoulier and Feruel are responsible for the statement that, during the\nprevalence of the plague in Paris in the beginning of the 18th century,\nthe disease lingered longest and was the most severe in the vicinity of\nthe \u201ccimeti\u00e8re de la Trinit\u00e9.\u201d\n\nThe _Detroit Evening News_, of Sept. 23, 1886, reports the following\ncase in which diphtheria was contracted from a corpse:\u2014\n\n\u201cBlanche Hunt, a 12-year old girl, died at Albion of malignant\ndiphtheria last week. Sophie Calkins, aged 13, died at Fair Haven, Vt.,\nof the same disease, contracted the week before at Albion. There are no\nother cases in town, and these two girls are supposed to have taken the\ndisease at the cemetery, where they went into the vault containing the\nremains of a woman sent there from abroad, who had died from what the\nphysicians called black jaundice. It is believed her disease was really\ndiphtheria.\u201d\n\nAs early as 1878, the Massachusetts State Board of Health\u2014one of the\nbest in the world\u2014showed that diphtheria is originated and diffused by\nthe emanations of victims of that disease.\n\nIn 1875 the same high authority had reached similar conclusions\nregarding typhoid fever.\n\nThere is much evidence to show that cholera was repeatedly caused by the\nexcavation of the graves of those who had died of the disease, and that\nit raged with special violence in the vicinity of cemeteries.\n\nDr. Sutherland attested the fact that cholera was unusually prevalent in\nthe immediate neighborhood of London graveyards. This, however, need not\nastonish us, when we consider that the soil of churchyards in some of\nthe poorer districts in London was raised two, three, or even four feet\nin a few years. The great prevalence of epidemic diseases in some parts\nof the city finally led to the formation of the Epidemiological Society\nof London, under the presidency of Dr. Babington.\n\nWhen the cholera visited London in 1854, Mr. Simon asserted that if the\nsoil of the cemeteries in which the plague-stricken of 1665 were buried\nwould be upturned, it would make the prevailing scourge more virulent.\nIt was done in spite of his warning, and his prediction was verified.\n\nIn 1826, when cholera made its appearance in Egypt, the French\ngovernment sent out medical officers to discover, if possible, its\norigin. It was traced to an old and disused cemetery at Kelioub, a\nvillage near Cairo.\n\nThe outbreak of cholera at Modena, Italy, in 1828, was shown by\nProfessor Bianchi to be due to the upturning of the ground of\nburial-yards in which victims of the plague had been inhumed 300 years\nbefore.\n\nNov. 12, 1836, Miaulis, the adjutant of Otto the First, of Greece, was\nattacked by cholera, of which he finally died. The body was given in\ncharge of three men, who also assisted at the post-mortem examination.\nOn the third day after the funeral of the adjutant, one of the men,\nJacob Kuehnlein, 72 years of age, was taken ill, and died the following\nday. The autopsy proved the disease to be Asiatic cholera. Three days\nafter Kuehnlein\u2019s burial, the second of the men who had guarded Miaulis\u2019\nremains, J. Stroehlein by name, aged 48, was stricken down by the\ncholera, to which he succumbed within two days.\n\nSchauenburg (Cholera, etc., Wuerzburg, 1874, p. 8) gives it as his\nopinion that decomposition is favorable to the development of cholera\ngerms, which means the propagation of the _comma bacillus_.\n\nThe Italians do not only stand at the head of the cremation movement\nto-day, but they recognized the value of that sure and never-failing\ngermicide\u2014fire\u2014as early as 1837; in that year thousands of the victims\nof the cholera epidemic, then raging in Italy, were burned on the\nseashore at Palermo.\n\nThe report of the London Board of Health for 1849 directs attention to\nthe fact that the cholera was especially prevalent and fatal in the\nneighborhood of graveyards. This, however, need not cause any surprise,\nas the _London Athen\u00e6um_, to this day one of the most reliable journals\nof the United Kingdom, states in 1850 that, during the prevalence of the\nscourge, 500 bodies, dead of cholera, were daily interred, in addition\nto those of other diseases.\n\nProfessor Jaccoud, of the faculty of medicine of the University of\nParis, claims, in his \u201cPathologie Interne,\u201d that there are three ways of\ntransmission of cholera, of which the third is by corpses.\n\nAn employee of the French marine hospital at Therapia, near\nConstantinople, was present at the autopsy of Marshal Saint Armand, who\nhad died of cholera, which was held in the amphitheatre of the\ninstitution. A few days after the man succumbed to a severe attack of\n_de chol\u00e9ra foudroyant_, which he had contracted at the post-mortem\nexamination.\n\nDr. F. Bidlot, of Liege, Belgium, states that, in 1867, he was called to\na robust cholera patient who, when asked about the cause of his illness,\nsaid that until noon he had worked at the grave of a person, dead of\ncholera, who had been buried very superficially, since an exhumation was\nto take place: when the body was disinterred, he was seized by an\nillness which soon proved to be cholera.\n\nThe following case was also reported by Dr. Bidlot. A nun who had nursed\ncholera patients in a hospital died of the dread disease in the summer\nof 1860. At 10 A.M. in the latter part of October she was exhumed. At\nfour o\u2019clock in the forenoon of the same day Dr. Bidlot was called to\nDr. Romi\u00e9e, who had attended the disinterment. He was found to be\nsuffering from cholera, and declared that his illness was owing to his\nexposure to the emanations of the body dug up.\n\nTrinity Church graveyard, at New York, was the center of very fatal\nprevalence of cholera at every visit of that pest from 1832 to 1854.\n\nDr. Rauch relates (Intra-Mural Interments in Populous Cities, Chicago,\n1868) how the cholera was spread in Burlington, Ia., in 1850. Not a\nsingle death took place in the vicinity of the cemetery of the city,\nuntil 20 persons, deceased of cholera, had been interred therein; then\none case after another occurred, till the epidemic became truly\nalarming.\n\nIn 1865, when a cholera epidemic invaded Paris, France, it raged with\ngreat virulence in the old quarter of Montmartre; in that part of the\nmetropolis there was a vast burial-ground, from which toxic vapors were\ncontinually escaping. Of 5000 victims of the epidemic, 1800 belonged to\nthis ancient community. The great mortality in this quarter of the city\nwas no doubt due to the presence of the overcrowded cemetery.\n\nDr. John Murray, inspector-general of hospitals in Bengal, India, wrote\na book, in which he endeavored to determine whether or not cholera can\nbe propagated by human remains. He declares emphatically (Propagation of\nCholera, 1873, p. 216), that the body of a cholera patient, dead or\nalive, must be regarded as an agent of transmission of the disease; and\nadduces the sequent facts to prove his assertion. Several women, whose\nbusiness it was to lay out corpses, had contracted cholera. In 1818 a\nman died of the dread disease; five fellow-men, who carried his body to\nthe last resting-place, were taken down with cholera, and died in the\nnight after the burial. Dr. Townsend reported that, in 1869, three men\nwere commissioned by the police to carry a corpse to Dumwahi. The day\nfollowing their arrival the cholera appeared in this city, and the first\nto die of the scourge were the three who had borne the corpse.\n\nCholera from time to time threatens to invade our peaceful land. When it\ncomes, shall we, in view of what has just been shown, bury its victims,\nsaturate the earth with its specific germs, which, if the grave should\never be disturbed, may breed a terrible pestilence, if not during our\nlifetime, yet surely during that of our descendants? There can be but\none answer: To secure ourselves against a repetition of epidemics, we\nmust burn our dead; it is a duty that cannot be evaded, that we owe to\nall mankind, that, when sinned against, as it has been in the past, is\nrevenged by the resulting visitation.\n\nWhen the cases above related are taken into consideration, even the most\nvehement anti-cremationist cannot deny that the specific germs of\ninfectious and contagious diseases are propagated by earth-burial, and\nthat the only sure medium for their destruction is fire, for no disease\ngerm can pass through the rosy heat of the crematory and survive to\npropagate its species.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  FURNACE OF THE CINCINNATI CREMATORIUM.\n  (Designed by M R. Conway.)\n]\n\nThe scientific world was lately startled by the gladsome news that Dr.\nDomingo Freire, a physician of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, had discovered\nthe peculiar microbe of yellow fever. The blood of yellow fever patients\nswarms with these microbes (_cryptococci_), which, by inoculation,\nproduce the disease in animals. Dr. Freire named the microbe\n_cryptococcus xanthogenicus_. He was aided in his labors, to detect the\nspecific germ of yellow fever, which included microscopic and\nspectroscopic examinations as well as experiments on animals, by his\nable assistant, Se\u00f1or Menezes Doria.\n\nDr. Freire also examined some soil from the cemetery of Jurujuba, where\nvictims of the yellow jack (as we call this fever sometimes) lie\ninterred. Some of this earth was dried and then placed in a cage which\ncontained a guinea pig. Previously to the introduction of the earth, the\nblood of the animal was examined microscopically, and found to contain\nno bacteria of any kind. The animal became ill, and died within five\ndays. When its tissues were examined after death, they were found to\npresent all the characteristic changes which yellow fever brings about.\nThe blood was full of _cryptococci xanthogenici_ in various degrees of\ndevelopment. The urine was highly albuminous. The brain and the\nintestines were stained yellow by the infiltration of the coloring\nmatter of the _cryptococci_. After this discovery, the doctor\nrecommended that all victims of yellow fever be destroyed by fire, to\nprevent general infection. The Brazilian government (one of the most\nenlightened in the world) immediately ordered that a cremation furnace\nbe built at Jurujuba, in which all those that die of yellow fever there\nmust be incinerated.\n\nThe St. Louis _Medical and Surgical Journal_ makes this very sensible\nsuggestion regarding the disposition of the remains of those dying of\nyellow fever in our own United States. It says:\u2014\n\n\u201cFrom what we have learned from private sources, the resurrection of the\nbodies, during the winter months, of those who died of yellow fever, has\ndone much to perpetuate this terrible disease in southern cities, until\nthe warm weather has set in. Cremation obviates all possible harm that\ncan come from the dead, and duty to the living demands that everything\nbe done to destroy the possibility of propagating this and all\ncontagious diseases that run so malignant a course.\u201d\n\nDr. J. F. A. Adams says:\u2014\n\n\u201cDr. Joseph Akerly expressed the belief that Trinity Churchyard had been\nan active cause of the yellow fever in New York in 1822, aggravating the\nmalignity of the epidemic in its vicinity. This church was built in\n1698, and the ground had been receiving the dead for 124 years.\nSometimes bodies were buried only 18 inches below the surface, and it\nwas impossible to dig without disturbing the remains. During the\nRevolutionary War, this burial-ground had emitted pestilential odors,\nand in 1781 Hessian soldiers were employed to cover the ground with a\nlayer of earth two or three feet in depth. The ground was unusually\noffensive in 1782, and annoyed passengers on the surrounding streets\nprevious to the appearance of the yellow fever in July. During the\nepidemic, the condition of this churchyard, and the virulence of the\ndisease in its vicinity, called for some active measures, and on the\nnight of Sept. 22 Dr. Roosa covered the ground with 52 casks of\nquicklime, the stench being at the time so excessive as to cause several\nlaborers to vomit. On the 25th and 26th of the same month St. Paul\u2019s\nChurchyard, and the vaults of the North Dutch Church in William Street,\nreceived the same treatment, these being likewise very offensive and\nfoci of epidemics.\u201d\n\nWhen the yellow fever raged in New Orleans in 1853, the death-rate in\nthe Fourth District (in which there were three large burial-grounds) was\n452 per 1000 of the population.\n\nDr. Bryant, writing on yellow fever at Norfolk in 1855, regards\ncemeteries as a constant source of danger in an epidemic, and urges the\ntotal forbidding of intramural or even near-by suburban cemeteries.\n\nSir Spencer Wells related a fact recently at a meeting of the Health\nExhibition in London, England, which has a strong bearing on the source\nof epidemics and their annihilation by cremation. Some persons who had\ndied of scarlet fever were interred in a country graveyard. Thirty years\nafterward the cemetery was included in a neighboring garden, and the old\ngraves dug up. Scarlet fever forthwith broke out in the rectory and\nparish, and no other probable source having been discovered, it is\nimpossible to avoid the inference that the germs of scarlatinal\ninfection can retain their vitality a third of a century.\n\nIn epidemics individuals should be forced to allow their dead (unless\nthey succumb to some disease other than the prevailing scourge) to be\ncremated. To stamp out a contagious or infectious malady, or to arrest\nits progress, incineration must be made general; its benefits are _nil_\nwhen confined to isolated cases. The individual must stand back when the\npublic health is in jeopardy.\n\nGovernments should not allow bodies to be introduced into their\nrespective countries from an infected land, unless such bodies have been\npreviously reduced to ashes.\n\nThousands of cases of malignant sickness, I have no doubt, could be\nprevented by the prompt introduction of cremation. Why not, then,\nintroduce it? Simply because there is an unreasonable prejudice against\nthe custom? It is ridiculous! Should any mere prejudice stand in the way\nof a sanitary reform? I leave it to any sound mind to decide the\nquestion. I am not advocating obligatory incineration in times of peace\nexcept in cases of infectious and contagious disease. I would rejoice to\nsee it generally introduced, but not by force. Cremation, moreover,\nneeds not the aid of the sword or law; it will find its way unassisted.\n\nBesides human and animal remains, I think all garbage should be\ndestroyed by fire.\n\nThe idea of cremation which, carried by the wings of enthusiasm,\ntraversed the whole civilized world in the spring of 1874, is really\nnaught but a demand of hygiene in favor of our own health. Not only\nphysicians, but also laymen, should enter the arena where the great\nfight between earth-burial and cremation is going on, and combat for\nglorious incineration.\n\nThe International Medical Congress which convened at Florence, Italy, in\n1869 examined into the various methods of burial, and concluded by\nexpressing its belief that cremation was necessary, and should be\nadopted in the interest of civilization and public health.\n\nDr. C. W. Purdy, of Chicago, Ill., says: \u201cBurial-grounds are\nunquestionably ruinous to health, as both theory and facts amply\ndemonstrate; many sections of population suffer annually disease and\ndeath which are exposed to their influences; all engaged in this\nunwholesome system suffer\u2014the grave-diggers, the gardeners, the men who\nrepair the vaults and tombstones, the friends who visit the graves, and\nthe whole funeral procession are exposed directly. There is no redeeming\nfeature about this burial system, degrading to the dead and dangerous to\nthe living.\u201d\n\nThe celebrated medical author, Moleschott, even more vehemently condemns\ncemeteries. He claims that they emit a vapor which causes malignant\nfevers, and concludes his remarks by calling them \u201cworkshops and\nfactories of the devil.\u201d\n\nBeyond a doubt, cremation soonest places the bodies of the dead in a\ncondition where they can do the least harm to the living. Incineration\ndestroys all disease germs and at once removes all possibility of the\ncontamination of air and water by the dead.\n\nThen why not introduce cremation and do away with all the evils\ndescribed in this chapter? It is of no consequence to the dead, whether\nthey rot in the earth and originate miasma, or are transformed by fire\ninto pure white ashes. They feel as little of the process of decay as\nthey do of the flame; their eye is surrounded by the same darkness,\nwhether they are down in the deep grave or in the glowing light of the\ncrematory furnace. But it is of the greatest consequence to us, the\nliving; and the only way to protect ourselves from poisonous infection\nby our dead is to burn them.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER III.\n                       CREMATION IN TIMES OF WAR.\n\n\nAfter a battle is over, the field of carnage is covered with the dead. I\nthink it cannot be questioned that these are disposed of in a very\ncareless manner in time of war; not only those who have been killed\nduring an engagement, but also those who succumb to disease. After a\ngreat combat the slain are usually hastily interred in large trenches,\nin which they are arranged in tiers, or piled pell-mell upon each other,\nwhereupon they are left to decompose. That no more calamity and sickness\nresults from such a mode of burial, than is usually the case, is due, I\nbelieve, principally to the fact that great battles are generally fought\non fields far from the habitations of man.\n\nWar, God knows, is bad enough, but far worse are the diseases that\nfollow in its wake. The dead on the \u201cfield of honor,\u201d which is soon\nnaught but a vast cemetery, are, as I have said above, inhumed as\nrapidly as possible. There is no time to lose. Hurriedly thousands of\nfallen braves are thrown into large pits, and barely covered with earth.\nThe comrades who have rendered them this last service move onward to\nbury others, and leave them to vitiate the air and to form a terrible\nherd of infection. Thus it is that a country which has already been\ndevastated by war is again brought to the verge of despair by the\nappearance of typhus fever, dysentery, and other equally serious\nmaladies. Unfortunately, these diseases do not confine themselves to the\ncountry in which the war has been waged, but also invade the lands of\nthe peaceful neighbors.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  THE CREMATORIUM AT ROME\n  (From Dr. Pini\u2019s Work.)\n]\n\nThere is much evidence to prove that what I say is true. Immediately\nafter the defeat of Darius, Alexander the Great was advised by the sage\nAristoteles to leave Arbela, to secure himself and his army from the\npestilential emanations of the dead.\n\nWhen Syracuse was besieged by Hannibal, he decided to wound the feelings\nof the Syracusans by desecrating their dead, who had been buried, as was\nthe custom in most ancient cities, outside of the city gates. He ordered\nhis troops to dig up the ill-fated corpses, cut them to pieces, and\nstrew them all over the field of battle, in full sight of their\nhorror-stricken relatives and friends. But this barbarous act was\nfollowed by deserved punishment. Pestilence decimated the beleaguerers,\nand scores upon scores of the soldiers fell victims to the fatal power\nthat arose, slow but sure, from the outraged dead.\n\nLucan has furnished us with an account of the terrible scourge that\nbefell the army of Pompey at Durazzo, because it had neglected to bury\nthe cadavers of the horses killed in the battle. For the same reason the\ncamp of Constantine the Great was once devastated by the plague.\n\nMr. William Eassie, the honorary secretary of the Cremation Society of\nEngland, states (_vide_ his \u201cCremation of the Dead,\u201d page 19):\u2014\n\n\u201cWith the ancient Athenians, when soldiers fell in battle, it was the\ncustom to collect them into tents, where they lay for a few days, to\nensure recognition. Each tribe then conveyed their dead in cypress\nshells to the ceramicos, or places of public burning, an empty hearse\nfollowing behind, in memory of the missing.\u201d\n\nThe first epidemic of spotted fever on record occurred in Spain, in\n1490, and was due to the emanations arising from the decaying bodies\nwhich had been left unburied on the battle-ground.\n\nIn 1796 (according to Desgenettes), a military surgeon by the name of\nVaidy supervised the burial of the soldiers and horses that had been\nkilled in a combat near Nuremberg. While the work was in progress, he\nwas attacked by colic and nausea, and afterwards suffered for several\ndays from a severe dysentery. His horse, after having been tortured by\nsevere abdominal pains, died on the evening of the day when he was taken\nsick. Persons who were with Vaidy complained of the same symptoms as he.\n\nDuring the campaign in Russia in 1812 many of the French soldiers who\nperished in the disastrous retreat were burned by the enemy.\n\nAfter the battle of Waterloo 4000 bodies were reduced to ashes on\nfuneral piles of resinous wood on the field of carnage.\n\nThe ravages of the typhus fever in the armies battling during the\nCrimean War are yet well remembered, and were too great to be easily\nforgotten.\n\nAn eye-witness (Trusen) of the siege of Sebastopol reported at the time\nthat: \u201cThose who were but lately our brave soldiers have become greater\nenemies of their successors in arms than the Russians themselves.\nBarely, and sometimes not at all, covered by earth, their bodies emit a\npestilential miasma, which kills far better than powder and bullet, and\nis more reliable than a gun. A bishop has been sent out to consecrate\nthe trenches in which the dead are piled up, yet the infection will\nresist consecration and holy water. Unfortunately, the danger does not\ncome from our own troops alone. The wind carries the emanations of the\nRussian dead into our intrenchments. We besiege Sebastopol, but\npestilence besieges us. The same Frenchmen who came to our rescue with\ntheir sabres now poison us by their putrefaction. Animal remains also\nvitiate the air. The cadaver of the noble battle-horse that carried its\nrider bravely through the day of Balaklava now lies in the road, and\nthreatens the victorious dragoon who rode upon it with an inevitable\nfate. Burial-ground and camp adjoin each other. Where the soldier fought\nand fell is his grave, which is seldom far from the tents of the\nsurviving.\u201d\n\nDuring the expedition to Morea, the French made intrenchments in a\ncemetery outside of Patras. All those who were ordered into the trenches\nexperienced first malarial symptoms, and were finally attacked by\ntyphoid fever.\n\nThe cholera mowed down more soldiers in the war between Austria and\nPrussia, in 1866, than the missiles of either army.\n\nThe Franco-Prussian War of 1870\u201371 was accompanied by dysentery and\ntyphus fever. After the battle of Gravelotte the German troops had to\ncamp for weeks upon the graves of their comrades, subjected all the time\nto the most dangerous effluvia from the slain. The bodies of those that\nfell at Metz were in many instances dug up by the Germans and\nre-interred; since the hasty and superficial way in which they had been\nburied in the first place caused contamination of the watercourses near\nby, and pollution of the air.\n\nThe evils of earth burial were especially apparent in besieged forts,\nfor instance in Metz and Paris, 1870\u201371.\n\nThe communists at Paris evaded the evils of inhumation by burning their\ndead in the casemates.\n\nOn July 14, 1877, during the war between Turkey and Russia, General\nTergankassoff informed his government at St. Petersburg, by despatch,\nthat the air in and about Bayazid was so contaminated by the\ndecomposition of the dead, that it would not only be unwise, but also\ndangerous, to prolong the stay of the troops there.\n\nOn August 24 of the same year, the naval correspondent of the London\n_Times_ stated that thousands of soldiers who fell in the Shipka Pass\nwere so superficially inhumed that relics of the dead, such as arms and\nknees, protruded from the earth-heaps.\n\nOn the 14th of September following, the correspondent of the London\n_Daily Telegraph_ declared that the stenches of the villages around\nHasankioe were unendurable; that the retreating invaders had cut off the\nwater-supply by filling up the wells with corpses; and that in\nconsequence the water had to be brought from a great distance. And on\nthe seventeenth of the same month, the _Times_ correspondent reported\nthat fever had broken out at Kezanlik; and that, within 600 yards of his\ntent, some hundreds of uninhumed dead could be seen, relics of the\nbattle which took place some weeks previously. In order to lessen the\ndanger, the couriers passing along the Yemi Saghra road had actually to\nride with camphor in their mouths. This state of things is not only\ndeplorable, but pre-eminently shameful.\n\nIt is plain from the above that interment _en masse_, as it is practiced\nduring war at the present time, is very unsatisfactory, and often leads\nto disastrous consequences. Unfortunately, burial in single graves is\nimpossible, for several reasons. In the first place, it would take up\ntoo much time; secondly, too much room; and, thirdly, it would remove\ntoo many men from the ranks of the combatants. Nothing remains to us,\ntherefore, but to look about us for some other mode of disposing of the\ndead. The list of methods from which we may select one is not very\nlarge. Various schemes have been proposed. One erratic genius actually\nproposed to blow up the victims of human strife with dynamite. Of all\nthe ways of disposing of the slain, none is so good and advantageous as\ncremation. History records many instances in which cremation was made\nuse of to destroy the dead after a battle.\n\nMr. Wm. Eassie reports: \u201cDuring the wars between the English and the\nBurgundians and the French,\u2014the latter led by Joan of Arc,\u2014the dead were\non one occasion piled up outside the city of Paris, and consumed in one\nhuge pyre.\u201d\n\nTwelve days after the battle of Paris, on the 30th of March, 1814, 4000\nhorses, killed during the combat, were burnt by the Germans in the\nenvirons of Paris,\u2014the woods of Montfaucon.\n\nIn the battle at Rivas, Nicaragua, on the 28th of June, 1855, between\ngovernment troops and Walker\u2019s Filibusters, the latter lost their\ncommander, 12 officers, and 100 men, all of whom were cremated.\n\nMany dead were reduced to ashes by the Carlists, after the battle of\nCuenca.\n\nMore than 40,000 human and animal remains had been inhumed in a very\nsuperficial manner after the battle of Sedan, during the late\nFranco-Prussian War. In consequence, the Belgian villages in the\nneighborhood were visited by epidemics and infectious diseases. The\nBelgian government was petitioned to remove the evil. It despatched\nColonel Creteur to examine into the grievances, and, if possible, remove\nthem. One\u2019s hair stands on end when one reads the report of the colonel\non the condition of the Sedan battle-field. The only way to remedy the\nevil was to destroy the dangerous cadavers by cremation, which was a\ndifficult task, under the circumstances, but which was nevertheless\naccomplished by the ingenious Creteur. The colonel\u2019s report is full of\nhorrible facts. The bodies of German soldiers in a trench at Laid-Trou\nwere covered so little by earth that carnivorous animals had already\ndevoured part of the hands and faces. Rain-water had caused 30 large\npits, containing the remains of Bavarians, to cave in, and had laid bare\nthe bodies. Between Belan and Bazailles, the owners of a field had\nleveled the elevation of a Bavarian grave. Relics of the dead protruded\nfrom the ground. The bodies were covered only by a thin layer of earth,\nin which corn flourished luxuriantly. Wild bears, foxes, and dogs,\nrelishing the human flesh, helped to scratch away the soil over the\nremains, as did the numerous crows upon the pit in which the horses had\nbeen buried. Dogs, having once feasted on this fare, would not eat\nanything else. Creteur at first could not obtain men to carry out his\nplans, as every one who attempted to open the trenches contracted\nphlyct\u00e6na, an eruption of the skin. Finally, by promising good pay, he\nenlisted 27 workmen, whom he endeavored to protect by saturating their\nclothing and moistening the graves with a solution of carbolic acid. But\nthis only intensified the phlyct\u00e6na. He then determined to cover the\ngraves with a layer of chloride of lime, and to pour diluted muriatic\nacid upon them subsequently. By this means he succeeded in laying bare\nthe topmost layer of the corpses. He then had large quantities of coal\ntar poured into the pit, which trickled down among the bodies to the\nbottom, thoroughly covering the remains. He then had more chloride of\nlime heaped upon the corpses, and finally had bundles of hay, previously\nsaturated with kerosene, thrown burning into the pit. Creteur declares\nthat from 200 to 300 bodies were consumed within 50 to 60 minutes. The\nsmoke, impregnated with the smell of the carbolic acid that was formed\nby the combination of the chloride of lime and coal tar, was not\noffensive, and proved entirely harmless to the workmen. About one-fourth\nof all the contents remained in the pits, consisting of calcined bones\nand a dry mass. These were again covered with chloride of lime, and then\nthe trenches were closed. In this way, 45,855 human and equine bodies\nwere disposed of.\n\n[Illustration: THE MILAN CINERARIUM.]\n\nIncineration in war-time should be obligatory\u2014must be so in fact. At\npresent, cremation in portable furnaces is out of the question, because\nit would take too long. Only the bodies of prominent officers might be\nthus cremated and sent to the rear, so that they might rest under a\nmonument erected by the grateful people of the country that they served.\nUnder the existing circumstances, I think Creteur\u2019s method would be the\nbest. By this means, several hundred bodies could be destroyed at once.\nThere ought to be a cremation corps in every division of an army. Better\nyet it would be to organize a neutral society, like the Red Cross\nAssociation, and call it the Society of the Black Cross. The members\nmight wear a black cross on their caps and on the left arm. After a\nbattle, the various corps of this society would begin their work,\ngathering the dead and committing them to the flames. Thus we would\nprotect our brave soldiers, who offer up their lives for their beloved\ncountry and our sake, from pestilence and disease.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER IV.\n                    THE PROCESS OF MODERN CREMATION.\n\n\nIn beginning the consideration of the various processes of cremation, I\nought to speak of the ancient pyre first; but since it was fully\ndescribed in a previous chapter, I deem it best to dismiss it with this\npassing notice. I will remark, however, that were the introduction of\ncremation attempted with a view to the use of this barbarous mode, that\nis, if there were no alternative but to burn the dead in the\nold-fashioned way, I would not be the advocate of incineration; for the\nmethod of antiquity was not only obnoxious to the senses, but almost as\ndangerous to the living as burial in the earth.\n\nIt would take up too much space and would, moreover, be entirely useless\nto describe in detail the numerous European cremation apparatuses, of\nwhich those of Siemens, Brunetti, and Gorini are best known. The trouble\nwith these furnaces is, that (1) the apparatus costs too much; (2) the\nprocess of cremation, when they are employed, is too expensive.\n\nTherefore I will confine myself to a description of the cremation\nfurnaces used in America.\n\nThe crematory at Washington, Pa., is a small, plain, brick building,\ncontaining but two rooms,\u2014furnace and reception room. The retort is\nexactly similar to the ones used in making gas, and, indeed, the whole\nprocess is the same.\n\nThe Washington crematory is one story high, 30 feet long, 20 feet wide.\nThe reception room is 20 feet square, including walls, and the furnace\nroom 20 feet by 10 feet, including walls. Cremation is performed in a\nfire-clay cylinder or retort, called the incinerator, which is three\nfeet in diameter by seven feet long, and the walls of which are from one\nto two inches thick. The retort is like those used in the manufacture of\nilluminating gas, but somewhat of a different shape. It is heated to a\nred heat by a furnace fire which is built underneath and kept burning\nfor 20 or 30 hours before the cremation is to take place. The body is\nplaced in an iron crib made in the shape of a coffin, with small, round\nrods, with feet three or four inches long to keep it up off the bottom\nof the retort. These feet are inserted into a flat strip of iron two\ninches wide and a quarter inch thick, turned up at the ends so that the\ncrib with the body will slide into the retort easily. In addition to the\nordinary burial garments, the body is covered with a cloth wet with a\nsaturated solution of sulphate of alum (common alum), which even when\nburned, retains its form and prevents any part of the corpse from being\nseen until the bony skeleton begins to crumble down. The incinerator\nreceives to itself the intense heat of the fire below, but does not\nadmit the flames. The consequence is that the corpse, when introduced\ninto the retort, is not, in a proper sense of the word, burned. It is\nreduced to ashes by the chemical application of intense heat. Gases are\ndriven off or absorbed, and, being carried down into the fire from the\nincinerator and led back and forth 25 feet through its flames, are\nutterly consumed. Even the smoke of the fire is consumed, and nothing\ncan be seen issuing from the chimney but the quiver of the heat. The\nprocess might be called, says an eye-witness of a cremation in this\nfurnace, the spiritualization of the body, the etherealization or\nsublimation of its material parts. The time required to complete the\noperation is about two hours. A very small portion of the remains is\nashes, but the mass is in the form of calcined bones in small fragments,\nvery white, odorless, entirely deprived of all animal matter, and may be\npreserved any length of time without change.\n\nThere are four to seven pounds of these remains from various sized adult\nbodies, and can be placed for preservation in a marble or terra-cotta\nurn, into which a photograph of the deceased, with appropriate record,\ncan be placed before introducing the remains. This urn can be placed in\nthe columbarium of the crematory, kept among the cherished memorials of\nthe family of the departed, or placed beside other remains previously\nburied in cemeteries or graveyards.\n\nDr. Le Moyne favored placing the remains of the dead in a one-gallon\nsalt-mouthed druggist\u2019s bottle, with a large ground stopper. After his\ndeath, however, the bottle-urn idea proved impracticable, therefore the\nashes were generally placed in a sealed tin box.\n\nThe furnace erected at Lancaster, Pa., is on a new system, which was\ndevised by Dr. M. L. Davis. The cost of the crematorium was about $5000.\nThe building is beautifully located upon a bluff overlooking the\nConestoga River. The grounds occupy two and one-half acres. The\ncrematory is of gothic architecture, 48 \u00d7 32 feet, and contains four\nrooms,\u2014the audience room or chapel, toilet, reception, and furnace room.\nThe chapel is used for religious services, the toilet room for the\naccommodation of relatives and friends accompanying the body, the\nreception room to receive the body and prepare it for incineration; all\nof the apparatus is located in the furnace room, except the retort\ndoors, which face the auditorium. The firing is done in the rear of the\nfurnace, where all tools and miscellaneous articles are kept. The floor\nof the auditorium is made of Portland cement; the other parts of the\nbuilding are floored with brick. The audience room is furnished with\nchairs and a table for the use of ministers or the officers of societies\nhaving charge of the ceremonies at cremation; the walls are decorated\nwith pictures and urns of various designs. The waiting or toilet room is\nprovided with chairs, lounges, toilet-stand, etc., for the comfort of\nthe waiting friends. The grounds consist of a plot of two acres,\none-half of which is level\u2014here the building is located; the other is a\nhillside of solid limestone rock\u2014here the society intends erecting\ncolumbaria at an early day. The grounds around the building are\nbeautified by roadways, walks, trees, shrubbery, etc.\n\nThe furnace invented by Dr. Davis is made of firebricks and tiles. The\noutside dimensions are 10 ft. 6 in. long, by 6 ft. 6 in. wide, with\n9-in. walls of brick. The furnace rests on a foundation 10 ft. 6 in. by\n7 ft. 6 in. and 2 ft. 6 in. deep, of good building stone, with mortar of\nsharp sand and quicklime or equally suitable material, finished level\nwith the floor of the building. At the rear end the center is occupied\nby the fire chamber (F) 18 in. wide, 48 in. long, 3 ft. 9 in. high to\narch, lined with fire-brick 9 inches thick and roofed with an arched\nfire-clay tile 4 in. thick, covered by 3-in. shield tile. The iron doors\n(fire and ash) are furnished with frames, the fire-door is protected by\na lining of asbestos and fire-clay; the grate-rest is 1 ft. 3 in. from\nthe floor; beneath the grate are two iron pipes (1\u00bd in.) at the sides,\nto carry heated air to supply oxygen to the flues (at O); a third iron\npipe (\u215d in.) passing to the rear of the fire chamber and up through its\nback wall to the retort (at P); a fourth pipe (3-in. diameter) leading\nfrom the top of the rear end of the retort (at M) down through the rear\nwall and opening in the ash chamber under the grate-bars (at N), to\ncarry off the surplus gases not consumed in the retort. The air-supply\npipes are required to keep up rapid combustion by replacing the oxygen\nalready used, and so to equalize the heat at both ends of the retort.\nThe air-pipes leading into the retort so assists the disintegration of\nthe body in the same way, supplying additional oxygen and making\noxidation more rapid. The retort is 9 ft. 9 in. long, 3 ft. wide, and 2\nft. high in the clear; it is floored with 3-in. fire-clay tile in\nsections; the sides are of 3-in tile, also in sections; the roof is of\nthe same material arched in sections. The retort is made in sections\nrather than in one single piece, in order to make allowance at the\nseveral joints for the great expansion and contraction incident to a\nheat of 2000 to 2500 degrees, thus avoiding the annoyance and expense of\ncracks and patching. The retort is supported by the arched roof of the\nfire chamber and its covering of shield tile, and back of the fire\nchamber by fire-clay pillars, and at the sides by projections of the\ntile partitions between the flues. Six pairs of flues surround the\nretort, 15 and 13\u00bd inches wide respectively, and 3 in. deep, separated\nby tile partitions 3 in. thick. The gases from the fire chamber enter\nthe first pair through curved openings (QQ) and pass up through AA down\nthrough BB (receiving additional oxygen at O), and up again through CC,\nand through the escape-flue S, into the chimney. The outside facing of\nthe flues is 3-in. tile. Between the outside facing of the flues and the\n9-in. brick wall is a space of 3 inches which is packed with asbestos to\nprevent radiation of heat and allow for lateral expansion and\ncontraction of the outer casing of the flues, giving it much longer\nlife. Above the fire space on the top of the retort, which is 4 inches\ndeep, is an arch of 9-in. fire-brick, above which ashes and sand are\nfilled in to the depth of 6 inches above the top of the arch, and\nfloored over with red brick. The retort door is lined with asbestos and\nfire-clay; it is made of steel plate, closing against a flanged iron\nframe, and held to its place by a spider, upon which is screwed down an\narm swinging with the door and fastening to the frame; the frame is held\nto its place by two horizontal bars, walled in at the ends. This\narrangement secures a tight joint when the door is closed; the stay-bars\nhold the frame, the bar holds the door to the frame and gives the\nfulcrum for pressure on the spider, while swinging with the door it is\nout of the way when not in use. The whole structure is protected by\nthree buckstays of T iron on each side, securely joined by \u00be-inch iron\nrods, furnished with nuts to allow tightening or loosening when\nnecessary. The fire-brick escape-flue connects with the chimney; the\ndimensions are 16 \u00d7 14 inches in the clear; the chimney rests on sills\nof T iron, supported by brick pillars, and is lined with fire-brick for\n6 feet above the retort, and is carried up to a total height of 30 feet.\n\nI have given so minute a description of this apparatus because it is an\ninvention of which not only Dr. M. L. Davis, but his countrymen with\nhim, may feel justly proud. It is the first cremation furnace that\npossesses the two cardinal requirements of a good incinerator; namely,\ncheapness and usefulness. The price of this apparatus is from $1200 to\n$1500; the European furnaces cost $3000 and more. The Davis furnace,\nmoreover, uses less fuel than the European apparatus, whereby the\nexpense of cremation is much decreased. Ordinarily, coke and hard or\n\u201csteamboat\u201d coal is used in this furnace, although (and this is an\nadditional advantage) gas, oil, or any other heating material may be\nused. The quantity required varies somewhat, but the average amount\nnecessary to heat the furnace and incinerate a body is 250 pounds of\ncoke and 250 pounds of coal, or about one-fourth ton of fuel. The time\noccupied for complete incineration varies according to the condition of\nthe body, but ranges from 45 minutes to one hour and a half. The furnace\ncan be heated in six hours, but usually more time is occupied in\nheating, as there is less liability of injury to the furnace by rapid\nexpansion.\n\nWhen the Davis furnace is used, the process is as follows: The\ncatafalque, bearing the crib which is covered with a cloth 15 feet long,\nwet with alum water, is placed by the side of the casket containing the\nbody, the lid of which is removed and strips of muslin are passed under\nit. The ends of the bands are attached to an elevator, and the body is\ngently raised up and placed upon the alum-sheet-covered crib, the free\nend being covered over, thus entirely enveloping it. This procedure is\nnecessary to prevent the clothing in which the corpse is dressed from\nigniting. All being in readiness, the catafalque, on noiseless casters,\nis placed in front of the retort. A cable is then attached to the crib,\nthe retort door is opened, a signal is given, and the catafalque with\nits burden gently approaches the open retort; when near, it stops, and\nnoiselessly the corpse is moved into the retort, impelled, as it were,\nby an unseen agency. When it is in the proper position, a signal is\ngiven, the machinery in the rear and out of sight stops, the door is\nclosed air-tight, and the mechanical process gives way to the chemical.\n\nWhen the retort is opened, the cold air rushing in, the cold body, crib,\nand alum-sheet chill for a few moments the inner surface of the retort;\nin a few moments the retort regains its heat; a fine mist commences to\narise from the body, which gradually becomes thicker and more dense,\nuntil the inside of the retort has the appearance of dense white mist.\nThe idea of fine snow or fog is suggested. This appearance remains until\nthe soft tissues are reduced to ashes. Then the interior of the retort\ngradually becomes more clear. The alum-sheet will be seen to be in the\nsame position as when put in; perhaps slightly sunken. A blue flame will\nbe seen arising through the sheet; about six inches above the body it\nbecomes extinguished. This continues until the bony structure is\ncompletely cremated, when all is white as snow, and nothing can be seen\ninside the retort, the ashes having fallen through the crib and the\nalum-cloth collapsed. The oxygen by the intense heat has been made to\nunite with the carbonaceous elements of the body, and the resulting\ncarbonic acid gas, ammonia, and water are driven off through the retort\nwalls into and through the flues to the air without, where they mingle\nwith the elements of nature. In the retort are the ashes, consisting of\npure oxide of lime.\n\nIt is plain from the above that the corpse does not come in contact with\nthe flames, that is, the fire, in this apparatus. There is no burning.\nThe body is simply oxidized, and the union of the oxygen and the organic\nmatter composing the body is so complete that what nature has so\nperfectly formed in life appears to gently, quietly melt away in death,\nand becomes resolved into its original elements.\n\nThe record of the Davis furnace has been so far entirely satisfactory.\nThe Lancaster crematorium contains two of these furnaces. This crematory\nhas no smokestack; that is, the chimney reaches but several inches above\nthe roof of the building.\n\nOn Nov. 23, 1885, Prof. T. R. Baker, Ph.D., of the Millersville State\nNormal School, collected 30 jars of gases from the escape-flue of the\nLancaster crematorium, with a view of analyzing them, to ascertain the\nnature of the products of combustion of the human body during\nincineration. Many persons have contended that poisonous gases are given\noff, thereby polluting the air; and it was with a view of clearing up\nthis phase of the subject that the experiment was undertaken. The\napparatus used to collect the gases consisted of an iron gas-pipe, five\nfeet being bent two feet from one end at right angles. The long end was\npassed down the escape-flue from the furnace. To the other end was\nattached a glass tube, which ran to a U-tube surrounded with ice, to\ncondense vapors. The gas was collected in a jar. Fifteen jars were thus\ncollected before the body was introduced into the retort, and 15 at\nvarious stages of the incineration. The body was that of a man who had\ndied from dropsy. Below will be found Dr. Baker\u2019s report.\n\n                                          STATE NORMAL SCHOOL,\n                                      MILLERSVILLE, Pa., Dec. 7, 1885.\n\n    DR. M. L. DAVIS:\u2014\n\n    _Dear Sir_: I have completed the examination of the gaseous\n    products recently obtained from the chimney of the Lancaster\n    crematorium, and will now report the results of my investigation.\n    The escaping products were tested at the crematorium for water and\n    for gases readily soluble in water, and several bottles of these\n    products were collected before the body was put in the retort, as\n    well as during the cremation.\n\n    Water, etc., were tested for by passing several gallons of the\n    escaping products through the U condensation tubes, surrounded by\n    ice, and then through distilled water. The estimated amount of\n    water in the products escaping before the body was put in the\n    retort was .0011 of a cubic inch to the gallon, while during the\n    cremation it was .0044 of a cubic inch to a gallon.\n\n    The water through which the gases were passed, both that used\n    before the body was put in the retort and that used during the\n    cremation, had a distinct acid reaction, quickly reddening blue\n    litmus paper. I could not, however, detect any difference in the\n    degree of acidity of the waters, and their reaction did not\n    indicate that the gases which had passed through them were more\n    acid than the gaseous products passing off from ordinary coal\n    fires. The waters were found to contain traces of the mineral\n    acids generally found in very small quantities in the products of\n    the combustion of mineral coal. They gave no reaction for salts of\n    ammonia, nor for sulphuretted hydrogen.\n\n    The gases collected for laboratory examination were tested\n    especially for carbonic acid (CO_{2}), illuminating gas, oxygen\n    (O), carbonic oxide (CO), and nitrogen (N).\n\n    The method of examination employed was that generally followed in\n    gas analysis, namely, the absorption of the gases by liquid\n    reagents. Carbonic acid was absorbed by potassium hydrate;\n    illuminants by bromine; oxygen by phosphorus; and carbonic oxide\n    by cuprous chloride dissolved in hydrochloric acid.\n\n    The estimated amounts of the gases enumerated above are as\n    follows, the values indicating the parts of a cubic inch to the\n    gallon; the estimated water being also included in the table:\u2014\n\n    \u250c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u252c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2510\n    \u2502                 \u2502H_{2}O\u2502CO_{2}\u2502Illuminating\u2502  O  \u2502 CO  \u2502 N  \u2502\n    \u2502                 \u2502      \u2502      \u2502    Gas.    \u2502     \u2502     \u2502    \u2502\n    \u251c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u253c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2524\n    \u2502Before Cremation,\u2502 .0011\u2502.00080\u2502        .000\u2502.0080\u2502.0000\u2502.016\u2502\n    \u2502During Cremation,\u2502 .0044\u2502.00091\u2502        .012\u2502.0065\u2502.0017\u2502.015\u2502\n    \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2534\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2518\n\n    It will be seen by a comparison of these results that the gaseous\n    products of ordinary coal combustion are modified to only an\n    inconsiderable extent by matter passing through the walls of the\n    cremation retort. Illuminating gas is a variable mixture of\n    hydrogen, marsh gas, olefiant gas, and other gases, and is\n    entirely harmless when produced in the small quantities indicated\n    in the table, and so thoroughly distributed through the air. That\n    so much free oxygen passes off with the escaping products is an\n    indication of the thoroughness of the combustion, and the complete\n    oxidation of the oxidizable products.\n\n    In conclusion, I would say that not any of the many and various\n    tests, either at the crematorium or in my laboratory, of the\n    products under consideration, indicated the presence of anything\n    that would pollute the air. The burning of the body produces no\n    material difference in the gases escaping from the chimney. The\n    volume of the chimney products did not seem to be increased by the\n    burning of the body, and the products had precisely the same odor\n    during cremation that they had before the body was put in the\n    retort.\n\n    I might add that I also made a test of the temperature of the\n    products issuing from the chimney, and found it to be about 300\u00b0\n    F. This is surprisingly low, considering the high temperature of\n    the retort (2500\u00b0 to 2800\u00b0 F.), and indicates a most excellently\n    designed furnace, utilizing as it does so large a percentage of\n    the heat. About one-fourth of the heat of boiler furnaces goes up\n    the chimney.\n\nThe process of cremation invented by Joseph Venini, of Milan, Italy, is\nused in the crematorium of Buffalo, N. Y. The process consists of two\nparts: first, the generation of gas; and second, the cremation proper.\nThe apparatus is constructed with a gas generator (A), which is a simple\nfire-pot about four feet in a vertical measurement and two laterally,\nand is located in the basement of the crematory. The air for combustion\nis admitted through a grate in the bottom, and is not sufficient to\nallow of the combustion of the entire mass of small wood which is heaped\non the fire. The result is that the fire at the bottom distils the wood\nat the top, and the gases of distillation and combustion of wood are\ncarried to the back end of the incinerating chamber (B), which is on the\nmain floor. Here these gases are met by air heated in a chamber (C)\noutside of the furnace, where the two are ignited by a fire (D) which is\nkept burning just under their point of union. The Bunsen flame (E) thus\nproduced is thrown quite across the incinerating chamber; thence it is\ncarried back beneath the retort by the flue (F) into the basement to a\nchimney, which is about 40 feet high, and so to the open air. A certain\namount of gas is also burned in the flue (F) beneath the incinerating\nretort and also at the bottom of the chimney. It will be seen from this\ndescription the Bunsen burners play directly upon the subject, and by\ntheir heat liberate the gases of the body, which gases, being burned in\nthe retort, are carried into the flue beneath; here another Bunsen flame\n(H) ignites such combustible material as has not been consumed in the\nretort, and at the foot of the chimney the third Bunsen burner, which is\nnot represented in the illustration, finishes the combustion. To heat\nthe apparatus requires an hour and a quarter, and when the temperature\nis 2500\u00b0 to 3000\u00b0 F., the body is placed in the furnace, and in about an\nhour is cremated. The amount of fuel used is little more than half a\ncord of wood, or its equivalent.\n\nThe furnace which will be used at the Cincinnati crematorium is on a\nnovel system devised by Mr. M. R. Conway. After the fire is lighted,\nsteam is generated by means of pipes situated in the flues; this steam\npasses up through the center wall of the furnace and is distributed over\nthe incandescent coke. In its passage it gathers air enough to supply\nthe required oxygen. It also brings with it the gases generated from the\nbody being incinerated, and all these gases are regenerated into an\nintense heat in the combustion chamber; making a perfectly odorless\nfurnace.\n\nI quote from a pamphlet written by an \u201ceye-witness\u201d of cremation, who\nhad before looked upon it with repugnance, but who on witnessing it\nbecame a most earnest advocate:\u2014\n\n\u201cA furnace fire is built and kept burning for 20 or 30 hours before the\ncremation is to take place. Immediately above the fire is placed in a\nhorizontal position a cylinder of clay called the incinerator, three\nfeet in diameter by seven feet long. This fire-clay incinerator, the\nwalls of which are from one to two inches thick, receives to itself the\nintense heat of the fire below, but does not admit the flames. The\nconsequence is that the body, when placed in the incinerator, is not, in\na proper sense of the word, burned. It is reduced to ashes by the\nchemical application of intense heat. Gases are driven off or absorbed,\nand being carried down into the fire from the incinerator and led back\nand forth 25 feet through its flames, are utterly consumed. Even the\nsmoke of the fire is consumed, and nothing can be seen issuing from the\nchimney but the quiver of the heat. The process might be called, as we\nhave said, the spiritualization of the body, the etherealization or\nsublimation of its material parts.\n\n\u201cWhen the incinerator has been raised to a white heat, it is ready for\nthe reception of the remains. As the cover is removed from its mouth,\nthe in-rushing air cools it from a white to a red heat, and the whole\ninner surface is filled with a beautiful rosy light which is fascinating\nto the eye. It looks like the blush of dawn upon the sky, or like the\nexquisite tints which sometimes flicker along the aurora borealis. There\nis nothing repulsive about it, and nothing, as has been said, to suggest\nthe idea of fire except the intense heat.\n\n\u201cThe body, being decently clad for burial and tenderly laid in the crib\nprovided for the purpose, is wholly covered with a clean, white sheet\nwhich has been dipped in a solution of alum. The effect of this is to\nentirely prevent smoke or fumes or flame, which would otherwise arise\nfrom putting anything inflammable into the midst of such a heat; but,\nunder its protection, even the extraordinary heat of the incinerator\ndoes not produce upon the body the appearance of scorching or smoking or\nanything of the sort. There is no such impression as that of burning\nmade upon the eye. The sheet, saturated with alum, retains its original\nposition over the crib, and conceals the entire form until nothing but\nthe bones are left; and when the eye first rests upon the remains after\nthey are left in the rosy light of the cylinder, it sees nothing but\nthese bones gently crumbling away into dust under the mystic touch of an\ninvisible agent, whose only appearance to the eye is like the tremor of\nthe northern lights in the sky; or, more exactly, the radiation of heat\nfrom the earth beneath the summer\u2019s sun.\n\n\u201cYou have laid a white-robed form within the rosy cylinder, and have\nturned away to think with gratitude that all is well. You have let your\nimagination dwell lovingly upon the pleasing sentiment that whatever may\nbe left\u2014beside the calcined bones, most pure and clean\u2014has gone to\nmingle with the upper air and dwell with sunshine, birds, and flowers.\nThe darkness and the dampness of the earth have been escaped, and so\nhave the perils of grave-snatching, the indecencies of a possible\ndissecting-room, and the nameless horrors of putrefaction. You have\npleasant memories to cherish of the \u2018last sad hour,\u2019 which, instead of\n\u2018breathless darkness\u2019 and the \u2018narrow house\u2019 and the dreadful thud of\nfalling earth upon the coffin, presents to mind a lovely bed of rosy\nlight, and a peaceful form clad in virgin purity resting within its soft\nembrace. If a lily had been laid upon a bed of pinks or roses, in the\nsummer, and you had seen its fragrance and its beauty all exhale amid\nthe shimmering beams or radiated heat beneath the touch of some\ninvisible and gentle agency, you would have had a not dissimilar\nexperience. And this is neither painful to the eye, nor distressing to\nthe sensibilities, nor ungrateful to the memory.\u201d\n\nThe following beautiful description of a cremation of the future is from\nthe _Modern Age_ for January, 1884, a journal which, alas! was\ndiscontinued for lack of support:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt is not a disagreeable journey on which we now propose to take our\nreaders. It is to witness the final disposition of a friend\u2019s remains in\nthe ideal crematory of the future\u2014science having already perfected the\nmechanical appliances necessary in conducting it in the way we describe.\nOur friend has died, and through the usual announcements we learn that\nthe last rites will be performed in the columbarium at a given hour.\nRepairing thither at the appointed time, we first pass through a grove\nof stately trees, the soothing murmur of whose rustling leaves brings\npeace and quiet into the hearts of those who mourn and gather to pay the\nlast tribute. Within the grove stands a massive building of gray masonry\nwhose architecture shows no striving after ornamental effect, and whose\nsolid proportions give a sense of eternal permanency. A few small\nwindows in a simple frieze which crowns its walls do not destroy this\neffect, and their plain stained glass clashes in nowise with the harmony\nof color between the sky, the trees, and the gray stone of the temple of\nrest. About the Doric pillars of its portico green vines twine fondly as\nif they, too, would do their share in robbing death of all its\nhideousness. To this place loving hands have borne the body of our\nfriend. No coffin lends its horror to the journey from this earthly home\nto here, where eternal sleep awaits him. A flower-strewn bier gives\npoetic carriage for this short and final journey. Entering the broad\nportal, the soft, deep notes of an organ charm the ear. The eye takes in\na most imposing sight. The entire interior of the building is one\nimpressive room, with walls, floor, ceiling, all of white and spotless\nmarble. The view is not a dazzling one, for the light is subdued and\ncomes in varied color through the windows at the top. On either side of\nthe chamber stand a few memorial statues,\u2014real works of art,\u2014each one of\nthem keeping alive the memory of some one who in his life was either\ngood or great. Many of the marble slabs in the sides and floor of the\ntemple bear in plain, sunken letters, a name and two dates. Behind or\nbeneath them are niches containing urns where rest the pure white ashes\nof the beloved dead. On a simple dais in the middle of the room lays the\nbody of our beloved friend. The hour has come, and about it are gathered\nthose who knew and loved him while he lived. The scene, the\nsurroundings, the subdued music of the organ, the absence of everything\nto jar upon the taste or senses, brings on a mood of solemn\ncontemplation. No thought of physical corruption jars upon our memories\nof the dead. The opening words of the speaker are said, a hidden choir\nharmoniously chants of hope and life, and now the end has come. With the\nwords \u2018ashes to ashes\u2019 a white pall is thrown over the dais, and we have\nlooked upon our friend for the last time. The dais noiselessly sinks\nfrom sight, a short hour is spent in listening to a funeral oration, or\nin contemplation, until the dais, still covered with the pall, rises\nfrom below. The pall removed, we see upon the dais an urn\u2014provided\nbeforehand, and containing the ashes of our friend. This is now sealed\ninto one of the niches, and the ceremony is over. This is not pure\nimagination. Modern invention has now robbed incineration of all its\nobjectionable features. Never till of late years could the world well\nand simply solve the problem of what to do with its dead. The whole\nprocess is carried on as we have pictured, and without a single\nrevolting feature in any part of it.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER V.\n THE MEDICO-LEGAL ASPECT OF INCINERATION.\u2014THE OBJECTIONS TO CREMATION.\n\n\nThe battle between torch and spade is not new; it has been going on\nsince early times. Tertullian, a writer of the second century, declares\nthat many of the Gentiles were opposed to cremation on the score of the\ncruelty which it did to the body, which did not deserve such penal\ntreatment. This is exactly what some are asserting now. The work of an\nancient Greek poet even contains a passage requesting Prometheus to take\nback the fire which he had procured them. There was a time when the\nPagans were disputing the propriety of burning the dead upon any\nconsideration whatever. Heraclitus advocated cremation; Thales and\nHippon, earth burial. In the war which a few Christians are now waging\nagainst incineration, we therefore only have another illustration of how\nhistory repeats itself. Peoples are still contesting the point in lands\nwhich are painted in Pagan black upon the maps of the missionaries, and\nwhere Christians as yet have no footing. Some sects in Japan bury and\nsome burn their dead; some of the Hindoos practice interment, others\nincineration.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  THE BUFFALO CREMATORIUM.\n  (Exterior View.)\n]\n\nThe injudicious promoters of cremation are among the greatest enemies of\nthe reform. The utterance that incineration should be obligatory was\nextremely unfortunate, as was the idea of producing illuminating gas for\ngeneral use from the combustion of corpses, something after the fashion\nof the twelfth century\u2019s _lanternes des morts_. The fancy of Sir Henry\nThompson to use the ashes resulting from cremation as a fertilizer was\nalso a mischievous idea, and did much to delay the progress of\nincineration in Great Britain.\n\nThe abhorrence entertained by many of cremation depends, to a very great\nextent, on the universal tendency of individuals and peoples to resent\nany interference with established customs; to reject any innovation,\nsimply because it is an innovation. For instance, if cremation should be\nthe customary practice at the present time, a proposition to\nre-establish inhumation would meet, I am certain, with the most violent\nopposition.\n\nThe cremationists are now charged with enthusiasm and fanaticism by\nindividuals who would be content that science should \u201cstand at gaze like\nJoshua\u2019s moon in Ajalon.\u201d Most of the progress in all departments of\nlearning has been made by enthusiasts, and a man must be an enthusiast\nindeed to withstand the prejudice \u201cdry as dust\u201d which yields the ground\nslowly and grudgingly, but which is certain to be defeated in the end.\n\nThe first question that comes before us for consideration is, Would not\ncremation destroy the evidence of crime? This refers not only to cases\nof poisoning, but also to those instances where persons meet with a\nviolent death by being shot, stabbed, or otherwise severely injured.\nThis is the only tangible objection that has ever been made by the\nanti-cremationists. It is of great importance, and unless we are able to\nshow that it can be obviated, we must admit that it constitutes a\nserious drawback to cremation. This, as Dr. J. O. Marble appropriately\nremarks, is, in fact, the one and only real lion in the way of the\nprogress of incineration as a substitute for inhumation, and unless we\ncan muzzle this lion, he may frighten away the pilgrims.\n\nIf the charges made by the anti-cremation party were true, incineration,\nif established, would offer facilities for the commission and\nconcealment of hideous crimes. A victim could be destroyed by poison,\nthe dead body carried to a furnace and reduced to a small heap of ashes\nin a short space of time, and the crime thus forever placed beyond the\nreach of detection. The cremator, then, would become the instrument and\naccomplice of the murderer. It is urged that the agents employed in the\ncommonest form of secret murder\u2014poisoning\u2014are often of a novel, subtle,\nand various character. We are apprised that it is extremely improbable\nthat the physician called in, if he be called in, has ever seen their\neffects, either on man or animals; that care will be taken that he shall\nnot see them; that the poisoner has the advantage of preparation on his\nside; and finally, that discovery, when made, is generally made at some\nvariable period after death, and then rather in consequence of an\naggregation of suspicious collateral circumstances pointing to the\ncommission of other crimes of a like nature than of any possible\nobservations at the bedside of the murdered person. Indeed, a formidable\narray of arguments, which can be, nevertheless, overcome in several\nways. The question now before us for solution is not of recent date, but\nhas already agitated the minds of the ancients, who, most probably,\ninvestigated the cause of death before they consigned their dead to the\nfuneral pyre. Tacitus, the Roman historian, relates that the corpse of\nGermanicus lay in state in the forum of Antioch, a place fixed for\nsepulchral rites, but that \u201cwhether it bore the marks of poisoning yet\nremains undecided,\u201d for the people were divided in their opinions, some\npitying Germanicus and suspecting Piso\u2019s guilt, others prejudiced in\nfavor of the latter.\n\nPliny also relates in chapter 71 of his Natural History, lib. xi: \u201cIt is\nclaimed that the heart of those who die of _morbus cardiacus_ (organic\nheart disease) cannot be destroyed by fire, and the same is said to be\ntrue of the heart of poisoned persons.\u201d An oration of Vitellus is extant\nin which he accuses Piso, the physician, of having poisoned Germanicus,\nsince the heart of the latter would not burn. Piso defended himself by\ndescribing the disease of which the emperor had died.\n\nDr. J. O. Marble, who has written of this subject, affirms: \u201cIt must be\nadmitted that cases of criminal poisoning, such as would be detected by\nan exhumation and examination of a buried body, are very rare, for in\nour day Lucrezia Borgias and Brinvilliers are few and easily detected.\nIn a community like ours cases of this kind are extremely rare. In a\nvast majority of cases the cause of death is perfectly evident to any\nintelligent physician. No doubt obscures the case. The list of causes of\ndeath, perfectly evident even to the friends and non-medical persons,\nembraces probably at least nine-tenths of the whole mortality. Doubtful\ncases have generally been visited by more than one skilful physician.\nThe fraction in which crime of any sort might have been perpetrated\nbecomes thus very small. Moreover, in the present state of chemical\nanalysis and expert medical testimony, the advantages of the posthumous\nexamination of a body with a view to the detection of crime accrue less\nto justice than to the lawyer for the defense.\u201d\n\nThe medico-legal objection, as it is called, does not apply in every\ncase, since every day individuals die of easily determined causes, such\nas small-pox, consumption, hemorrhage from the lungs or stomach,\ndrowning, or other accidents, and suicide; in short, in such a way as to\nplace the cause of death beyond cavil and dispute.\n\nIt is true that a regular proportion of bodies are dug up every year on\nsuspicion of foul play; but, aside from the fact that that proportion is\nvery small, how many of these cases justify the exhumation? So uncertain\nand inaccurate is the post-mortem evidence of criminal poisoning, that\nno bodies have been exhumed for forensic purposes in Vienna, Austria\u2019s\ncapital, since 1805.\n\nTarchini-Bonfanti, for 26 years _perito-medico_ (medical expert) at the\ntribunal of Milan, Italy, declares that during this time, although many\nthousands of litigations came before the court which was requested to\npronounce judgment upon them, only in ten cases was it necessary to\nresort to exhumation. Only ten cases in 26 years, out of several\nthousands of lawsuits, and four only out of the ten exhumations led to\nthe detection of the crime and the criminal. These four cases, however,\noccurred in a single lawsuit\u2014that of Boggia. In this instance the\ndisinterment would have taken place, even if cremation had been at the\ntime an established and universal custom, for Boggia had buried his\nvictims in his own cellar. Tarchini-Bonfanti asserts that exhumations\nfor forensic purposes are extremely rare, and that those which are made\nyield either negative, or at best doubtful results.\n\nDisinterment, instead of furnishing an explanation, instead of shedding\nlight upon some mystery, more often is followed by confusion, and may\ngive rise to erroneous conclusions. It would be next to impossible to\ncremate a murdered person in a furnace of the ordinary kind. As to the\npoor and ignorant murderer, the regulation of cremation would make him\nshrink from submitting his victim to the authorities of a crematorium,\nand he would find it far more convenient and safe to inter the corpse\nsecretly, as these criminals generally do at the present time.\n\nThere are many poisons which, by a rapid change of their substance, are\nextremely difficult to detect in the human body after death, even after\na short time, sometimes but a few days; for instance, cyanide of\npotassium, prussic acid, and at certain times phosphorus. But when a\ncareful inquest, such as the cremationists propose, is held, poisoning\nby these agents cannot so easily escape detection. In poisoning by\nphosphorus, the yellow hue of the face of the victim would excite\nsuspicion and lead to a post-mortem examination, when the characteristic\nsign of phosphorus poisoning in the fatty degeneration of the liver\nwould be discovered. An autopsy would speedily make evident poisoning by\npure prussic acid, for the open cavities of the body would exhale the\nodor of bitter almonds. Poisoning by cyanide of potassium can, of\ncourse, only be detected by a chemical analysis of the contents of the\nstomach, intestines, etc.\n\nI think I may safely affirm that it is impossible for the best of\nanatomists to determine the lesions, if there be any, of a decomposed\nbody.\n\nAll vegetable poisons, except the alkaloid of strychnia, decompose with\nthe body; it is extremely rare that any alkaloid can be discovered in\nthe body posthumously. Mineral poisons, such as antimony, lead, copper,\ncombinations of baryta, and many others, are indestructible, and can be\ndetected in the ashes. It may even happen that, by some extra care, the\nprocess of incineration may be the most efficient means of detecting\npoisoning by arsenic and mercury. Of course we should not forget that,\nwithout some precaution, the salts of arsenic and mercury would be\nvolatilized; but while they are volatilized, they must also, at a\nreduced temperature, be again deposited, and it remains for the chemist\nto determine the most efficient contrivance for recognizing its\ndeposition.\n\nDirect experiments instituted by M. Cadet and verified by MM. Doursant\nand Wurst, even prove that the salts of arsenic can be detected in the\nashes after incineration.\n\nAs matters stand to-day, it is puerile to think that we can prevent the\nrich and skilful poisoner from committing crime as long as we permit him\nto employ undertakers, who, without restraint of law, inject arseniate\nof soda and corrosive sublimate into the body of his victim, and thus\nremove all traces of the crime.\n\nDr. Cameron, in a speech before the House of Commons of England in 1884,\ndeclared:\u2014\n\n\u201cNumerous modern researches have shown that putrefactive fermentation in\ndecaying animal matter gives rise to the formation of sepsine and other\nalkaloids, some of them intensely poisonous. Little or nothing is known\nin this country concerning the products of putrefaction. _Ptomaines_ is\nthe general name which has been given to them abroad, and I don\u2019t know\nthat I ever saw it printed in the English language. Little is known of\nthese ptomaines even by those who have studied them most closely, but\nenough has been discovered to show that we must be very careful as to\nhow far we rely upon what are called physiological tests for poisons in\nthe case of bodies which have been exhumed; and that the fact that\nfrogs, rabbits, or dogs are killed by the action of matters extracted\nfrom the viscera of a putrefying body can no longer by itself be held as\nproving that those viscera contained any poison before putrefaction\ncommenced.\u201d\n\nIs it surprising, when the above is taken into consideration, that the\ntestimony of chemists at trials for poisoning should vary so much and be\nso contradictory in nature?\n\nSir Henry Thompson, in his admirable exposition of cremation, which was\ntranslated into almost every civilized language of the world, thus\ndisposes of the medico-legal objection:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt has been said, and most naturally, what guarantee is there against\npoisoning if the remains are burned, and it is no longer possible, as\nafter burial, to reproduce the body for the purpose of examination? It\nis to my mind a sufficient reply that, regarding only \u2018the greatest good\nto the greatest number,\u2019 the amount of evil in the shape of disease and\ndeath which results from the present system of burial in earth is\ninfinitely larger than the evil caused by secret poisoning is or could\nbe, even if the practice of the crime were very considerably to\nincrease. Further, the appointment of officers to examine and certify in\nall cases of death would be an additional and very efficient safeguard.\nBut\u2014and here I touch on a very important subject\u2014is there reason to\nbelieve that our present precautions in the matter of death certificate\nagainst the danger of poisoning are what they ought to be? I think that\nit must be confessed that they are defective, for not only is our system\ninadequate to the end proposed, but it is less efficient by comparison\nthan that adopted by foreign governments. Our existing arrangements for\nascertaining and registering the cause of death are very lax, and give\nrise, as we shall see, to serious errors. In order to attain an approach\nto certitude in this important matter, I contend that it would be most\ndesirable to nominate in every district a properly qualified inspector\nto certify in all cases to the fact that death has taken place, to\nsatisfy himself as far as possible that no foul play has existed, and to\ngive the certificate accordingly. This would relieve the medical\nattendant of the deceased from any disagreeable duty relative to inquiry\nconcerning suspicious circumstances, if any have been observed. Such\nofficers exist throughout the large cities of France and Germany, and\nthe system is more or less pursued throughout the provinces. In Paris no\nburial can take place without the written permission of the \u2018_m\u00e9decin\nv\u00e9rificateur_\u2019; and whether we adopt cremation or not, such an officer\nmight with advantage be appointed here.\u201d\n\nSir Henry suggests that in suspected cases the \u201cdead officer\u201d should\nretain in sealed vessels the stomach and other portions of the viscera\nfor future examination. But I think it next to impossible that such an\nofficer could execute duties so burdensome and so averse to the genius\nof the people.\n\nLet us for a moment turn to our dear American commonwealths. Do our\nburial laws aid in the detection of crime? In the majority of states a\ndeath certificate, signed by a physician, must be filed with the health\nofficer, who issues a burial permit. This is all which is required.\nGenerally it makes no difference whether the physician or surgeon who\naffixes his name to the document is reputable or not. The burial permit\nis looked upon as a mere formality, an unnecessary institution, that\nowes its origin to some whimsical lawmaker. How often do even the most\nzealous of health officers investigate the causes of the deaths that are\nreported to them? The doctor\u2019s certificate is put upon record; that is\nsatisfactory, and no more is asked for. The rest is silence\u2014like that\nwhich reigns under the turf, where the undetected victims of the\npoisoner lie.\n\nNow, if our faulty burial laws, if the indifference of our officers of\nhealth, are not a direct incentive to the foulest and most insidious\nforms of crime, I do not know what is. Were I a secret assassin, I\ncertainly would wish for no more encouragement. As matters now stand,\nany evil-doer, with the help of some unscrupulous medical man, may\ncommit murder daily without fear of detection.\n\nI propose to show that if incineration were established, the careful\nscrutiny of corpses and official examinations in suspected cases, which\nwould precede the reduction of the body to ashes, would rather assist in\nthe detection of murder than hinder it.\n\nMr. W. Eassie, in a lecture delivered at the International Health\nExhibition last year, expressed himself anent this question as follows:\n\u201cWith regard to doubtful deaths it would be necessary to make sure that\nthe body exhibited no traces of poison, or that certain small portions\nof the body should be removed therefrom and kept for a few years. For\ninstance, a small portion of the stomach and intestines and their\ncontents in case of vegetable poisoning, and a small portion of the\nliver, should mineral poisoning be suspected. There is no difficulty in\ndealing with this matter in other countries where cremation has become\npermissive; and it is upon record that the examination of the body of a\nchild in Italy, which had been made in the ordinary way demanded by the\nauthorities previous to the cremation, proved that the child had been\npoisoned apparently by sweetmeats, and this would not have been revealed\nhad an ordinary burial in the earth taken place.\u201d\n\nI must here repeat what I have already said regarding Sir H. Thompson\u2019s\nintimation that part of the bodies about to be cremated might be\nconserved for future examination: The strong dislike of the public would\nnever allow of such a measure.\n\nLord Bramwell, the eminent English lawyer, in a letter to Sir Spencer\nWells concerning incineration, states: \u201cI wish you success in the\npromotion of cremation; I think it is right, and what is very rare, with\nno drawback. It is the cheapest, the most wholesome, and to my mind, the\nleast repulsive way of disposing of the dead and those we have loved.\nThat it is legal there is not a doubt. The only objection, that murders\nmight go undetected, I believe to be more than unfounded. You have\nsurrounded the thing with precautions. I have heard it suggested that\nthere are many murders which escape detection for want of suspicion and\nconsequent inquiry. How that may be I know not, but it will not be the\ncase with those bodies cremated under the regulations of the Cremation\nSociety of England. The English society requires such undoubted proofs\nof natural death that a criminal would not dare trust his victim to the\nflames.\u201d\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  THE BUFFALO CREMATORIUM.\n  (Interior View.)\n]\n\nTo cut a long story short, let me say that cremationists meet the\nmedico-legal objection by a demand for a careful inquest over _every_\ndead body, and a post-mortem examination, including a chemical analysis\nof all the viscera, in every instance where death by toxic agents is\nsuspected.\n\nIn many cities of Europe the dead are examined by physicians appointed\nby the government. The result has been that, as for instance in Dresden,\nLeipsic, and Frankfort, Germany, no exhumation took place after the\ninquest became obligatory and was practiced in every instance of\ndecease.\n\nIn Bavaria, Saxony, Nassau, and Baden, there are regular coroners whose\nduty it is to inspect every corpse, while in England the coroner\u2019s jury\nonly convenes in cases where the cause of death is not apparent.\n\nWith us the office of coroner is not an important one. Generally laymen\nare appointed to it, men who have done some work at that awful power,\nthe political machine. This is wrong. The office of coroner should only\nbe vested in medical men, and only in such who have shown that they are\nqualified to fill such a position of consequence. Every candidate for\ncoroner should be examined in forensic medicine and pathology, and\nshould give an ocular demonstration of his capability to make a thorough\nautopsy. Only those who have graduated from a medical school of repute,\nrecognized by law and all the boards of health of the country, should be\neligible.\n\nThe coroner should have power to demand an explanation of the cause of\ndeath from the physician who attended the deceased in his last illness,\nand whenever such explanation is unsatisfactory, or there are other\nreasons which lead him to suspect that the defunct has been foully dealt\nwith, to order a complete post-mortem examination. He should,\nfurthermore, have the right to summon before him any witnesses whose\ntestimony might clear up the case in hand.\n\nThe coroner should issue the burial permits, the health officer being\nnotified only when persons have died of an infectious or contagious\ndisease.\n\nTo make this scheme successful, it is essential that the practitioner of\nmedicine who assumes the coronership should receive adequate payment for\nhis services, such remuneration in fact as would enable him to give up\nhis whole time and talent to his office.\n\nBeside the advantages which I have already indicated, a system such as\nthis would doubtlessly enrich the mortality statistics as well as\nforensic medicine and pathological anatomy. That it would be an\nefficient safeguard against crime, I think every unprejudiced person\nwill admit.\n\nIf this were not so, I could but indorse the Rev. H. R. Haweis, who\ndeclares honestly: \u201cFor so grand a benefit to mankind, a few more cases\nof poisoning would be a small price to pay. In the great progress of\nsocial and sanitary reform I cannot conceive what it signifies whether\nor not an additional Smith or Jones gets poisoned here and there.\u201d\n\nDr. Purdy says: \u201cIndeed, we have not in man\u2019s history any great benefit\nresulting from a system or practice but it is attended by its consequent\nminor evils; no great public good but has its attendant drawbacks.\u201d\n\nFor these reasons the following saying of the celebrated Professor\nColetti, of the University of Padua, Italy, will always be recognized as\na truth of unusual stability: \u201cThe health of whole communities is of far\ngreater importance than the possible escape of a few criminals.\u201d\n\nThe enemies of cremation inquire: Would not incineration deprive the\nschools of medicine of anatomical material, the phrenologists,\ncraniologists, and last, but not least, the anthropologists, of the\nbasis of their investigations; namely, the human skeleton?\n\nObjections of this nature can only provoke a smile. In a country like\nours, where many of the cadavers which are dissected in our medical\nschools are stolen from the graveyards, the proposed introduction of\ncremation must, no doubt, raise a storm among teachers of anatomy, who\nare fearful that the supply of corpses will be cut short by the reform.\nIt is not to be wondered at, that the anatomists raise a cry of alarm,\nfor, indeed, I know of no other method of disposal of the dead that is\nas damaging to their relations with the defunct as cremation. Even a\nprofessor of the Jefferson Medical College, a man who ought to have\nknown better, joined the anti-cremationists for these reasons. Every\neducated person knows that a thorough knowledge of anatomy is essential\nto the successful practice of medicine and surgery, and that a\nfamiliarity with the internal workings of the human system can be gained\nin no other way under the sun. But although I belong to the medical\nfraternity, I can but wish that such a terrible and desecrating practice\nas grave-robbing be put a stop to. It is for the government of each\nstate to provide fully for the dissecting-rooms of the medical colleges,\nto deliver to them all who die in prisons and poor-houses. Prisoners\nshould not be given up, even when claimed by relatives or friends; the\nidea that the commission of crime may land one on the dissecting-table\nmay deter many from trespassing the laws of their country.\n\nWhat difference it makes whether future generations know, or do not\nknow, how our skulls compared with that of a gorilla, I cannot conceive.\nLet the craniologists and allied scientists make their investigations\nnow and record them in books. Printed matter of value is immortal.\n\nHow the arch\u00e6ologists and anthropologists, ignoring the printing press,\ncan imagine (for such fears only dwell in their imagination and have no\nreal foundation) that without the records of the tombs the present age,\nits acts and deeds, might pass away from the ken of posterity as\ncompletely as the ancient civilizations of Central America and Malacca,\nI am unable to explain. But even if dire oblivion should be the ultimate\ndoom of the nineteenth century, the opinion of the world two thousand\nyears hence is of little consequence when compared with the health of\nthose now inhabiting it. In the words of the learned rector of the\nUniversity of Padua, Professor Coletti: \u201cMan should disappear and not\nrot; he should no more be transformed into a mass of corruption\u2014the\nsource of filthy and injurious exhalations\u2014than into a grotesque mummy,\na shapeless mixture of pitch, resin, and perfumes; man should become a\nhandful of ashes and nothing more.\u201d\n\n\u201cWould not cremation rob nature of its supply of ammonia?\u201d\n\nThis, one of the most discreetly urged weapons against cremation, was\nthat promulgated by Professor Mohr, who asserted that if incineration\nwere practiced to its full extent, an interruption to the order of\nnature would ensue, since the supply of ammonia would be arrested or\ngreatly curtailed.\n\nDr. Mohr\u2019s objections to the cremation of the dead principally rest upon\nthe following bases:\u2014\n\n1. That ammonia is the most important form in which nitrogen is taken up\nby the plants.\n\n2. That free nitrogen does not, or at any rate in sufficient abundance,\nreturn to the organized world.\n\n3. That in cremation the ammonia is entirely destroyed, and the nitrogen\nentirely liberated.\n\n4. That the nitrogen of buried corpses is entirely converted into\nammonia.\n\nMohr soon had many followers who imagined that if the bulk of all animal\nremains should be burnt to ashes, the mischief produced by the loss of\nammonia would be incalculable. They claimed that it is as necessary to\nvegetable life as is the air we breathe to us; that there is no\ncounterbalance in nature whereby this ingredient can be supplied from\nother sources; and that by cutting off a large proportion of the supply\nof ammonia the loss would be quickly felt throughout all the animal\nkingdom, and would soon be followed by an appreciable diminution of\nanimal life on the globe.\n\nDr. Mohr\u2019s objections were met by the eminent Professor Franchimont, of\nthe University of Leyden, Holland, who proved that the views held by his\n_confr\u00e8re_ were both erroneous and absurd, and concluded his _expos\u00e9_ as\nfollows:\u2014\n\n1. That it is not proved that ammonia is the chief nitrogenous\nconstituent of plants.\n\n2. That it is proved that free nitrogen returns by many and various\nroutes to the organic world.\n\n3. That it is not certain that by interment all the nitrogen becomes\nammonia, and that probably a portion of this ammonia is temporarily\ntaken out of circulation; and, finally,\n\n4. That it is not proved that the nitrogen is completely set free during\ncremation. And even if this were so, its quantity, in comparison with\nthat of the ammonia now yearly produced by the dry distillation and\ncombustion of coal, is so small that the loss of it cannot be advanced\nas any really serious objection to the practice of cremation.\n\nI must here add that the explanations given by Professor Franchimont are\nheld to be perfectly satisfactory by seventeen professors and teachers\nof botany and chemistry in the Dutch universities, whose names are well\nknown in the scientific world.\n\nStudents of agricultural chemistry, and others interested in the\nsubject, should not fail to read Mr. Eassie\u2019s excellent article on the\nasserted loss of ammonia caused by the cremation of bodies, in the\n_London Sanitary Record_ of Jan. 18, 1878.\n\nIt must be remembered that all animals\u2014from the smallest insect to the\nlargest beast\u2014excrete a great amount of ammonia during their lifetime,\nwhich passes off with the fecal matter, urine, and transpiration.\n\nBesides, it cannot be denied that ammonia is formed spontaneously,\nduring the great electrical processes which take place in nature, from\nthe nitrogen and water of the atmosphere. The smoke that emanates from\nthe chimneys of factories all over the world supplies more ammonia to\nthe vegetable kingdom than the decomposing animal bodies ever could.\nAnd, finally, it must be kept in mind that we can generate ammonia\nartificially; therefore, should a dearth of ammonia ever occur, which is\nnot very likely, this expedient would still be left to us.\n\nThere is no recorded evidence to show that any damage was done to the\nEgyptian vegetable world by the mummification which was carried on for\nthousands of years in the land of the Pharaohs. On the contrary, the\ncountry was in a more flourishing condition then than now.\n\nThe sentimental objection to cremation I have already treated of in a\nprevious work; but since I have something to add to what I then\nremarked, I will revert to the topic.\n\nThe subject at first glance is revolting. To some persons there may be\nsomething in the idea of reducing one\u2019s friends to ashes that is\nrepulsive. Yet, when one makes a careful study of the question, that\nprejudice or repulsiveness wears away entirely, and makes way to a\nfeeling that cremation is correct both in theory and practice. One\nshould not listen to the emotions in a matter like this, but study\nincineration to be able to judge of it; objections founded on sentiment\nonly are sure to be wrong.\n\nIf the general public knew, as a physician does, the many changes a body\nundergoes in the process of decomposition,\u2014putrefaction and most\ndisgusting changes,\u2014I think a great deal of their objection to cremation\nwould be removed. I fancy if people in general could see the ordinary\nprocess of decomposition, they would be in favor of the quicker and more\nscientific method of cremation.\n\nThe Bishop of Lincoln intimated that incineration would keep all future\ngreat ones out of the silent company of those who have in former times\nadded lustre to England\u2019s name. It will do no such thing. I cannot\ncomprehend what obstacles could stand in the way of the entombment of an\nurn containing the ashes of some illustrious personage who chose to be\ncremated instead of buried, in Westminster Abbey.\n\nMr. William Eassie says:\u2014\n\n\u201cIn the play of \u2018Virginius\u2019 the body of Virginia is represented as\nhaving been placed in an urn, and when the distraught father inquires\nfor his missing daughter, the vase is placed in his hands by the\nsorrowing lover. When this scene is presented, the thrill which seizes\nthe audience is succeeded by a sensation of admiration at the eminently\nsuperior system of the ancients. I have seen the actor Brooke, in this\ntragedy, and the effect which he here produced was inexpressible. Many\nwhom I have consulted as to the feelings engendered at this point have\ninvariably declared that they were at the time complete converts to\ncremation, and that the sense of approval only left them when they began\nto realize how impossible were funeral pyres in this country. Happily\nthe Siemens apparatus is now at hand, and its suitability proved beyond\ncavil.\u201d\n\nAn eye-witness to the process of incineration says: \u201cI have stood before\nthe crematory with a faltering heart. I have trembled at the thought of\nusing fire beside the form of one whom I had loved. But when, in\nobedience to his own dying wish, I saw the door of the crematory taken\ndown, its rosy light shine forth, and his peaceful form, clad in white,\nlaid there at rest amid a loveliness that was simply fascinating to the\neye, and without a glimpse of flames, or fire, or coals, or smoke, I\nsaid, and say so still, this method, beyond all methods I have seen, is\nthe most pleasing to the senses, the most charming to the imagination,\nand the most grateful to the memory.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF THE BUFFALO CREMATORIUM.]\n\n\u201cIs cremation illegal?\u201d\n\nThis interrogation I am obliged to answer with a most decided \u201cNo!\u201d In\nour country, it is true, the legal status of the question is somewhat\nunsettled, but I do not believe that any action taken in our American\ncourts could prevent any persons from cremating a dead body who wished\nto do so, provided it was not contrary to the expressed wishes of the\ndeceased. In England it is only illegal to burn a corpse in cases where\nan inquest ought to be held or has been ordered. In other cases, if the\nburning is conducted in such a manner as not to cause a nuisance or\noffense against public decency, there is no rule of law to prevent this\nmode of disposing of a corpse being adopted. Some time ago a rajah, who\nconsulted Mr. Eassie as to burning the body of his _ranee_, had to be\ntold that what he claimed as a right in India could not be accorded him\nin the capital of the Empire except at a risk of scandal. Thanks to the\ndecision of Sir James Stephen, the honorary secretary of the Cremation\nSociety of England would not now be forced to make such a humiliating\nadmission.\n\nThere are, I am sorry to say, individuals who think that those who are\ncremated let themselves be burned only because they are anxious to\ncreate for themselves a little notoriety after death. I can but pity the\npeople who believe that Dr. Gross and Garbaldi, for instance, adopted\nsuch a means to attract public attention after decease. Those who now\norder their bodies incinerated after that mysterious power called life\nis fled, have the courage of their opinions, recognize the many\nadvantages of incineration, and allow their convictions to triumph over\nlocal and even family prejudice; they are the true martyrs of cremation.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER VI.\n BURIAL ALIVE.\u2014CREMATION FROM AN \u00c6STHETIC AND RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW.\n\n\nOur great American poet, Edgar Allan Poe, says: \u201cTo be buried alive is\nbeyond question the most terrific of all extremes which have ever fallen\nto the lot of mere mortality.\u201d\n\nIs any death more horrible than this? To be embraced, unprepared, down\nin the deep dark grave! To awake again with the greatest longing for\nlife, suffering the most severe bodily tortures, in the coffin! To\nrealize that there is no escape from inevitable death! Who can conceive\nthe feeling of finding one\u2019s self in the grave, the blood rushing to the\nhead, the body trembling convulsively in the vain endeavors of casting\noff the oppressing weight, the organs of respiration laboring without\navail for air, the muscles of the whole body working without result, and\nabove all, being mindful of certain death near at hand?\n\nFrom time to time anti-crematists, advocates of earth burial, of course,\nassert that cases of burial alive are exceedingly rare and occur very\nseldom. This is very erroneous. Our newspapers teem with the reports of\nsuch cases, and one must be a careless reader indeed not to observe\nthem. As I am a daily peruser of some specimen of the secular press, and\nhardly anything of importance escapes my notice, I succeeded in making a\ncollection of cases of burial alive, from which I will cite some\nstriking examples. A Wheeling, W. Va., special despatch to the _Chicago\nTribune_ relates the terrible fate of a young married lady as follows:\u2014\n\n\u201cOne of those ghastly stories of interment before life has become\nextinct, which cause an involuntary shudder of horror to pass through\nthe reader, is current in this city to-night. The victim, so the story\ngoes, is a young married lady of 20 years. In May of last year, three\nmonths after her marriage, the lady was taken violently ill, and after\nlingering for ten days, apparently died. There were certain\npeculiarities about the appearance of the supposed corpse, however,\nwhich caused a suspicion in the mind of the attending physician that his\npatient might be in a trance, but after keeping the body for four days\nwith no signs of returning life, the remains were consigned to the\ngrave, temporary interment being made in the family lot in an abandoned\ngraveyard. A day or two ago the body was disinterred prior to removal to\nanother cemetery. To the surprise of the sexton the coffin-lid showed\nsigns of displacement, and on its being removed the grave-digger was\nhorrified to find the remains turned face downward, the hand filled with\nlong tufts of hair torn from the head, and the face, neck, and bosom\ndeeply scratched and scarred, while the lining of the coffin had been\ntorn into fragments in the desperate efforts of the entombed victim to\nescape from her horrible fate. Since the discovery the young husband has\nbeen prostrated, and his life is despaired of. The names are withheld.\u201d\n\nThe sequent curious case of premature interment occurred at Leipsic, a\nsmall town in the state of Ohio. A lady who was pregnant died suddenly.\nShe was put in a coffin and placed, temporarily, to await the\nburial-day, in a vault. Some of her relatives, however, thought that she\nhad been disposed of too hastily and caused her coffin to be opened.\nWhen the air struck her body, she revived. She was taken home and\nrecovered entirely, being soon after delivered of female twins.\n\nA despatch from Woodstock, Ont., dated Jan. 18, 1886, to the _Detroit\nEvening News_ states:\u2014\n\n\u201cOne year ago a girl named Collins died, as was supposed, while playing\non the street. The body was moved last week from where it had been\nburied in the family plot, and the parents wishing to view the remains,\nhad the coffin opened, when to their horror they discovered that a\ndreadful struggle must have taken place after burial. The shroud had\nbeen torn to shreds, the knees were drawn up to the chin, one arm was\ntwisted under the head, and the features bore evidence of dreadful\ntorture,\u2014all unmistakable proofs that the girl had been buried alive.\u201d\n\nThe celebrated English anatomist, Winslow, is said to have been twice\nnearly interred alive.\n\nThe Marquis D\u2019Ourches, courageous in all other respects, had the\ngreatest fear of premature burial. He recorded all the stories of burial\nalive; he believed in them, and even asserted that one of his uncles had\nawaked under ground.\n\n\u201cI have seen death in every aspect,\u201d said a general to Dr. Josat, a\ngentleman rewarded for a book on mortuary houses, \u201cand it has never had\nany terrors for me; but I own that I shudder at the notion of finding it\nat the bottom of a ditch in the cemetery.\u201d\n\nIncomplete death, or trance, as it is called, stands midway between\ndeath and life. During this state the senses cannot receive impressions;\nthey are inactive, paralyzed, as it were. Yet the spark of life is still\nthere and can, under proper care, be retained until the natural\ncondition is restored. Yet almost always trance ends through ignorance\nand carelessness in complete death.\n\nIt is an established fact that there is no certain sign of death, none\nbut the beginning of decomposition. To prevent premature burial the body\nmust be retained until the commencement of decay is visible.\nIncineration protects from the horrors of burial alive. Even if a person\nin a trance should be introduced into a cremation furnace, the intense\nheat to which the body would be subjected would extinguish life\nimmediately and painlessly.\n\nIt is alleged by some who are more impressed by prejudice than reason,\nthat cremation is heathenish, brutish, pagan, atheistic,\u2014in short,\ncontrary to Christian practice.\n\nThis I deny! To be sure the heathen did practice it,\u2014the ancient\nAsiatics (Oriental peoples in general), Romans, Greeks, Teutons, and\nEtruscans,\u2014but at the same time they executed grave-burial; and yet I\nhave never heard anybody decry the latter as abominable, disgusting, and\nheathenish. It must be kept in mind, that the first Christians were\ncompelled by their heathen persecutors to adopt burial. They were forced\nto inter their dead secretly in the catacombs; they could not, even if\nthey had chosen to, burn their dead, as the smoke from the cremation\npyre would have betrayed them.\n\nWhy inhumation should have become so universal among the Christians,\nthat it is looked upon as a necessary part of the religion, and all\nother means of disposal of the dead as heathenish, is not entirely\nplain. There is no condemnation of cremation in any of the dogmatic\nteachings of the apostles. The early Christians, whether in Jud\u00e6a,\nGreece, or Rome, were mainly of the poorer classes, who had to bury\ntheir dead. The mere fact that the richer and more educated classes, who\nwere the most difficult to proselytize, universally practiced cremation\nwould probably cause that custom to be associated with their other\nheathenish practices.\n\nThe Romans regarded the early Christians as a new sect of the Jews and\ncalled them \u201cNazarenes.\u201d And, in fact, Christianity was born of Judaism;\nfor Jesus, the founder, himself says (Matthew v. 17): \u201cThink not that I\nam come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy,\nbut to fulfil.\u201d It is easy to understand how, being an offspring of\nJudaism, Christianity should adopt that method of disposing of the dead\nthen prevalent among the Jews. At first, as Dean Stanley avers, the\nbreach between the heathens and Christians was not an utter one.\nAccording to this great divine the early Christians inhumed in the same\nplaces as the heathens, and even painted and engraved upon the catacombs\nrepresentations of the pagan gods. Later on the breach widened, however,\nand the Christians, as intimated above, were forced to bury their dead\nin seclusion.\n\nIt is alleged by some eminent writers on theological subjects that in\nthe beginning Christians were even cremated.\n\nMerivale, the historian, holds that letters inscribed on many of the\nChristian tombs in the catacombs imply that the early Christians\nsometimes burned their dead. Nevertheless, at the end of the fourth\ncentury Christians heard of burning with horror, and finally becoming\ninimical to the practice, although it was nowhere forbidden in the New\nTestament, made haste to abolish it in Europe.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  THE BLACK AND WHITE JASPER URN.\n  (Barlow Collection.)\n]\n\nAt the time of Pope and Dryden a classical reaction set in, and now\nagain may be seen in every churchyard the broken shaft, the inverted\ntorches, and innumerable marble urns which \u201cin pride of place\u201d rest upon\nthe monuments in our cemeteries.\n\nThe phrase \u201cashes to ashes, dust to dust,\u201d which occurs in almost every\nfuneral sermon preached by modern clergymen, is but an allegory which\nwas derived from the ancient custom of cineration. It is impossible to\nimagine ashes without the act of burning.\n\nThe inscription \u201cpeace to his ashes\u201d which so often is found, in black\nor golden letters, on the tombstones of the present time, preaches\nincineration in our burial-grounds.\n\nWhen the Romans embraced Christianity, it was transformed completely,\nand represented a strange commixture of rites partly of pagan and partly\nof Hebrew origin. The dalmatica of priests, utensils for celebrating\nmass, frankincense, etc., were derived from the Jews; whereas many other\nthings, as for instance the worship of images, sprung from heathenism.\nThe papal tiara has a remarkable resemblance to the historical conical\ncap of the Roman Pontifex Maximus; and to this day the Latin appellation\nof the Pope is identical with that of his pagan predecessor. The\nderivation of the crosier, the pastoral staff of the bishops, from the\ncrook of the augurs is undeniable.\n\nThe mummy graves and representations upon the vessels of clay which were\ndeposited in the sepulchres with the mummies testify that the cross (and\nindeed the upright cross) was one of the oldest and pre-Christian\nornaments in the hands of the gods of ancient Egypt. It was not before\nthe twelfth century that it was erroneously made a specific Christian\nsymbol, ostensibly to demonstrate that although the cross was most\ncontemptible, yet Christ himself had elevated it into dignity. Thus the\nsign of the cross became the symbol of Christianity. Such wooden\ncrosses, history tells us, were also placed as a memorial upon the\nmounds of heathen graves.\n\nIf we would not want to imitate heathenism any more, we would have to\nquit eating with knives and forks, stop wearing boots and pantaloons,\nand do away with surcoats and rings. With the exception of steel pens\nand matches, but little would be left of our daily necessities of life\nthat would not be an imitation of paganism.\n\nThe perpetual lamp burning at the ideal grave of the Saviour on the\naltars of Catholic churches is an imitation of the lamps which were lit\non the memorial days of the deceased in the columbaria of ancient Rome,\nand by whose maintenance slaves, according to testamentary directions,\nattained the position of freedmen.\n\nThe decoration of our burial-grounds with flowers on the memorial days\nof the dead is copied from the analogous usage of the heathenish Romans.\n\nThe enemies of incineration say that every Christian is bound to\npractice interment because the Bible (I. Moses iii. 19) prescribes:\u2014\n\n\u201cIn the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return into\nthe ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto\ndust thou shalt return.\u201d\n\nThe above has no value whatever as evidence for inhumation; since at the\ntimes when the books of Moses were written the inurned ashes were also\ndeposited in the dust, _i.e._, the earth. The preservation of urns above\nground is a much later custom. The above citation has no reference to\nthe destruction of a body by fire or decay, but directs simply that the\nfinal remains of man, the dust, be placed in the earth. At least, this\nBible passage might be urged against columbaria, but it has no bearing\nwhatever on cremation.\n\nIf we should have to follow the Bible in all things, we would have to\ngive up most of our modern inventions. For instance, the day of\nagricultural machines would be over, and we would have to tread out corn\nwith oxen as of yore.\n\nIt must be remembered that the early Christians practiced many things\nwhich Christians now do not practice; and they abominated some things\nwhich Christians now universally practice. For instance, the early\nChristians did not worship in temples or churches: they abominated\ntemples as either pagan or Jewish; they hated art and condemned statuary\nand painting, especially in connection with religion; they destroyed\nmany masterpieces of ancient art which were not religious, besides some\nthat were; and they burned all books save the Bible. But these notions\nare no longer a part of Christianity, and were never part of its true\nfaith.\n\nWhen the Romans and Greeks knew better than we know, we exercise no\ncompunction in adopting their practices. Our boys are taught from the\nclassics; artists study the models of Greek, that is, pagan, art; much\nof our philosophy is heathen, and more of our jurisprudence. The\nancients were wiser than we in practicing incineration. Why not, then,\nimitate them in this respect? Granted even that cremation were a \u201cpagan\ncustom,\u201d not to adopt it when it has been conclusively demonstrated to\nbe superior to burial, simply because it is of heathenish origin, shows\nnothing but miserable narrow-mindedness.\n\nIf cremation is a \u201cpagan custom,\u201d how about interment? Earth-burial\nto-day is practiced by more heathens than Christians. Or are not those\nwhom we choose to style pagans in the majority? Would it not, therefore,\nbe far more correct to denominate inhumation a pagan custom?\n\nDr. Neil declares:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt was once considered an eminently Christian virtue, entitling him who\npracticed it to the honors of canonization, to discard the use of soap\nand water; and this kind of medi\u00e6val piety prevails a good deal yet,\nnotwithstanding the good old Roman practice of ablution. I do not find,\nhowever, that even Christian sanitarians object to the more frequent use\nof the bath because it was the pagan practice.\u201d\n\nInhumation is claimed to be the Christian method of disposal of the dead\n_par excellence_ because Christ was so disposed of.\n\n\u201cBy the same sort of reasoning,\u201d says the _Medical Times and Gazette_ of\nLondon, England, \u201cmight it not be held that crucifixion has been so\nconsecrated that it ought to be the mode of capital punishment in\nChristian countries?\u201d Moreover, as the Rev. H. R. Haweis informs us,\n\u201cChrist is no example to us, for according to Christian belief he rose\nfrom the dead and saw no corruption.\u201d\n\nIt is exceedingly interesting to read what Christ himself said about\nburial.\n\nJesus, being a Jew, like the Hebrews in general had little regard for\nburial and the grave. Among the Jews contact with the dead was\nconsidered an act of defilement that had to be soon atoned for.\n\nFrom the following passage (Matthew viii. 21, 22) it is plain that\nChrist was no friend of interment:\u2014\n\n\u201cAnd another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go\nand bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead\nbury the dead.\u201d\n\nBy the dead (_i.e._, spiritually dead) the Saviour, according to the\nbest exegesis, meant the outside world, and he wanted to intimate that\nburial was fit work for them, but not for the Christian or disciple.\n\nSee also St. Luke ix. 59.\n\nChrist disparaged the importance of burial more than once. Indeed, it\nseems that he paid little attention to the disposal of the dead. We find\nhim, during his ministrations on earth, healing the sick, turning water\ninto wine to make glad the hearts of guests at a wedding feast,\nadministering to the wants of the indigent, and cheering the\ndown-trodden; but never at funeral ceremonies. It was he who declared:\u2014\n\n\u201cGod is not the God of the dead, but of the living.\u201d\n\nDr. Le Moyne says:\u2014\n\n\u201cSo far as we have knowledge of New Testament history, we find no\ncommand given anywhere which was a \u2018thus saith the Lord\u2019 for any mode of\nburial. The Christian world was left to choose a mode of burial.\u201d\n\nWhen Jesus distinguished between cave and earth burial, he considered\nthe latter the most despicable mode of burial, to which he compared the\nscribes and Pharisees; for when he reproved them by rebuke and\ndisparagement, he said (Matthew xxii. 27):\u2014\n\n\u201cWoe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like unto\nwhited sepulchres, which, indeed, appear beautiful outward, but are\nwithin full of dead men\u2019s bones, and of all uncleanness.\u201d\n\nThe above shows in what estimation the founder of Christianity held\ninhumation.\n\nIt seems Christ himself gave the preference to cave-burial, for so he\nwas disposed of. He was placed (_vide_ Matthew xxvii. 57\u201360) in the\nrock-hewn tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, which was open in front, and the\ndoor of which was closed with a stone.\n\nChrist was not buried in the earth, but was placed in a sepulchre\nbecause he was a Jew. Had he been an Egyptian, he would have been\nembalmed after the fashion of a mummy. It was merely a matter of custom,\nand is not necessarily a precedent to be followed. It is evident that to\nbe buried as Christ was, Christians would have to be deposited in\nrock-hewn tombs.\n\nThe assertion of certain religious fanatics, that cremation interferes\nwith the Christian doctrine of the resurrection, proves untenable enough\nwhen one but remembers that both interment and incineration lead to the\nsame result; namely, to the total destruction of the body. In the case\nof cremation this takes place within an hour; in earth burial the\nprocess may last for centuries until completed.\n\nProfessor Max M\u00fcller, the famous linguist, in his biographical essays,\nwrites:\u2014\n\n\u201cI often regret that the Jews buried and did not burn the dead, for in\nthat case the Christian idea of the resurrection would have remained far\nmore spiritual.\u201d\n\nCannon Liddon believes that:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe resurrection of the body from its ashes is not a greater miracle\nthan the resurrection of an unburnt body. Each must be purely\nmiraculous. Faith in the resurrection would have been as clear and\nstrong if the Jews had burnt their dead, as it is when, as a matter of\nfact, they buried them.\u201d\n\nDr. Le Moyne says:\u2014\n\n\u201cSome religionists object to cremation because it might possibly throw\nobstacles in God\u2019s way of collecting the particles which once formed the\nbody. They seem to forget that the dispersion of the atoms which compose\nthe human body is just as wide and perfect by inhumation as by\ncremation.\u201d\n\nNapoleon I., the Great, was a firm believer in cremation. On Dec. 14,\n1816, five years before his death, he conversed freely with his surgeon,\nBarry O\u2019Meara, on various topics.\n\nMr. O\u2019Meara (\u201cNapoleon in Exile; or, A Voice from St. Helena.\u201d By Barry\nE. O\u2019Meara. W. Gowans, New York, 1853, Vol. I. p. 277) says:\u2014\n\n\u201cHe afterwards spoke about funeral rites, and added, that when he died,\nhe would wish that his body might be burned. \u2018It is the best mode,\u2019 said\nhe, \u2018as then the corpse does not produce any inconvenience; and _as to\nthe resurrection, that must be accomplished by a miracle, and it is easy\nto the Being who has it in his power to perform such a miracle as\nbringing the remains of the bodies together, to also form again the\nashes of the dead_.\u2019\u201d\n\nDuring another talk with his medical adviser the ex-emperor said, \u201cthat\nhe had ordered the slain burnt after the battle at Wagram.\u201d\n\nI clip the following from the _Medical Herald_, and commend it to the\nnotice of opposers of cremation on the ground of religion:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe most prejudiced religionist cannot offer one valid objection, for\nif God is to call up the scattered remains of the dead from both land\nand sea on the day of final resurrection, the ashes shall be as easily\nresolved from the urn as from the d\u00e9bris of a building in which bodies\nmay have been accidentally consumed by fire.\u201d\n\nI should like to see the Christian who believes that God will not take\nunto himself the soul of the brave fireman, who rushes courageously into\na burning building to rescue his fellow-beings, and has the misfortune\nto fall and perish in the flames, while an indolent crowd is looking on\nbelow. Nay, nay! I believe that he will be twice as welcome in the\nkingdom of heaven.\n\nAt the opening of the Bolton cemetery in 1874, Bishop Fraser combated\nthe anti-cremation movement, based upon the doctrine of the\nresurrection, with the sequent vigorous language:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe ancient Romans believed in immortality, and yet they believed in\nburning the bodies of their dead. Urn burial was certainly quite as\ndecent as the practice of interment; and urns containing the ashes of\nthe dead were more picturesque than coffins. Can any one suppose that it\nwould be more impossible for God to raise up a body at the resurrection,\nif needs be, out of elementary particles which had been liberated by the\nburning, than it would be to raise up a body from dust, and from the\nelements of bodies which had passed into the structure of worms? The\nomnipotence of God is not limited, and he would raise the dead whether\nhe had to raise our bodies out of churchyards or whether he had to call\nour remains, like the remains of some ancient Romans, out of an urn in\nwhich they were deposited 2000 years ago.\u201d\n\nIt is a clerical duty to dispel superstitions. \u201cSuperstition,\u201d well says\nSprengel, \u201cis the grave of science.\u201d But it is not only the grave of\nscience, but of all progress. The clergy should aid the latter and not\nplace obstacles in its way.\n\nColonel Olcott says:\u2014\n\n\u201cI am too firm a believer in the immortality of the soul, to view with\npatience the inconsistency of those who behave over the dead bodies of\ntheir friends as if the immortal part were being laid away in the\nground. The more I might love my dead, the less willing I should be to\nleave the fair form that had once held an immortal spirit to turn into\nputrid carrion under ground, and breed a myriad of loathsome creatures\nout of its own rottenness. The attempt to substitute the scientific,\npoetical, and rational system of cremation has my earnest sympathy. I\npray heaven that it may be possible to commit my body or that of any of\nmy beloved to the pure flame, that in one short hour will purge them of\ndross as gold is refined in the furnace seven times heated.\u201d\n\nEven the organ of the Mormon hierarchy, _The Deseret News_, that\nbelieves in an absolutely literal interpretation of the Bible, reasons\nthus:\u2014\n\n\u201cSome object to cremation on the ground of its inconsistency with the\nChristian doctrine of the resurrection. We do not see any force in that.\nNo particle of matter is destroyed by fire; it is merely changed in form\nand reduced to primitive elements, or in their direction, for it is not\nclear that the action of fire extends so far as to resolve organized\nmatter into its primal atoms. The same power that can call forth from\nthe tomb a body that has decayed and gone to dust can quicken the dried\nashes and draw from the elements the gases that have been dispersed by\nthe flames of the crematory. How much of the actual particles that are\nseen now by the natural eye is necessary to the reformation of the human\nframe into a spiritual body with flesh and bones does not at present\nappear. But this is certain: the power that can resurrect the body from\nthe grave or from the sea can bring it forth from any place or condition\nin the universe. Belief in the resurrection implies belief in God, and\nwith him all things are possible.\u201d\n\nKate Field, who of all Americans probably is best acquainted with Mormon\nlife and doctrines, points out that when the literal Mormon abjures\nliteralness, it is high time for orthodox Christians to cast away the\nabove-mentioned sacrilegious objection.\n\nHow, by the way, about those who fall overboard and are swallowed by the\nfishes, or those who are blown up by an explosion? Are they to be\nconsigned to eternal damnation simply because they happened to meet with\nan accident? Are they not to be raised hereafter?\n\nThe absurdity and unreasonableness of this erroneous notion was tersely\nand happily expressed by the Earl of Shaftesbury during a conversation\nwith an eminent (Sir T. Spencer Wells, I believe) promoter of the\npresent cremation movement. He said:\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat would in such a case become of the blessed martyrs?\u201d\n\nMany of them have been reduced to ashes, and still these are held\nsacred.\n\nI would advise the person who holds the opinion that the resurrection\ncannot take place after cremation to seek quickly the nearest physician\nwho makes a speciality of insanity. I wonder if such persons are\nconscious that they commit a sacrilege in doubting that God is\nomnipotent.\n\nFrom a purely catholic point of view it is urged that incineration would\ndestroy the relics of individuals who might afterward be canonized.\n\nThis is the most ridiculous objection of the whole lot! Are not the\nashes of a saint as venerable as his bones? When such ashes are kept in\na sealed urn, we may be certain of the genuineness of the relics. Today,\nthere is no guarantee whatever of their genuineness\u2014many cities claiming\nto possess the only real relics of this or that saint.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  THE PORTLAND VASE.\n  (Originally a Cinerary Urn.)\n]\n\nThere is no relation between cremation and religion. They are\nindependent of each other. No passage in the Holy Bible prohibits\nincineration. The Christian religion does not oppose it, nor does the\nJewish, as I learnt from an article in the _Jewish Chronicle_.\n\nSome newspapers seem to think that cremation is contrary to the Jewish\ndoctrines. Our brethren at Gibraltar and in the north of Africa bury\ntheir dead in quicklime. No one can deny the orthodoxy of the Jews on\nthe shores of the Mediterranean, yet more than once have some of their\nnumber been disposed of in the manner related above; the method being\ncarried out but lately at Mile-end. Among the Jews at London, instances\nof cremation are not unknown.\n\nA Swiss clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Lange, declares that our Saviour never\nspoke a single word in condemnation of incineration. Dr. Altherr,\n_Religious Journal for the People_ (No. 11, 1874), also entertains the\nsame opinion.\n\nAn English Catholic pointed out that cremation would once more enable us\nto bury our dead in the churches, not only in the crypts of the sacred\nedifices, but also along the sides of the body of the churches.\n\nRev. Henry Ward Beecher had a word to say about cremation in a recent\nsermon of his. He thought that the universal Christian teaching of the\nresurrection of the body would prevent any general acceptance of it\nwhile that teaching prevails. Of course, a man of a \u201cclassical\u201d\neducation cannot reject incineration altogether, especially when he\nconsiders it from a hygienic point of view.\n\nI have always been of the opinion that a great many clergymen fear to\nstate their real views concerning cremation, lest their congregation\nmight discharge them and engage the services of some other theologian;\nand I still have the same impression.\n\nThe so-called religious objection to cremation is wholly unsound, as\neven a great many anti-cremationists admit; it is therefore not\nsurprising that \u201creligious\u201d opposition is fast weakening and waning\nwherever it has existed at all.\n\nA late writer in the _Church Review_ advises us to take care that\nincineration does not fall into infidel hands, and so become at last a\nsymbol of irreligion.\n\nThe cemetery is regarded, in general, as a permanent resting-place of\nthe dead, where they may sleep undisturbed. Man of the present time puts\nhis beloved into the dirty, dark ground, and hands them over to the foul\nputrefaction; he places upon their graves large, heavy monuments, as if\nto keep them down and prevent them from finding their way back again\ninto this sinful world. But he thinks not of the festering mass of\ncorruption hid away under the tombstone; to him the departed is more\nlike one asleep, like he or she was when death claimed the mortal body.\nHe fondly imagines that his dear ones shall remain there forever, that\ntheir quiet rest shall be unbroken. From year to year, however, bodies\nare added to those already buried, the disgusting state of overcrowding\nwhich I described minutely, with all its evils, shows itself, and then\none of two things happens: either the remains of those buried before are\nruthlessly dug up by the sexton\u2019s spade and thrown into the mud whenever\na new grave is made, or all of the bodies are exhumed and taken away;\nthe soil is parcelled, and the new generation takes possession of the\n\u201ccity of the dead.\u201d\n\nIn some cemeteries corpses are allowed to remain in a grave only a\nstipulated time; in English burial-grounds, where a freehold right is\nnot secured, the remains may rest undisturbed but seven, in France five,\nyears.\n\nThe sentiment of the public is expressed in the sequent extract from a\nlecture by the Rev. Brooke Lambert:\u2014\n\n\u201cThere is no subject on which people feel more deeply than the\ndisturbance of the remains of their ancestors, and even the displacement\nof effete memorials of them. I find that the prevailing feeling is that\nthe dead ought never to be removed, nor the position of their monuments\nchanged even by a hair\u2019s breadth. Now _whilst our present system of\nburial remains, such changes in their places of interment must occur_.\u201d\n\nWhen Mr. Walker, the surgeon, inspected the Portugal Street Cemetery at\nLondon, England, on April 27, 1839, he discovered that two graves had\nbeen opened, the bones of the remains exposed to view; and a lot of\ncoffin-wood, some quite fresh, intended (as he was informed) for\nfirewood.\n\nA gentleman who visited the same burial-ground some time before (_vide_\n_Times_, June 25, 1838) wrote: \u201cI was shocked to see two men employed in\ncarrying baskets of human bones to the back of the ground through a\nsmall gate. I have 12 of my nearest and dearest relatives consigned to\nthe grave in that ground, and I felt that I might perhaps at that moment\nbe viewing, in the basket of skulls which passed before me, those of my\nown family thus brutally exhumed.\u201d\n\nA correspondent to the _Weekly Despatch_, of September 30, 1838, thus\ndescribes St. Giles\u2019 Churchyard, where he had just been:\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat a horrid place! It is full of coffins up to the surface. Coffins\nare broken up before they are decayed; and bodies removed to the\nbone-house before they are sufficiently decayed to make their removal\ndecent!... The bone-house is a large, round pit. Into this had been shot\nfrom a wheelbarrow the but partly decayed inmates of the smashed\ncoffins. On the north side was a man digging a grave. He was quite\ndrunk. So, indeed, were all the grave-diggers we saw.\u201d\n\nWalker saw the tin plates removed from the coffins broken up, and\nwitnessed how many wagon-loads of bones were taken to the\ncharnel-houses.\n\nLord Ronald Gower writes in _Vanity Fair_:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe other day I came across a somewhat rare little brochure,\u2014an account\nof the violation of the royal sepulchres of St. Denis, during the first\nFrench Revolution. The work of destruction and sacrilege commenced early\nin October, 1793, and lasted all the month. The first corpse found was\nthat of Henry IV, the once beloved Henri de Navarre. Some curiosity, if\nnot affection, still seems to have lingered even among those patriots\nwho have constituted themselves body-snatchers, and the bearnais was\npropped up against the church wall in his shroud, and became quite an\nattraction for the crowd. One of the republican guards even condescended\nto cut off the king\u2019s gray, upturned moustache, and place it on his lip;\nanother removed the beard, which he declared he would keep as a relic.\nAfter these marks of attention were exhausted, the body was thrown into\na huge pit filled with quicklime, into which successively followed those\nof its ancestors and descendants.\n\n\u201cOn the next day the corpses of Henry IV\u2019s wife, Maria de Medicis, that\nof his son, Louis XIII, and that of his grandson, Louis XIV, were added\nto this. The body of the sun-king (as Louis XIV\u2019s courtiers loved to\ncall him) was as \u2018black as ink.\u2019 What a contrast to that majestic,\nbewigged head, as we see it on the canvas of Le Brun and Rigault, must\nnot that poor blackened skull have been! The body of the Grand Monarch\u2019s\nwife and that of his son, the Dauphin (father of Louis XV) followed; all\nthese, and especially the latter, were in a state of shocking decay.\n\n\u201cThe following day poor harmless Marie Leczinska\u2019s body was torn from\nits resting-place, as also were those of the \u2018Grand Dauphin,\u2019 the Duke\nof Burgundy and his wife, and several other princes and princesses of\nthe same race, including three daughters of Louis XV. All these were in\na state of terrible decomposition, and in spite of the use of gunpowder\nand vinegar, the stench was so great that many of the workmen were\nseized with fever, and others had to continue the grewsome work. By a\nstrange chance, on the very morning that Marie Antoinette\u2019s sufferings\ncame to an end on the Place de la Revolution, the body of another\nunfortunate queen saw the light of day,\u2014it was on the 16th of October\nthat the body of our Queen Henrietta Maria, who had died in 1669, was\ntaken from its coffin and added to the ghastly heap in the \u2018Ditch of the\nValois,\u2019 as the pit into which these royal remains were hurled was\ncalled; that of her daughter the once \u2018Belle Henriette\u2019 came next, and\nthen in quick succession the bodies of Philippe D\u2019Orleans; that of his\nson, the notorious regent; of his daughter, the no less notorious\nDuchesse de Berri; of her husband; and half a dozen infants of the same\nfamily. On the same day a coffin was cautiously opened. This was found\nat the entrance of the royal vault (the customary position for that\ncontaining the latest deceased king), and contained the remains of Louis\n\u2018le bien aim\u00e9.\u2019 No wonder that the body-snatchers hesitated before\nwithdrawing the corpse from its enclosure, for it was remembered that\nLouis had perished of a most terrible illness, and that an undertaker\nhad died in consequence of placing the already pestilent corpse in its\ncoffin. Consequently it was only on the brink of the ditch that the body\nwas removed and hastily rolled over the edge, but not without the\nprecaution of discharging guns and burning much powder, and even then\nthe air was terribly tainted far and near.\n\n\u201cI turn the page and find that we are only in the thick of all these\ndead men\u2019s bones and uncleanness, for the republican resurrectionists\nbegan by the Bourbons and had still to disentomb all the Valois, and\nfurther back, up to the Capetian line, and are not content until the\nalmost legendary remains of Dagobert and Madame Dagobert reappear.\nSuffice it to add, that after Louis the Well-beloved had been disposed\nof, came in succession, like the line of royal ghosts seen by Macbeth,\nCharles V, who died in 1380, whose body was one of the few\nwell-preserved, and was arrayed in royal robes, with a gilt crown and\nsceptre, still bright; that of his wife, Jeanne de Bourbon, who still\nheld in her bony hand a decayed distaff of wood; Charles VI with his\nqueen, Isabeau de Bavi\u00e8re; Charles VII and his wife, Marie D\u2019Anjou; and\nthen Blanche de Navarre, who died in 1391. Charles VIII, of whom nothing\nbut dust remained, Henry II, Catherine de Medicis, Charles IX, and Henry\nIII, were disinterred on the morning of the 18th; \u2018after the workmen\u2019s\ndinner,\u2019 Louis XII and his queen, and among other less interesting royal\nremains, the bones of Hugh, Comte de Paris, father of Hugh Capet; and so\non the work went, till one tires even of the details of the preservation\nof this or that king or queen. Can anything be more shocking than to\nknow that all the horrors of decay and decomposition will remain even\nafter two or three centuries have passed over the lifeless form, and\nthat, supposing one has the ill luck to be thus coffined and one\u2019s body\nremoved, \u2018a black fluid, emitting a noxious smell,\u2019 will run from out\nour last home, as was the case with those royal remains during that hot\nsummer month at St. Denis in 1793?\u201d\n\nThe Rev. H. R. Haweis says:\u2014\n\n\u201cYou cannot preserve the buried dead securely from the outrages of the\nliving. The people who dig graves, or are employed to remove bones, are\nnot as a rule scrupulous, but they are very often drunk. The other day\nonly a number of wild Irish were so employed at New York; the bodies\nwere offered for sale on the ground to a party of medical students.\nThese young fellows had the grace to shrink from the horrors they then\nwitnessed. One coffin was found full of a heavy decomposed mass, like\nspermaceti; it was used to grease the axle-tree of the cart. Another\ncoffin contained the body of a woman, aged 20, as the inscription\nannounced. She had rested for 107 years\u2014laid there with what tears, what\ntender regrets of husband, or lover, or mother! But now her head was\nrudely seized and kicked like a football from one ruffian to the other.\u201d\n\nBut the \u201csweet sleep and calm rest\u201d of the dead was not only broken by\nthe ruthless hand of man, but was even disturbed by the elements.\n\nOn the 26th of August, 1854, at Herrnlauersitz (Guhrauer Kreis) more\nthan 100 corpses were washed out of their graves by an inundation. Many\nof them remained in their coffins. They were found afterward in gardens,\nyards, fields, in the woods, and even in houses, whither they had\nfloated. Sixteen days passed before the bodies were all collected; some\nwere recovered whole, others in parts; then they were buried in one\nlarge pit forever (?), as the officiating clergyman announced.\n\n\u201cI was long since cured of a belief in earth burial,\u201d says a very\nintelligent army officer, \u201cby an appalling sight I witnessed when going\ndown the Mississippi. There had been a great freshet, during which the\nriver had so changed its course as to invade a cemetery and dislodge its\noccupants, who, in various stages of decomposition\u2014the coffins having\nrotted or been torn asunder by the torrent\u2014were floating down the\nstream. It was a ghastly spectacle.\u201d\n\nI don\u2019t think that the people along the banks of the mighty river were\nparticularly edified with the sight. And if, at the time, they would\nhave known of some other mode of disposing of the dead, I am sure they\nwould have adopted it without hesitation.\n\nA similar occurrence happened at Kansas City, Mo., in February, 1886.\nThe Missouri River being blocked by ice, caused the channel to rise and\nsweep the lower part of an island away that lies opposite the city, and\nupon which is the small-pox hospital. About 20 graves were in this part\nof the island; they were opened by the flood and the corpses that had\nbeen interred in them swam down the river in their coffins. These bodies\nhad been buried only since one year. The people on both sides of the\nMissouri, from which the city derives its water-supply, were quite\nagitated over this affair.\n\nAt the same time the cemetery at Copiano, Chili, was inundated; many of\nthe vaults were full of water and the coffins were floating around,\nwhile many of the common graves had been completely cleared of their\ncontents.\n\nThe most horrible feature of the situation was that the water which\nflows from the cemetery goes into the river which supplies the\ninhabitants with water for domestic purposes.\n\nThe _Quarterly Review_ (No. XLII, p. 380) states:\u2014\n\n\u201cMany tons of human bones every year are sent from London to the North,\nwhere they are crushed in mills constructed for the purpose, and used as\nmanure!\u201d\n\nAnd a correspondent of the _Times_ writes to his journal from\nAlexandria:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe other day at Sakhara, I saw nine camels pacing down from the mummy\npits to the bank of the river, laden with nets in which were femora,\ntibia, and other bony bits of the human form, some two hundred-weight in\neach net, on each side of the camel. Among the pits there were people\nbusily engaged in searching out, sifting, and sorting the bones which\nalmost crust the ground. On inquiry, I learned that the cargoes with\nwhich the camels were laden would be sent down to Alexandria, and thence\nbe shipped to English manufacturers. They make excellent manure, I am\ntold, particularly for Swedes and other turnips. The trade is brisk and\nhas been for years, and may go on for many more. It is a strange fate to\npreserve one\u2019s skeleton for thousands of years, in order that there may\nbe fine southdowns and cheviots in a distant land!\u201d\n\nGen. W. T. Sherman once visited the catacombs under ancient Syracuse.\nHis guide informed him that there were a million interments, but that\nthe contents of every chamber had been sold for manure. The general\nasked him if a single grave had been spared; not one.\n\nOnly a short time ago a London florist bought two cart-loads of mould,\nand found it full of legs, arms, skulls, and other human bones. He\nbrought an action against the person from whom he purchased the soil for\nmisrepresenting his \u201cgoods.\u201d\n\nOn Feb. 9, 1874, the railroad tunnel under the cemetery of P\u00e8re la\nChaise at Paris, France, caved in with a thundering crash, forming a\npell-mell mass of coffins and bodies, earth and d\u00e9bris.\n\nIn our own country the rest of the dead is fast becoming from year to\nyear more insecure.\n\nThe _Medical Herald_ affirms: \u201cAs the increasing necessities of man\ncreate new demands for space, graveyards are demolished and converted to\nother uses. In Louisville, Ky., within the past fifteen years, two\nextensive cemeteries have thus been transformed,\u2014one on Portland Avenue\ninto a common, and one in Jefferson Street into a park, called Baxter\nSquare.\n\n\u201cNow the youth stroll along the graded walks and sit in the shaded\nnooks, upon the very ground in which the bodies of their ancestry have\ndecayed. The sacred spot of last repose of grandparents is now the\nmirthful scene of the nocturnal orgies of irreverent grandchildren.\nCremation would render this impossible, and place any profanation of the\nsacred memorials of the dead beyond the public eye.\u201d\n\nRecently two burial-grounds,\u2014one in New England, the other in\nPennsylvania,\u2014caved in, and the thickly crowded bones of many\ngenerations were exposed to view.\n\nIn my native city, Detroit, four cemeteries, to my knowledge, were\nclosed and given up to the living. In every case save one these\nburial-grounds were excavated, the coffins, bones, semi-decomposed\nbodies, etc., carted away, and business blocks erected in their stead.\nIn one of these cemeteries a brother of mine was buried; what became of\nhis last remains I know not. Possibly they were used to fertilize a\nfield; or perhaps cupidity tempted men to steal his body for the purpose\nof dissection; or an unscrupulous grave-digger may have sent his bones\nto a bone-mill, vended his coffin-plate, and used his coffin for\nfirewood. Who knows? I would give a great deal if the relics of my\nbrother, decently inurned, could be with me; but alas! I must give up\nexpectations of ever finding any trace of him again.\n\n[Illustration: THE PROPOSED DETROIT CREMATORIUM.]\n\nWithin a quite recent period at least two graveyards in Montreal have\nbeen torn up to make public squares; and it is not likely that any more\nrespect will be shown to cemeteries in the future than there has been in\nthe past.\n\nDr. Wm. Porter says: \u201cI well remember, when a boy, seeing our old sexton\nexhume a body buried for several years,\u2014that of a strong man called away\nin the prime of life. The rotting coffin was slowly lifted from its damp\nbed, and the lid being broken, we saw within a horrible mass of\nputrefaction. Matted hair and decomposing grave-clothes but poorly\ncovered the blackened skeleton as it lay in the once handsome casket,\nnow reeking with the emanation of its loathsome contents. Yet this had\nbeen a beautiful grave; roses had blossomed upon it, and the arbor vit\u00e6\nhad whispered to it. There would be but little plea for the grave on the\nground of sentiment could we see the changes there taking place; there\nwould be few, if any, who would not choose that the body, after faithful\nservice, should be purified by fire, rather than rot in such a grave.\u201d\n\nWe are accustomed to consider sacred the venerable remains of our dead,\nand the simplest memorial of a departed friend makes us, if but for\nmoments, sad. Therefore, all who lay any claim to civilization or\nhumanity must be vehemently opposed to the profane exhibition of the\nbones of the deceased in bone-houses, where they lie pell-mell in a\nheap, or catacombs, where they stand braced against the wall, lie in\ntheir coffins, or are put away in niches, _i.e._, on the shelf, and\nwhere any dawdling fool may inspect them for a small sum of money.\n\nThe Rev. H. R. Haweis states: \u201cWhere are the thousands who were laid in\nthe heart of Paris, and who slept for centuries in the graveyards of the\nInnocents, St. Eustache, St. Etienne de Pr\u00e9s? Every tourist who takes a\nreturn ticket to Paris may gaze upon their bones, speculate upon their\nskulls, and finger their dust. By order of the minister of police they\nwere all dug up in 1787 and carted off to the catacombs. The bones were\ncleaned and arranged in grim and picturesque symmetry. In one gallery\nare the arms, legs, and thighs intersected by rows of skulls; the small\nbones are thrown in heaps behind them. Whose dust is separate there?\nwhose ashes are sacred? And yet they were borne to this grotesque\nsepulchre with priests and tapers.\u201d\n\nAs regards disrespect and insult to the dead, a correspondent of the\n_Medical Times and Gazette_, writing from Bordeaux, says:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe earth around one of the oldest churches in Bordeaux seems to have\nsomething peculiarly antiseptic in its nature, so that the bodies buried\nduring ages were converted into mummies. During some alterations at the\nbeginning of this century these bodies were laid bare, and instead of\nbeing decently buried again, they were taken out of their resting-place\nand ranged upright in a row around a crypt under the bell-tower of St.\nMichael. Here they constitute a disgusting and demoralizing show, which\nis visited by crowds of people, and I am afraid that the clergy of the\nchurch are not ashamed to pocket the profits. A rough fellow, a candle\non the end of a stick, such as they have in wine-cellars, goes round as\nshowman. He taps and thumps the bodies to show that they are perfectly\nsound, tough like leather trunks, and not the least brittle. \u2018See here,\ngentlemen, is a very tall man; see how powerful his muscles must have\nbeen, and what excellent calves he has now! The next is the body of a\nyoung woman. Remark the excellent preservation of her chemise, though it\nwas buried 400 years ago; and see, it is trimmed with lace. The next,\ngentlemen, is a priest; you can see his soutane with the buttons on it.\nThere is a woman with a dreadful chasm in her breast; she had a cancer.\nThe next four are a family poisoned with mushrooms; observe the\ncontortions of their faces from the coliques they suffered. See, next, a\nvery old man with his wig still awry upon his pate. The next is a poor\nmis\u00e9rable that was buried alive. See how his head is turned to one side\nand the body half turned round, in the frantic effort to get out of the\ncoffin, with his mouth open and gasping.\u2019 (It is quite true that the\nattitude is singular, but it does not warrant the inference which the\nshowman draws.) But enough of this disgusting mercenary exhibition of\nthe human body in its lowest state of humiliation. If the guardians of\nconsecrated sepulchres, in which people have paid an honest fee to be\nburied, are to dig them up and cart them off as in England, or make a\nshow of them as here, why, I can only say that cremation will gain a\ngood many converts. Any one would prefer urn burial to the chance of\nbeing thus made a spectacle. So good, too, it must be for the rising\npopulation to take off the edge of any salutary horror they may feel at\ndeath and decay, or of reverence for the dead.\u201d\n\nThere are many such shows where the human corpse is used for the purpose\nof eliciting money from a public loving horrible and sensational sights.\nI need but mention the catacombs of Rome, or the Bleikeller of Bremen,\nto conjure up before your mind all the terrible scenes which the\nclerical and medical gentlemen whom I have just cited have pictured.\n\nThere is another way in which the dead are insulted, another mode by\nwhich their graves are desecrated. The monuments which are erected upon\nthe last resting-place of the deceased to perpetuate their memory are\nsometimes moved about till they no longer mark the spot where the person\nwhose name they bear was interred. Here, then, all the good intentions\nof friends are set at naught; their expense, their attention, is all in\nvain. The tombstones are moved, and when they become yellow with age\nthey are broken up to act as headstones for some public highway. That\nthis does not hold good of European countries only, but also of American\nones, is proven by our honored and beloved \u201cautocrat of the breakfast\ntable,\u201d Oliver Wendell Holmes, who declares: \u201cThe most accursed act of\nvandalism ever committed within my knowledge was the uprooting of the\nancient gravestones in three at least of our city burial-grounds, and\none at least just outside the city, and planting them in rows to suit\nthe taste for symmetry of the perpetrators. The stones have been\nshuffled about like chessmen, and nothing short of the Day of Judgment\nwill tell whose dust lies beneath any of those records meant by\naffection to mark one small spot as sacred to some cherished memory.\nShame! shame! shame! That is all I can say. It was on public\nthoroughfares, under the eye of authority, that this infamy was enacted.\nI should like to see the gravestones which have been disturbed or\nremoved and the ground levelled, leaving the flat tombstones. Epitaphs\nwere never famous for truth, but the old reproach of \u2018Here _lies_\u2019 never\nhad such a wholesale illustration as in these outraged burial-places,\nwhere the stone does lie above, and the bones do not lie beneath.\u201d\n\nNow be candid! Do you not think that facts like these go a good way to\nendorse cremation? There would be no need of disturbing the dead, there\nwould be no vulgar exhibition of the deceased, after incineration would\nhave been introduced. There would, in fact, be nothing to do violence to\nthat most sacred and deep-rooted feeling of humanity,\u2014respect for the\ndead.\n\nAmong all the outrages on the dead, that committed by the hand of\nghoulish desecration is, by far, the worst. Body-snatching, for\nproviding anatomical institutions with material, has become a business\nin the United States; love of gain being, as usual, the cause. And not\nonly are bodies abducted to supply medical colleges, but persons are\nliable to be murdered for the same reason. In February of 1884 two\nnegroes were arrested at Cincinnati, who, after a severe examination,\nconfessed to having killed an old man, his wife, and his adopted\ndaughter; after which they sold the corpses to the Ohio Medical College,\nreceiving $15 for each.\n\nBut some grave-robberies are perpetrated simply for revenge, or else for\npure deviltry. A special despatch to the _Detroit Free Press_, from\nPoint Pleasant, W. Va., relates an instance of this kind as follows:\u2014\n\n\u201cSalt Creek, a small stream, empties into the Ohio River three miles\nsouth of this. Two miles from the mouth is a church called Pisgah,\nattached to which is a burying-ground. This morning when the sexton went\nto dig a grave, he was horrified to find half a dozen graves open and\nthe bodies taken from their coffins and stretched on the ground. In one\nor two instances the limbs were severed from the bodies. The graves had\nbeen opened without regard to family. The bodies lay in one place\narranged in the shape of a Greek cross. There is no clue to the\nperpetrators of the sacrilegious offense, and no reason can be imagined.\nThe bodies evidently had been exposed for a day or two.\u201d\n\nThe funeral car of the late A. T. Stewart was followed by six carriages\nladen with gorgeous floral offerings; yet in spite of the more than\nregal magnificence of his funeral, and of his great wealth, only a few\ndays later his body was stolen by sacrilegious robbers, and has never\nbeen recovered. Need I remind you of the mortification our nation felt\non hearing that guards had to be set to watch over the graves of our\nlamented presidents, Lincoln and Garfield.\n\nNot only in our country is body-snatching a frequent offense, but also\nin England, as will be seen by the sequent quotation from Mr. Walker (p.\n202):\u2014\n\n\u201cAn undertaker who had charge of a funeral went with a friend into the\nvault of a chapel. A coffin recently deposited was taken under his arm\nwith the greatest ease. His friend, doubting, poised the coffin, and was\naffected to tears from the conviction that the body had been removed.\nSeveral other coffins were in the same condition.\u201d\n\nThe corpse of the late Earl of Crawford was stolen from the Dun Echt\nmortuary chapel in Aberdeen.\n\nThere is one case of outrage on the dead on record that, for hideousness\nand devilishness, surpasses all others. I refer to that grave-digger of\nKoenigsberg, Prussia, who fed his swine with human bodies.\n\nOne of the most abominable modes of outrage on the dead is that where\nmen (beasts is the proper designation for them) have gratified their\nanimal passions by outraging the fresh corpses of young and pretty\nwomen. It seems incredible, but this violation was known in the most\nancient times, and is not yet extinct in the present age.\n\n_Herodotus_ already reports in the 89th chapter of his second book, that\nthe Egyptians of old did not deliver up the bodies of ladies of quality\nor the remains of young and beautiful women to the embalmers until\ndecomposition had set in, so that these men could not have coition with\nthem. For it was said that an embalmer had once surprised a colleague in\nthe act of outraging the corpse of a youthful woman, and had reported\nthe case to the authorities, who punished the inhuman offender promptly.\n\nThe evening edition of the _National Zeitung_ (published at Berlin) of\nNov. 21, 1874 (No. 544), relates that in Lichtenberg, which is situated\nnear the capital of the German Empire, in the night from the 4th to 5th\nof November, two children, recently buried, were disinterred and removed\nfrom their coffins. On the morning of November the 5th the corpses were\nfound on the ground near the graves,\u2014the shrouds were torn,\u2014and one\nbody, that of a little two-year-old girl, bore all the signs of a recent\noutrage.\n\nAll these sacrilegious outrages on the dead could be obviated by\nincineration. The avaricious would not be tempted by a small quantity of\nashes in a plain urn. There would be no valuable clothing and no costly\njewelry, ordinarily inhumed with some bodies, to excite rapacity.\n\nFurthermore, cremation promises the greatest possible security from\nvandalism. When the urn containing the remains, _i.e._, ashes, of our\nfriends or relatives is placed in a niche in the columbarium, it can be\neasily guarded. One watchman, in communication (by electrical alarm)\nwith the police department of the city, will suffice to protect the\nurn-hall of a columbarium. The same cannot be said of a cemetery; it\nwould take at least a company of watchmen to properly guard the grounds\nof a medium-sized graveyard.\n\nSome day we will have Westminster Abbeys on a small scale, where, amid\ngrand monuments and costly urns, the simple tablet of wood shall have\nits place, its inscription remaining legible, not being blotted out by\nthe elements, as it is to-day. Each church could have its own urn-hall,\nand the burial ceremonies could be conducted according to the belief of\nthe deceased.\n\nThe greatest foe incineration has to contend with is the widespread\nantipathy against it, entertained and nursed by people who are governed\nmore by sentiment than by reason. Which is the most poetical mode of\ndisposal of the dead, cremation or burial? Think! think!! think!!! and\nyou cannot fail to find out.\n\nMr. W. Robinson, F.L.S., says:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe simplest urn ever made for the ashes of a Roman soldier is far more\nbeautiful than the costly funeral trappings used in the most imposing\nburial pageant of modern times. Of urns of a more ambitious kind, the\nvariety and beauty are often remarkable, as may be seen in our national\nand various private collections. It would be a gain to art if some of\nthe money spent on coffins, which rot unseen in the earth, were devoted\nto such urns, which do not decay, and which might be placed in the light\nof day, and perhaps teach a lesson in art as well as bear a record.\u201d\n\nAnd the _Medical Herald_ declares:\u2014\n\n\u201cAn urn of granite, alabaster, malachite, or one of the precious metals,\nwith the life-sized statue of great men placed in the halls of state,\nwould much more befittingly express the state\u2019s regard, and preserve and\nperpetuate the grateful tribute a Christian people would pay their\nmemories, than any number of columns and shafts reared in cemeteries,\nwhich must in time be demolished.\u201d\n\nWhich is the more \u00e6sthetic, a small heap of pure, pearl-white ashes, or\na grim skeleton? Certainly those who have seen a decomposing body, or\nhuman remains in the state of adipocere, would not call them \u00e6sthetic.\nContrast with the ghastly skeleton, now commonly employed as an\nillustration of death, the representation of death by the ancients,\u2014the\nboy with the inverted torch. Which is the more refined?\n\nThe strong tombs, of such a grandeur and beauty\u2014proof against the\ngnawing teeth of time\u2014mortuary monuments,\u2014as we shall not be able to\nleave to our offspring, testify to the pious veneration for the dead of\nthe ancients. I need but remind you of the grand pyramids, the extensive\nnecropolis at Thebes, the mausoleums and columbaria of the Via Appia in\nRome, to cause you to perceive the truth of my statement.\n\nThe ancients thought of the dead as being turned into shades; when we\nthink of them we imagine rattling skeletons. The stupid and disgusting\nglorification of the skeleton did not originate with Christ; it is a\nproduct of the Middle Ages, as are the many tales of witches and ghosts\nthat are related, especially in connection with churchyards, and still\ncling to them to-day.\n\nThe cremationists of to-day, who propose to substitute a decent \u00e6sthetic\nand sanitary mode of disposal of the dead for the present harmful and\nloathsome custom of inhumation, are repulsed, met by sentimental\nobjections, are even called monsters without religion, without reverence\nfor the dead.\n\nBut the apostles of incineration are as far removed from striving to\nsuppress and murder such sacred feelings as is Dan from Beersheba. On\nthe contrary, they believe that cremation is far more conducive to a\npious veneration for the dead than interment.\n\nWhat would you rather look upon, that horrible remnant of mortality, for\nwhich, as Bossuet says, \u201cthere has been found no name in any human\nlanguage,\u201d or the innocuous, pearly ash in the memorial urn of marble,\nalabaster, or one of the precious metals?\n\nCremation is humane, healthful, and, most of all methods, consonant to\nthe natural impulse of Christianized veneration for the dead; serving\nand honoring that impulse by preventing the exposure of the dead to\nthose visible elemental and chemical conditions and operations which\nbreed a revolt of the feelings, and tend to surround the subject with an\natmosphere of abhorrence.\n\nUndoubtedly, one result of adopting generally the in-cinerative burial,\nwill be a disassociation in our ideas from that existing and shocking\nconception of horrible bodily decay, in which almost every thought\nbestowed upon the dead is necessarily enveloped, and we will learn to\ncontemplate the body with the cheerful philosophy of the Persian poet,\nOmar Khayyam:\u2014\n\n            \u201c\u2018Tis but a tent where takes his one day\u2019s rest\n            A Sultan to the realms of death addrest;\n            The Sultan rises, and the dark Ferrash\n            Strikes and prepares it for another guest.\u201d\n\nAt a burial there is but darkness, at a cremation rosy light\nunaccompanied by fustiness; the dead is really reduced to ashes, and\nwith him the time-honored saying, \u201cPeace to his ashes,\u201d is not a hollow\nphrase, as it is with those who are interred.\n\nThose who do not wish to miss religious and other ceremonies at\nincinerations may use any form of burial service they like, and those\nwho desire to dispense with them may do so. And those who already have\nbeloved dead in the cemeteries may rest by their side when the end is\ncome, for the ashes can be interred as well as the body.\n\nA Sicilian poet suggested that along with the ashes thus buried might be\ndeposited the seeds of some flower,\u2014such as heart\u2019s-ease, violets, or\nforget-me-nots,\u2014so that when it sprung up, the friends and relatives\nmight gather the blossoms from year to year as a dear memorial of the\nlife that lasts beyond the tomb; and Tennyson\u2019s (\u201cIn Memoriam\u201d) poetic\nverses would be realized:\u2014\n\n                    \u201cAnd from his ashes may be made\n                    The violet of his native land.\u201d\n\nOnly when cremation is practiced, can a family obtain the remains\n(ashes, of course) of its friends and relatives who have died in a\nforeign land; only then it is possible to deposit such remains with\nthose of the ancestors.\n\nWith the Chinese it is customary to always inter the dead in their\nnative land; when they are far away from home they inhume their deceased\ntemporarily, but at the earliest opportunity remove them to China,\u2014a\nusage that deserves to be imitated.\n\nThe small urn containing the parental ashes may be taken by migratory\nman into the new world or the old, always preserved as the most sacred\nrelic of the family.\n\nHow much more beautiful and better would it not be to have the remains\nof our kin near at hand, in the house. Only then we would be reminded of\nthem every day. Every building could be made to contain a mortuary\nchamber. Then we would know our dead shielded from the elements. Now,\nwhen the storm rages and the rain pours down in torrents, we imagine\nthat he or she whom we have recently buried is yet subject to the\ninclemency of the weather. Maxime du Camp relates a touching example of\nthe power of illusion. On one of his walks in the Paris cemeteries he\ndiscovered a young lady kneeling before a tombstone, who was singing\n(interrupted frequently by her sobs) an aria from an opera. When she\nobserved him, after she had finished she said, excusing herself\ninvoluntarily: \u201cThere my dear mother lies buried! She loved to hear this\naria!\u201d\n\nThat these questions which I have just briefly considered are of\nconsiderable moment is demonstrated by the experience of the Rev. Brooke\nLambert, who says:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt has been my misfortune to lose four of my nearest relations in\ndifferent parts of the world. It has been also a subject of regret to me\nthat their remains lie so far off. I care little for the fate which\nhappens to their bodies; and yet, had such a practice as cremation been\nin use, it would sometimes have been a comfort to feel that I had their\nashes with me. Collected in an urn, they might either repose in\ncolumbaria, like those at Rome, or in a mortuary chapel in my own\nhouse.\u201d\n\nThis citation brings to my mind a beautiful epigram of Count Platen,\nwho, as you undoubtedly know, was called the favorite of the ladies. It\nis impossible to translate it, and therefore I will content myself with\nmentioning the contents. It entreats the sacred flames to return, and to\npurify the air which death has contaminated; it requests those about to\nbury to reduce to ashes the body of their friend; and it rejoices that\nthe remains of our beloved will again rest in a clean and decent urn\nnear our abodes.\n\nThere are many authors who, in their works, have expressed themselves in\nfavor of cremation. Among the first to do this was A. F. Ferdinand von\nKotzebue, a German writer of note, who glorified incineration in his\nnovel \u201cDie Leiden der Ortenberg\u2019schen Familie.\u201d\n\nThere are those who are afraid that cremation will do away with all that\nis mortuary in poetry and song. For instance, they say: \u201cWhat will\nbecome of Gray\u2019s Elegy in a Country Churchyard? Allusion to burial runs\nso inseparably through its verses that nothing would be left of them\nwere it eliminated.\u201d As a work of art Gray\u2019s masterpiece will live\nforever; but if reason or common sense is applied to it, I doubt whether\nit has a right to exist, even now. I admit that the poem is beautiful,\nthat it is grand; but it is all sentiment\u2014nothing more.\n\nThere is now already a new literature, prose as well as poetry,\naccumulating. The \u201cCremazione dei cadaveri\u201d already has its\npoets\u2014principally in Italy. Professor Giambattista Polizzi of Girgenti\ndedicated (in March, 1873) a poem on cineration to Signora Emilia Salsi\nwhen her husband, Doctor Giuseppi Salsi, died and was cremated. He\npraised incineration as the best mode to dispose of the dead, and to\npreserve the remains of the departed. In January, 1874, Civelli\u2019s\nprinting house at Milan, Italy, turned out 22 stanzas on incineration,\nin the Milanese dialect. The anonymous author is a patron of cremation.\nDr. Moretti of Cannero published an excellent poem on cremation in the\n_Annali di Chimica_ of 1872. A German author, writing under the\npseudonym of \u201cDranmor,\u201d sent forth some very good verses on the same\nsubject, as did also the celebrated Dr. Justinus Kerner.\n\nMr. William Eassie laments:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt is a matter of regret that those of our own poets who have been in\nfavor of burning the dead did not enshrine their proclivities in verse.\nSouthey, for instance, wrote that the custom of interment \u2018makes the\nidea of a dead friend more unpleasant. We think of the grave,\ncorruption, and worms; burning would be better.\u2019 But he left us no\npoetry on the subject.\u201d\n\nThe objections to cineration put forward by the sentimentalists are\nreally of no consequence at all; they are far too trivial to be worth\neven only superficial consideration. I have only mentioned them, because\nI am aware of the strong hold that sentiment has on most people, and\nbecause they allowed of a comparison between burial and cremation, which\nis decidedly in favor of the latter.\n\nDr. E. J. Bermingham of New York City hits the nail on the head by\nsaying:\u2014\n\n\u201cWe believe the abhorrence entertained by many, of cremation, depends to\na very great extent on the universal tendency of individuals and nations\nto resent any interference with established customs, to reject any\ninnovation simply because it is an innovation.\u201d\n\nSentimental objection to incineration resolves into this: We are the\nslaves of custom. We love to walk in the old wornout paths, and when\nsome one discovers a new way that is much shorter, and by which the\ndestination is reached much sooner, we are loathe to use it. First only\na few adopt it, then more and more travel over its surface, until\nfinally the old path becomes obsolete.\n\nTo what an extent people are governed by their time-honored customs was\nillustrated by the ancient historian Herodotus (see Muses, Book III,\nchap. 88), as follows:\u2014\n\n\u201cIf all people were to choose the most beautiful among the customs, they\nwould after close examination select their own, because every nation\nbelieves that its own customs are the best and the most beautiful. One\ntherefore cannot imagine that anybody but a madman would ridicule such\nmatters. When Darius reigned he summoned the Greeks then in his land,\nand when they came, he requested them to name the price they would take\nto eat their deceased parents. They replied they would not commit such a\ncrime for all the gold in his empire. Then he caused the Kalatians\n(natives of India), who were in the habit of eating their parental dead,\nto appear before him; when they arrived, he questioned them (in presence\nof the Greeks, to whom every word was interpreted) how much remuneration\nthey would want to burn their dead. They cried aloud, and bade him not\nto think of such a sacrilege. Thus custom rules. I believe Pindar to be\nright when he asserts in one of his poems that custom is the king of\nall.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER VII.\n   ECONOMY OF CREMATING THE DEAD.\u2014THE PRESENT STATE OF THE CREMATION\n                               QUESTION.\n\n\nDr. F. Julius le Moyne, speaking of the great expense often lavished on\nfunerals, says:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe aggregate of such questionable expenditures over the United States\nwould amount to billions of dollars, a sum truly alarming in size; and\nthis criminal expenditure has been an important factor in conducing to\nthe monetary panic[1] still prevailing. This is one of the many\nextravagances which account in a great degree for national financial\ndifficulties. The average expenditure for each body by the system of\ninhumation may be placed at $100. The average expense by the cremation\nplan would not exceed $20,\u2014showing what an immense national saving would\nbe gained by substituting cremation for interment.\u201d\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n  Dr. Le Moyne\u2019s paper was written in 1878.\n\nIt must be kept in mind that the expense of a modern funeral consists of\nthe purchase of a lot in the graveyard, the funeral expenditure, and the\noutlay for the customary tombstone or monument.\n\nThe cost of a cemetery to the community is tremendous. The cost of a\nplain furnace with a columbarium does not exceed $5000, a mere trifle\nwhen compared with the price of a burial ground.\n\nImagine what a lot of valuable land\u2014the best soil is always selected for\ncemeteries\u2014is lost by our present method of disposing of the dead. I\nfirmly believe that graveyards are often a hindrance to the growth of a\ncity; but progress cannot be stopped forever; it may be delayed for a\nshort time, but finally it will overcome all obstacles, the dead are\ncarted away, and a world of activity takes their place.\n\nGraves are not houses which last till doomsday. In this country where\ncities grow so rapidly, graveyards are soon surrounded by dwellings, and\na cemetery which was once far outside of the city limits finally is\nalmost in the centre of the city. It then becomes necessary to remove\nthe dead. They are dug up and carted away, and are, perhaps, quietly\ndumped into some swamp to fill it up and assist in the generation of\nmalaria. Business blocks are then erected in the place that was once\nsacred to the dead, and the peace of the burial ground is changed for\nthe din of traffic.\n\nThe following citation from an editorial of the _Detroit Free Press_\nwill serve to elucidate what I have said:\u2014\n\n\u201cThe interment of the numerous dead of a large population in the midst\nof a large population is very serious. To it are attributed the constant\noutbreaks of cholera in India, and the increase of leprosy in China, and\nit is certain as anything can be that the existence of cemeteries in\ncrowded communities is meeting with an increasing prejudice. The people\nof large cities are already forced to seek, at some distance from their\nlimits, suitable places for interment. And the existence of great\ncemeteries in the suburban communities themselves is provoking vigorous\nopposition. At Newton, Long Island, there are 13 cemeteries, in which\n30,000 bodies of people dying in New York and Brooklyn are buried\nannually. There are, therefore, 60,000 live people in one part of the\ntown, the rest being occupied by 3,500,000 dead ones. Property is\ndepreciating and taxes are increasing. People are not attracted to a\ntown of this sort, and the real estate of the village has been falling\nin value for some time.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: THE PROPOSED CREMATORIUM AT CINCINNATI, OHIO.]\n\nBut the financial deterioration is nothing when compared with the effect\nwhich the aggregation of many dead produces upon the health of the\nsurrounding population.\n\nIn and about New York, Brooklyn, and Jersey City, 4000 acres of valuable\nland are taken up by cemeteries. It is calculated that with the probable\nincrease of population in the next half a decade, 500,000 acres of the\nbest land in the United States will be enclosed by graveyard walls.\nThink of it! Five hundred thousand acres of soil that might contribute\ntowards the maintenance of the living given up to the \u201ccities of the\ndead.\u201d It is an outrage!\n\nNow, let us compare the cost of burial with that of incineration. As I\nhave mentioned before, there is an immense saving of valuable land when\ncremation is adopted. Millions of acres now uncultivated, and simply\nused for burial to the detriment of the living, would be changed into\nfood-bearing land and furnish additional means for the maintenance of\nthe people. A crematory connected with an urn-hall would not occupy more\nspace than 360 to 400 square feet, and would last for centuries. There\nwould also be a diminution of funeral expenses. The average expense of\ncremation in the United States is $25. Contrast this with the ordinary\nfuneral expense, and you will agree with me when I assert that the\npresent waste of money for burials is as enormous as it is unnecessary.\nSome author has said justly that the difference in expense would often\nequal one-half the proceeds of a life insurance policy. It is plain that\nthe expense of the burning of single bodies will be very much _reduced_\nby the general use of the system. The annual expense for the cremation\nof 7000 bodies in Bombay, India, amounts to $15,000 only, which is but\n$2.50 for each corpse.\n\nThe cost of incineration in our own country has varied. It is, of\ncourse, impossible to estimate the expense of the earlier cremations.\n\nThe furnace at Washington, Pa., was erected for the use of Dr. Le Moyne\nonly, and those of his friends who concurred with him in this reform.\nThe public at one time believed that this furnace had been built for its\naccommodation, and that the owner followed cremation as a business, and\ncharged fees for the use of his crematory. During the lifetime of the\ndoctor no fee whatever was charged for incineration in his furnace.\nAfter his death the trustees of the crematorium were obliged to charge\nthe moderate sum of $45 to compensate them for their time and trouble.\nThis included all expenses after the body reached the railway station at\nWashington,\u2014a hearse, carriage, and box to contain the remains, as well\nas fuel, attendance, etc.\n\nThe building at Washington was put up at the least possible expense (as\neconomy was one of Dr. Le Moyne\u2019s principal arguments), and cost in all\nabout $1500. Compare this expenditure with that of purchasing a\ncemetery, not taking into consideration the improvements which must be\nmade on a graveyard before it can be opened to the public.\n\nIt will prove interesting to consider the present state of the cremation\nquestion, and to note the progress which the reform has thus far made in\nvarious countries of the civilized world.\n\nIncineration is making great headway in Europe. In Germany, societies\nwere organized at Coeln, Hainichen, Bonn, Frankfort on the Main,\nPotsdam, Liegnitz, Chemnitz, Heidelberg, Elberfeld, Eger, Breslau,\nNordhausen, Rheda, Kollberg, Bremen, and Schleswig.\n\nSince Prince Bismarck declared that he would not be adverse to a law\nregulating and permitting the practice of cremation in all parts of the\nempire, the leading physicians of Berlin and the members and officers of\nall the cremation societies of Germany have petitioned the national\nparliament\u2014the Reichstag\u2014to permit incineration in all cities of the\nempire, not restricting cremation to Gotha, as has been done heretofore.\n\nIn Austria, opinion is about evenly divided for and against the\npractice. A deputation from the \u201cUrne\u201d Society of Vienna waited on the\npresident of the Austrian cabinet to ask that cremation should be\nauthorized. This society now comprises 800 members, amongst whom every\nclass is represented; they have collected sufficient funds for the\nconstruction of a crematory apparatus. And what was the answer of the\ngovernment to this request? The Minister of Austro-Hungary replied to\nthe Urne Society for the Propagation of Cremation that incineration is\nforbidden in the empire because public opinion is against it.\n\nThe committee of the Belgian chamber has favorably reported upon a\npetition for a law making cremation optional.\n\nThe municipality of Paris lately decided to cremate the bodies which\nhave been used at the School of Practical Anatomy and at Clamort. Over\n3000 bodies a year are received at these two institutions for the\npurpose of dissection.\n\nThe Municipal Council of Paris also recently authorized the erection of\nthree crematories in the P\u00e8re la Chaise Cemetery, according to the\nGorini system, which are to be used for the purpose of cremating the\nremains of those persons who die of infectious or contagious diseases.\nThey will be heated with wood, and are calculated to be capable of\nreducing the bodies of 50 persons per day at a cost of 15 francs\ninclusive of personal expenditure and the cost of an urn for the\nreception of the ashes. The Prefect of Police of Paris has endorsed the\ndecree of the municipality, laying stress especially on the many\nadvantages\u2014sanitary and economical\u2014of cremation. He stated that\nsufficient testimony had been recorded by Kuechenmeister and many other\nscientific authorities to demonstrate beyond a doubt that cremation is a\nprotection against cholera, yellow fever, and small-pox epidemics. The\nfurnaces at the P\u00e8re la Chaise can be used eight hours a day. The total\nexpense is estimated at 50,000 francs; and preparations will be made to\nburn 4500 bodies a year. The establishment of these crematories was\nbrought about mainly through the efforts of M. Koechlin-Schwartz, mayor\nof the eighth ward of Paris; and the plan for their construction was\nsubmitted to the municipality in the name of the Commission of the\nAssistance Publique by M. Chaisoaing.\n\nThe French Chamber recently enacted the following: \u201cAny adult or free\nminor, capable of being a testator, may freely determine the mode of his\nsepulture. He may elect inhumation or incineration, may will his body or\nany part thereof to institutions of public instruction or to learned\nsocieties, and may regulate the conditions of his funeral, notably in\nregard to its civil or religious character.\u201d\n\nThe privilege of cremation in the crematories at the P\u00e8re la Chaise is\nnow granted to any one who asks for the same.\n\nThe Paris Municipality will at a future sitting vote the construction of\na sort of lay temple, where families will be allowed to keep urns or\nother funereal vessels, containing the ashes of dead relatives. This\nwill not necessarily do away with any religious ceremony short of that\nof consigning the dead to consecrated ground; but, as M.\nKoechlin-Schwartz says, there is no reason why urns may not be\nconsecrated, or why Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and Free Thinkers may\nnot build a vast mausoleum in which the ashes of thousands could be\ndeposited in beautiful vessels without injury to the living.\n\nIt is probable that crematories being now legal in such an art center as\nParis, new and beautiful forms of artistic decoration will grow out of\nit.\n\nAltogether, cremation is progressing so favorably everywhere that one\nmay be hopeful that comparatively soon it will be adopted by every\ncountry in the world.\n\nPublic opinion in England has undergone a wonderful change, and now is\nuniversally in favor of cremation. Even so great a newspaper as the\n_Times_, once a vehement opponent of the reform, has come around, and\nnow upholds incineration.\n\nThe crematory belonging to the Cremation Society of England, erected by\nthem at St. John\u2019s, Woking, Surrey, was made use of for the first time\non the 26th of March, 1885. The body upon which the rite was performed\nwas that of Mrs. Pickersgill, of London, aged seventy-one\u2014a lady well\nknown in literary and scientific circles. She had previously become a\nmember of the society, with a view of supporting the reform, in which\nshe took great interest. The form of declaration drawn up by the society\nhad been signed by her, and, after the medical certificates had been\nduly filled up by registered medical men and an application from a\nrepresentative of the deceased, the cremation was allowed to proceed. An\nautopsy had been previously carried out by the medical attendants of the\ndeceased.\n\nThe body was conveyed to the crematory from London in a suitable hearse;\nand the cremation, which lasted one hour, was attended by two friends of\nthe deceased, who expressed themselves perfectly satisfied with the\nsystem employed. The cost for fuel was under ten shillings altogether;\nand during the time of the cremation, no smoke escaped from the\nchimney-shaft, whilst the ashes were of a purest white and small in\nvolume.\n\nThe Italian government ordered the building of a crematory, on the\nGorini-Gozzi system, for the cholera hospital at Varignano, which was\ncompleted in the summer of 1885.\n\nA crematorium was erected at Florence, on the Venini system, which\ncremates a body in 70 minutes, and the cost of which was 4500 francs.\nCrematories are building at Pisa and Como.\n\nOn the 23d of June, 1885, the crematorium at Livorno was dedicated with\nappropriate ceremonies. It contains a Spaciani Mesmer furnace.\n\nGeneral acquiescence in the process of cremation is steadily growing\namong us; and I verily believe that the time is not far distant when\ncrematories will be established in every state and territory of the\nUnion. The fact that one was recently erected in New York City, one has\nbeen built at Lancaster, and one has just been completed at Pittsburg,\ncertainly proves that cremation has found a foothold in this country.\n\nThe New York Cremation Society was organized in the city of New York on\nMarch 8, 1881, under the presidency of the Rev. Dr. J. D. Beugless, and\nwas incorporated on the 26th of March in the same year. The objects and\npurposes of this society are to disseminate sound and enlightened views\nrespecting the incineration of the dead; to advocate and promote in\nevery proper and legitimate way the substitution of this method for\nburial; and to advance the public good by affording facilities for\ncarrying cremation into operation. The members of the society consist of\nthree classes: active, associate, and corresponding members. Active\nmembers are subdivided into annual and life members, of whom the annual\nmembers pay the regular dues, and the life members the amount of $30 in\none sum. Those who have paid the regular dues for twelve successive\nyears also become life members. No further payment is then required from\nsuch member. These payments for twelve successive years entitle an\nactive member to all the privileges of the society for the remainder of\nhis life; and an associate member to the benefit of the incineration\nfund without further charge.\n\nOnly active members are qualified for election or appointment to any\nofficial position in the society; to vote at any election; and to debate\nand vote at any meeting; corresponding members are chosen from among\nthose who have distinguished themselves by rendering service in the\npromotion of cremation; and they may reside in any part of the world,\nexcept within a radius of five miles around the city of New York. At\npresent, the New York Cremation Society numbers 470 members, of whom 400\nare active and 70 passive members.\n\nThe United States Cremation Company, incorporated under the laws of the\nstate of New York, is in no manner connected with the New York Cremation\nSociety, although many members of the latter are stockholders in the\nformer. This company was founded for the purpose of acquiring land, and\nerecting thereon the necessary buildings, works, and other appliances\nfor carrying cremation into operation. It was incorporated under the\ngeneral business act of 1876 of the state of New York, with a capital\nstock of $35,000, divided into 1400 shares of the par value of $25 per\nshare; $28,200 worth of stock has already been taken. Among the\nstockholders of the United States Cremation Company are such persons of\nnote as Andrew Carnegie, Professor H. H. Boyesen, the distinguished\nauthor, Professor Felix Adler, and Courtlandt Palmer.\n\nEarly in 1884, the company purchased a fine site on Long Island, about\n45 minutes\u2019 drive from the city. The cremation temple was erected upon\nthe summit of a hill at Fresh Pond, Long Island. The site is bounded by\nOlivet, Evelin, and Summit Avenues respectively on the east, south, and\nwest, and commands an unobstructed view of the cities of New York and\nBrooklyn, from the center of population in either of which it is about\nfive miles distant. It lies between two cemeteries. The grounds are high\nand picturesque. This place of rest will be, if present plans are\ncarried out, more complete than anything of the kind in the world. It is\nexpressly wished to deprive it of the mournful aspect usually associated\nwith burial-grounds. To this end there are no yew or willow trees, nor\nany emblems of mourning. The grounds are tastefully laid out, and\nadorned with flowers.\n\nThe corner-stone of the crematory at Fresh Pond was laid on Nov. 20,\n1884. Prof. Felix Adler conducted the services, the principal speeches\nbeing made by him and the Rev. Howard Henderson.\n\nThe directors of the United States Cremation Company fixed the charge\nfor the incineration of bodies at $25. The crematorium was finished in\nthe latter part of October, 1885. Experiments were made with the bodies\nof a number of the lower animals, in order to perfect the workings of\nthe machinery. On Nov. 10, 1885, a dressed ram, weighing 75 pounds,\ntogether with the skin, shank, and hip bones of an ox, was introduced\ninto the furnace. With a temperature of 2000\u00b0 F. the incineration was\ncompleted in two hours. A strong wind greatly retarded the process by\ninterfering with the draught of cold air. The defect was remedied at\nonce by altering the flues and the insertion of a steam jet at a point\nabove the entrance of the flues.\n\nThe site was selected in order to carry out the first plans of the\nedifice, which were those of a Grecian temple. The plans have been\nmodified and modernized so that only a remnant of the classical design\nis left. The front portion of the building will be, when finished, two\nstories high. The rest of the structure is one story high, and is built\nof plain red brick. The dimensions are 38 \u00d7 74. Light is admitted to the\ninterior of the building by skylights in the roof, as well as by the\nhalf-dozen windows on each side.\n\nCremation in New York has been advancing steadily, although perhaps\nslowly, in public favor. The first body was incinerated at Fresh Pond on\nDec. 4, 1885, and since then more than 100 persons have been cremated\nthere.\n\nCremation is spoken of with respect, and the stage of smiling and joking\nover it in New York passed away long ago.\n\nIt receives the unanimous support of the press and the medical\nprofession. The Society of Medical Jurisprudence and State Medicine\nappointed early in 1886 a committee to consider the subject. The report\nof that committee, which was adopted, declared cremation to be \u201ca\nsanitary necessity,\u201d and recommended that all persons dying of\ncontagious diseases should be cremated under direction of the medical\nauthorities.\n\nThe cremation of Dr. Dio Lewis, the famous health reformer, in the\nlatter part of May, 1886, and that of Mr. Henry Dodge, of one of the\nleading banking firms on Wall Street, in the early part of June,\nattracted wide attention.\n\nThe first one to advocate the adoption of cremation in Buffalo, N. Y.,\nwas, to my knowledge, Dr. Frederick Peterson, who championed the reform\nin an article written for the _Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal_.\nMany years passed, however, before his ardent advocacy was followed by\npractical results. The Buffalo Cremation Company (Limited) was\nincorporated in July, 1884, under the law of 1875,\u2014the so-called limited\nliability act.\n\nAt a meeting held May 18, 1886, the first board of directors was\nelected, with Dr. Charles Cary as president. The gentlemen constituting\nthis first board managed the affairs of the company so well, and agreed\namong themselves so perfectly, that they were reelected, and are still\nin office.\n\nAt this meeting committees were appointed on the purchase of real estate\nfor a suitable site for building a crematorium, also for plans for the\nerection of a furnace for the incineration of bodies. Subscriptions came\nin rapidly, and those who had strong faith in the ultimate\naccomplishment of this work were gratified by the realization of their\nhopes. Any one who takes a look at the crematorium of Buffalo to-day,\nmust acknowledge that the crematists of this city have a right to be\nglad and proud to behold at last the practical outcome of their work.\n\nAt a meeting of the board of directors in the early part of August,\n1885, the committees appointed for the purpose rendered their reports in\nreference to a site for a crematorium and a cinerary apparatus. In\naccordance with these reports the directors purchased a site on Delavan\nAvenue, near Delaware Avenue. The dimensions are 181 feet front, 161\nfeet rear, and 148 feet in depth. The property was bought at a cost of\n$20 per foot, and on very favorable terms.\n\nOriginally the capital stock was $10,000, divided into 400 shares, of\nthe par value of $25 per share. This was afterward increased to $15,000,\ndivided into 600 shares of the same par value. This stock when once paid\nup is non-assessable, and not liable for the debts of the company.\n\nThe Buffalo crematorium, which was finished recently, is of a composite\nstyle of architecture, and is constructed of Medina stone, with a slate\nroof. The outline of the building is a pleasing one, and the\narchitecture is of such a character that it resembles a church more\nclosely than a place where any mechanical operation is carried on. The\ngrounds of the company are entered from Delavan Avenue by a spacious\nroadway, running to a porch and then passing around the building to the\ndoor of the mortuary chamber, on the east side. Those who accompany the\nbody alight at the porch, and pass thence into the auditorium. The body\nitself is removed from the hearse at the door of the mortuary chamber.\n\nWhen the coffin containing the body is received in the mortuary chamber,\nthe body is removed and placed on the car which awaits its reception.\nThe car is then moved by machinery, and without noise, into the chancel,\nwhere, if it is desired, the body may remain in sight of those in the\nauditorium during the progress of such service as the friends and\nrelatives may wish to have performed. At the proper time the same\nmechanism moves the car noiselessly behind the doors which cut off the\nincinerating room from the sight of the audience.\n\nThe building itself is some 70 feet in width, by 60 feet deep. The\nconstruction throughout is of the most substantial character. The lot is\ngraded and seeded, and trees and shrubs were planted, so that the\nappearance of the crematorium and its surroundings is most pleasing to\nthe eye.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  CREMATORIUM AT LANCASTER, PA.\n  (Interior View.)\n]\n\nOn Dec. 20, 1883, Mr. John Storer Cobb, who was one of the projectors\nand founders of the New York Cremation Society and the United States\nCremation Company, requested Bostonians (in the columns of a leading\nnewspaper) who were in favor of substituting incineration for inhumation\nas a means of disposing of the dead, to furnish him with their names and\naddresses. After the receipt of these names he called a meeting, which\ntook place Jan. 24, 1884, and the result of which was the organization\nof the New England Cremation Society. Organization was effected under\nChapter 115 of the Massachusetts Public Statutes; but the commissioner\nof corporations refusing to allow such incorporation, the society not\nwishing to organize under the general corporation law, whereby the par\nvalue of shares must be $100, and all stock subscribed for and paid in\nbefore it could commence operations, applied for a special charter,\nembodying its views and needs. But the time for the introduction of new\nbusiness having expired, it was obliged to wait till the next session of\nthe legislature. Early in the session it presented a bill for\nincorporation, which took the form of a general law, authorizing the\nformation of cremation societies.\n\nIt was the intention of the society to at once incorporate under this\nact, place the stock of the society on sale, and as soon as possible\nerect a crematorium in the near vicinity of Boston. The bill passed both\nhouses of the legislature, but was amended, so that now the par value of\nshares must be either $10 or $50, and, as under the general corporation\nlaw of Massachusetts, the whole capital stock must be subscribed and\npaid in before the society can commence operations.\n\nThe capital stock of the society is $25,000, distributed into 2500\nshares, each of the par value of $10. At present the society numbers\nabout 75 members. The officers are: John Storer Cobb, president; Charles\nA. Holt, treasurer; and Sidney P. Brown, secretary.\n\nInspired with the necessity of a better method of disposing of the dead,\nDr. John O. Marble began the agitation of the question in Worcester,\nMass., in November, 1884, by reading a paper upon the subject before 25\nof the most prominent physicians of that city. Much to his surprise and\npleasure they heartily approved of the plan of cremation as a substitute\nfor the present time-honored, but, to the living, dangerous custom of\nearth-burial. At the solicitation of one of them, who is the\nenthusiastic president of the Worcester Natural History Society, the\ndoctor delivered a lecture upon the subject of the \u201cDisposal of the\nDead, Cremation Preferred,\u201d before a large audience in the hall of the\nsociety on the evening of Dec. 4, 1884.\n\nThe people of the conservative city of Worcester seemed to appreciate\nthe sanitary necessity, and began intelligent inquiries, which Dr.\nMarble answered in eight communications in the _Worcester Daily Spy_.\nThe movement was favored by almost all of the best citizens, and, after\nconsiderable hard work on Dr. Marble\u2019s part, took shape in the\norganization of a society. The constitution was signed by, and the\nsociety is composed of, persons of the very highest position, socially,\nprofessionally, and in every respect. The society is not yet quite ready\nfor the erection of a crematory, but it is expected that such result\nwill follow in the near future.\n\nThe Cincinnati Cremation Company was incorporated on Oct. 18, 1884; it\nwas organized two or three weeks later. The capital stock of the company\nis $25,000, divided into 1000 shares of the par value of $25 per share.\nNo member is permitted to own more than 20 shares. In the spring of\n1885, the company purchased a site for the erection of Cincinnati\u2019s\ncrematorium. The site is on a commanding eminence on Dixmyth Avenue,\nwest of Burnet Woods and within a quarter of a mile of the terminus of\nthe Clifton line of cars. The property is within city limits; it is\neasily accessible, being on a fine drive; its elevation will give the\ncrematorium a distinguished prominence, while the view to the west and\nsouth is extended and beautiful. The front measurement of the site is\nsomewhat over 300 feet, with a depth of 350, comprising an area of more\nthan two and a half acres, at a cost of $4000. The basement of the\nCincinnati crematorium has been finished; the furnace is being erected,\nand will be completed in a short time. At present, the company counts\n325 stockholders, with quite a representation of ladies. About $15,000\nof the stock has been subscribed for.\n\nA crematory on Sixth Avenue, in the centre of the city of Pittsburg,\nPa., was completed in January, 1886. The furnace (constructed by Dr. M.\nL. Davis) is heated by natural gas to at least 2200 degrees. The\napparatus is owned by Mr. H. Samson, the ex-president of the National\nFuneral Directors\u2019 Association, who is a wide-awake man, and thinks the\nfuneral directors (_vulgo_, undertakers) are very shortsighted to allow\ncremation associations to be organized; they should be willing and\nprepared to take care of and make such disposition of the dead as the\npeople want. The use of natural gas enables Mr. Samson to have his\nfurnace in the basement of his business house. The first cremation in\nthis apparatus took place on March 17, 1886, when the remains of Milton\nFisher, of Columbus, O., were incinerated. The body was placed in the\nretort at 7.30 o\u2019clock, and in less than an hour was reduced to ashes.\nThis was the first time that natural gas had ever been used for\ncremating purposes; and its advantages were apparent at once.\n\nThe National Cremation Association, which was organized and incorporated\nFeb. 10, 1883, has so far met with success, as its object to make\npropaganda for the principle of cremation and keep its ideas before the\neyes of the public has been fully sustained, as the discussions and\narguments pro and contra in the press of Philadelphia, Pa., where it is\nlocated, will prove. According to its constitution, this association\nagrees to cremate the remains of any active or passive member in good\nstanding at death, when so desired. The expenses of the funeral and\ncremation are carried by the association.\n\nSince the incorporation of this society, one of its members died, May\n10, 1884, and was, in accordance with his wishes, cremated. The body was\ntransferred to Washington, Pa., on the 13th of the same month, and there\nreduced to ashes, which were returned to the care of the family of the\ndeceased.\n\nSince the incorporation of the association, the number of members has\nrisen from six to 59 and will soon, no doubt, be a full hundred.\n\nIt is now the main object of this association to secure the erection of\na crematory in or near Philadelphia. For this purpose subscriptions were\nreceived and stock issued. As soon as the necessary capital is obtained\nthe crematorium will be built.\n\nIn the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania the bodies which\nhave been utilized for dissection are burned instead of being buried as\nheretofore.\n\nThe Lancaster Cremation and Funeral Reform Society at Lancaster, Pa.,\noriginated in this wise: Early in 1884, a few gentlemen interested in\nthe matter agitated it among their friends; and a list of members of a\nproposed society was made. On May 27, these subscribers met at the\noffice of Messrs. Steinmann and Hensel (both of whom were members), and,\ncalling D. G. Eshleman to the chair, a temporary organization was\neffected. A committee was appointed to report on a proper location for a\ncrematory, also a committee on charter and by-laws. These committees\nreported June 6, when the amount of stock was fixed at $5000 in $10\nshares.\n\nAt the third meeting, June 13, a permanent organization was effected by\nelecting a board of directors.\n\nThe board organized immediately upon the adjournment of the\nstockholders\u2019 meeting, and chose D. G. Eshleman, Esq., president; Dr.\nHenry Carpenter and Rev. J. Max Hark, vice-presidents; J. D. Pyott,\nclerk; H. C. Brubaker, Esq., corresponding secretary; Geo. K. Reed,\ntreasurer. Mr. Middleton was placed on the committee on ground and\nbuilding in place of Mr. Hensel, whose engagements prevented his acting;\nand this committee was instructed to report June 20, at which time the\nsite now occupied was selected and the committee ordered to purchase. On\nthe 30th of June, the stock subscribed was called in, and building\nproposals asked for. On the 11th of July, bids were opened; on the 14th\nof July, the contract was awarded to Mr. Dinkelberg, and the building\nwas immediately begun. On the 10th of September, the building was\ncompleted; and the retort builders having failed to come to time, the\ncommittee were authorized to construct one on plans of their own. This\nwas done; for Dr. M. L. Davis devised and built a furnace from his own\ndesigns, and on Nov. 1 the board met in the crematory building, and\nprovided for the improvement of the grounds.\n\nOn the night of Nov. 4 or the morning of the 5th, the furnace went to\nwhite heat, despite predictions of experts to the contrary, and\njustified the plan of construction. On the evening of the 17th of\nNovember, the body of a sheep, two ox-heads, and several sheep-heads\nwere enclosed in a wooden box and placed in the retort at red heat, the\ncompany present being unwilling to remain later. Some smoke, of course,\nwas made; but when white heat was reached, the cremation was perfect, as\nspecimens of the residuum amply proved.\n\nThe crematorium was dedicated on Tuesday, Nov. 25, at 2 P.M., when the\nbody of a lady from Jersey City, N. J., was incinerated. It must be\nremembered that this society was organized on May 27, 1884, purchased\nland, erected its building, and had its first cremation within the\nperiod of six months, while several other societies organized much\nearlier had not yet advanced much beyond laying the corner-stones of\ntheir respective buildings.\n\nThe dedication exercises were opened by a prayer by Rev. Geo. Gaul, of\nSt. Paul\u2019s Methodist Church. Thereupon, the building was delivered to\nthe society by Dr. M. L. Davis, chairman of the building committee, who\ndiscussed the subject of cremation from a sanitary standpoint.\n\nThe next oration, preceding the benediction, was delivered by Rev. J.\nMax Hark, pastor of the Moravian church, one of the vice-presidents of\nthe society, who treated the subject from a theological standpoint.\n\nThe benediction over, the participants in the dedication ceremony\ndispersed. The incineration that took place on this occasion was\nentirely satisfactory.\n\nThe whole ceremony was solemn, and produced a profound impression upon\nthe intelligent and thoughtful audience, among whom were many guests\nfrom other cities.\n\nThe rules of the Lancaster Cremation and Funeral Reform Association are\nvery stringent and well calculated to meet all demands. All applicants\nfor cremation of bodies must present a certificate of death, signed by\nthe physician attending during the last illness, whose standing as a\nreputable practitioner must be attested by a magistrate or notary\npublic. When brought from a distance, official board of health papers\nare also required. The rules request that the body should be dressed in\na shroud of cotton or linen fabric; all metallic substances being\navoided\u2014hooks, buttons with metallic eyes, etc. The body should be\nenclosed in a plain wooden coffin; or, what is preferable, in a coffin\nmade of sheet zinc. The cost of incineration is $25.\n\nThe condition, financial and otherwise, of the society is excellent. Mr.\nH. C. Brubaker started the subscription shortly after Dr. Gross\u2019s\ndemise, and succeeded in getting some 50 subscribers before\norganization. The society now numbers about 80 members, of the best\nthinking element in the community, male and female. So far, 51\ncremations have taken place in the Lancaster furnace, every one of them\nto the entire satisfaction of all concerned.\n\nRecently a second furnace was put in the Lancaster crematorium; and some\nimportant improvements were made by Dr. Davis in the process which was\ninvented by him.\n\nA single feature of the earlier incinerations seemed out of harmony with\nthe character of the occasion\u2014it was necessary to force the receptacle\nwith the body into the retort by direct pressure. This was sought to be\nremedied by drawing it in by a wire cable; but the latter proving\nunreliable, the body, enclosed in the alum-saturated cloth, is now laid\nin a cradle consisting of a steel frame covered with asbestos and\nfire-clay, which is suspended from an extension arm, operated by a\nquick-thread screw extending lengthwise of the catafalque, by which the\ncradle is placed silently in the retort and the arm withdrawn. The\nincineration being completed, by reversing the process the cradle with\nthe ashes is extracted intact and allowed to cool.\n\nIt is to be remembered that these Lancaster people had almost everything\nto learn. Dr. Le Moyne, of glorious memory, had devoted his labors to\nteaching the principle by precept and example; his method was\nnecessarily primitive and crude. Lancaster added the required art, gave\nthe principle an adequate process, and sent forth the body of truth\nsuitably clothed. The record of their first cremation was published,\nwith all sorts of comment, in every live paper of the land; and the\nimpetus then given to the cause of reform, while it cannot be fully\nestimated, is plainly seen in the wonderful development of correct\nthought and sentiment on this subject which immediately followed.\n\nIn the list of persons cremated at Lancaster, the German element largely\npredominates; and practically the whole list is made up of residents in\ncities\u2014showing that the centers of culture are also the nuclei of\nadvanced thought on this question. Nor is this crematorium altogether\nwithout honor in its own country. One of the prominent members of the\nsociety (George Brubaker, Esq.) dying since its establishment, was\nincinerated; also Ex-Mayor Christian Kieffer, of Lancaster, and both\nparents of Mrs. H. C. Brubaker. The society is extremely fortunate in\nits personnel; from its president, a leading lawyer, its\nvice-presidents, in the front rank of medicine and divinity; its\ndirectors, active men in all walks of life, the high school principal,\nleading journalists, bankers, managers of large business enterprises,\nthe medical profession largely represented in the rank and file of its\n80 members\u2014its position in the community is assured, and its radical\ndoctrine finds the most solid of \u201cbacking.\u201d\n\nThe cremation society of New Orleans, La., was organized and\nincorporated on the 14th of February, 1884. It was established mainly\nthrough the efforts of Dr. Felix Formento. It was founded to ascertain\nand demonstrate, by scientific research and investigation, the\nimportance and necessity of incineration to society as the best method\nof disposing of the bodies of the dead; and in pursuance thereof to make\nknown to the people the dangers to public health resulting from the mode\nof burial generally practiced all over the country, more particularly\nthe special dangers to a city like New Orleans, from the peculiar method\nfollowed there; to demonstrate the advantage of cremation over all other\nmodes of disposing of the dead, in a sanitary, social, and economical\npoint of view; to remove all prejudices which there may be against the\nintroduction of cremation in the Crescent City, and to prove that\ncremation can be practiced without in the least wounding religious\nsentiment or susceptibilities; to obtain information in regard to the\ndifferent methods; to obtain, if necessary, proper legislative\nenactments on the subject of incineration, providing for the disposal of\nbodies, especially those whose death resulted from contagious or\ninfectious diseases, and especially in small-pox hospitals and other\npublic institutions; to procure necessary funds for the erection of a\ncrematorium in the city of New Orleans, and for its management under\nproper sanitary regulations.\n\nI regret to say that this society is no longer in existence. It went to\nthe dogs on account of the apathy of the people of New Orleans. It\nstarted out with good prospects of success; a square of ground was even\nbought near the city, and it was thought that a furnace for the burning\nof the dead would be built without delay. But gradually the interest in\ncremation lessened in the Crescent City and, in consequence, the society\nwent into liquidation.\n\nAt St. Louis, Mo., the propaganda in favor of cremation was carried on\nfor years by Dr. Luedeking, who died, and was reduced to ashes in the\nLancaster crematory. Thereupon the robes of an agitator for incineration\nwere donned by Mr. Oscar Hoefer of the _Westliche Post_, an influential\nGerman journal, and Rev. Jonas, both of whom kept the interest in\ncremation alive by delivering lectures on the subject and by\ncontributing articles to the daily press.\n\nThe Missouri Crematory Association was organized in the early part of\n1885 for the purpose of providing and establishing in the city of St.\nLouis, a suitable building and other facilities for the cremation of the\ndead, and for the proper preservation of their ashes in a columbarium.\nThe capital stock is $25,000, divided into 1000 shares of $25 each, ten\nper cent of which amount must be deposited by the subscriber immediately\nupon signing. Non-residents may become members of the association, and,\nfor the purpose of cremation, the bodies not only from this city or\nstate, but also from other states and locations may be received.\n\nFrom the beginning the association encountered a great deal of\nopposition. This was so strong that once the advisability of disbanding\nwas seriously discussed. All agreeing, however, that it was too great a\npity to abandon a project, for the execution of which there was enough\ncapital on hand, concluded not to disorganize and to make more strenuous\nefforts to overcome the prejudice prevailing in the city council and\namong the citizens.\n\nThis proved to be temporary, for a bill, prohibiting cremation within\nthe city limits, was repealed recently by both houses of the city\ncouncil of St. Louis, and only awaits the signature of the mayor to\nbecome a law.\n\nThe association bought no less than three lots. With the last one, not\nvery desirable in location, they are at length gaining success. When\nthey had bought the first lot, the building commission issued a building\npermit to them, for which they had to pay $5. After this, however, the\nmunicipal council enacted a law forbidding them to make use of that very\npermit, by prohibiting cremation. And the $5 were never returned to\nthem.\n\nThe association is in a prosperous condition, and will proceed at once,\nas soon as the present obstacles are removed, to carry out the objects\nfor which it was founded.\n\nThe First Cremation Society of San Francisco was incorporated on the\n17th of February, 1882, with 53 members. The directors of this society\nare: E. D. Wheeler, president; S. Heydenfelt, Jr., vice-president; E. A.\nDenicke, treasurer; Max Levy, recording secretary; George E. Voelkel,\ncorresponding secretary; H. A. Cobb, J. Bayer, M.D., F.\nSchuenemann-Pott, Dr. Wozencroft.\n\nThe law of the state of California provides only for the disposal of the\ndead by burial; therefore the society is now making the greatest efforts\nto induce the legislature to enact a law authorizing cremation, leaving\nthe people free to choose as to the disposal of their dead between the\ntwo methods.\n\nAt the last annual meeting of the society, the secretary stated that the\nsociety now numbers 113 members, of which six are ladies. One of the\noriginal members died, another left the society, which makes an increase\nin membership of 62 persons.\n\nThe San Francisco Cremation Company was incorporated on the 10th of\nSeptember, 1885, with 117 stockholders, representing 214 shares at $50.\nThe capital stock is $25,000, divided into 500 shares of $50 each. The\nobject of the company is to erect a suitable crematorium for the immense\npopulation of the great city at the Golden Gate.\n\nA lot has been purchased, and a crematorium will be erected capable of\nincinerating 40 bodies a day. The officers of this company are: Judge E.\nD. Wheeler, president; S. Henderfelt, Jr., vice-president; Max Levy,\ntemporary treasurer and recording secretary; George E. Voelkel,\ncorresponding secretary; C. W. Banks, General Cobb, E. O. Denicke, W. T.\nTrelan, Jr.\n\nA cremation company was organized at Los Angeles, Cal., in the early\npart of September, 1885, with 152 members, of which 12 are ladies. This\ncompany intends to build a crematorium as soon as $6000 have been\nsubscribed.\n\nCremation companies were also recently founded at Sacramento and\nStockton, Cal.\n\nThe Davenport (Iowa) Cremation Society was formed on the 17th of\nFebruary, 1885, and is still in existence. It counts about 120 members.\nIt was founded to \u201cenlighten the people on the subject of cremation.\u201d\nThe annual dues are $1.\n\nThe Northwestern Cremation Society of Davenport may be regarded as an\noffspring of the above. At a meeting held in April, 1885, a committee\nwas appointed to obtain subscriptions for the purpose of building a\ncrematorium. The committee reported May 6 that 100 shares, at $25 a\nshare, had been subscribed. At this meeting a committee was instructed\nto draft articles of incorporation, to be acted upon at a future\nmeeting; and another committee was appointed to ascertain the cost of\ncremation furnaces. The committee reported on June 30; and the\nstockholders then proceeded to elect the directors of the organization.\nOn the 3d of July, the board of directors elected the officers: H. H.\nAndresen, president; C. Stoltenberg, vice-president; F. G. Clausen,\nsecretary; F. T. Blunck, treasurer.\n\nThe capital stock of this company is $25,000, divided into 1000 shares\nof $25 each. The stock is payable at such time or times as the board of\ndirectors may determine. Four thousand three hundred and fifty dollars\nhave already been subscribed. A committee has been appointed to purchase\na lot, and the crematorium will probably be erected in the course of\nthis year.\n\nIn the spring of 1885, several citizens of San Antonio, Tex., circulated\na list which read as follows:\u2014\n\n\u201cWe, the undersigned, believing cremation the proper, most healthful,\nand most satisfactory method of disposing of our dead, do therefore sign\nour names hereto, with the expectation of forming ourselves into a\nsociety, the immediate object of which will be the erection of a\ncrematorium in this city.\u201d This circular was signed by 95 persons,\nladies as well as gentlemen.\n\nA meeting was then called. At this gathering, three committees were\nappointed: one to obtain a charter, one to prepare the constitution and\nby-laws, and one, finally, to get subscriptions.\n\nThe latter made the round of the city with the following agreement:\u2014\n\n\u201cWe, the undersigned, do hereby agree to become members of the cremation\nsociety now being formed in San Antonio, Bexar County, Tex. Each of the\nundersigned hereby agrees to pay 50 cents down, as a contribution to the\nfund for defraying the preliminary expense in forming the society.\u201d\n\nThis list was signed by 107 persons of both sexes, and $53 were\ncollected to pay for printing, etc.\n\nAfter this, another meeting was called in the latter part of May, and\nthe company organized permanently. The organization is called the \u201cSan\nAntonio Cremation Company,\u201d and has the following officers: E. B. Hadra,\nM.D., president; M. F. Corbett, vice-president; F. Groos, banker,\ntreasurer; A. Maverick, secretary.\n\nThe company was incorporated on the 18th of June, 1885. The amount of\nthe capital stock of this corporation is $50,000, divided into 5000\nshares, of the par value each of $10. So far, $1480 have been subscribed\nby 60 shareholders.\n\nAn acre of land was donated to the company by Mr. A. Maverick. It lies\neast of the city, on a hill, in the neighborhood of the cemeteries; but\nthe property lies east of them, so that the east and southeast trade\nwinds, which blow in San Antonio during the summer, reach the place\nfirst, and, consequently, do not fetch any bad odor from the graveyards.\n\nThe grounds will be beautifully laid out and planted with trees and\nshrubs in the near future. The view from this site is very fine. Toward\nthe north may be seen the government depot, with all its stately\nbuildings, about two miles off; toward the east and southeast is visible\na beautiful valley terminated in the distance by the picturesque blue\nmountains.\n\nIn the beginning the company was opposed by a Baptist preacher, who was\nsoon silenced by the following declaration in one of the daily\nnewspapers:\u2014\n\n\u201cI have no doubt but that my good old Christian friend is in this world\nfor doing good; but, by opposing cremation, he not only does harm to us\nall as long as he lives, but continues to injure us after he is dead and\nburied,\u201d etc.\n\nThe cremation movement in the state of Michigan was begun by the author\nof this volume immediately after he returned from the incineration of\nhis mother. By repeated newspaper articles I continued to awaken a\nlively interest in the reform at Detroit, and was supported in my\nundertaking by all the leading newspapers of the city; even a\npublication only a few days old declaring in favor of cremation. None\nbut the purely religious journals opposed the scheme. On the 7th of\nAugust, 1885, a meeting was held at a public hall in the City of the\nStraits, for the purpose of discussing the question of cremation and of\nforming a cremation society. The meeting was well attended, nearly 100\npersons being present. Dr. J. H. Carstens was chosen chairman, and Dr.\nH. Erichsen as secretary. The meeting was opened by Dr. J. H. Carstens.\nTwo plans, he said, had been proposed for the consideration of\ncremationists; one of these was the building of a crematory, the other,\nthe formation of a society, each member of which would pledge himself to\nprovide for the incineration of his body.\n\nI then made the address of the evening, giving the main arguments for\nincineration as opposed to earth-burial. My statements were followed by\nremarks of a similar nature, made by several of the gentlemen present.\n\nA motion was then made by Dr. J. E. Emerson, a prominent physician, that\nthe chairman appoint a committee of three to prepare a constitution and\nby-laws for the organization of a cremation society in Detroit; and\nthree gentlemen were appointed as such committee. The following\nagreement was thereupon prepared, and received 27 signatures:\u2014\n\n\u201cWe, the undersigned, do hereby unite ourselves into an association for\nthe purpose of providing facilities for carrying cremation into\noperation.\u201d Then the meeting adjourned, subject to the call of the\ncommittee.\n\nThe entire time of the committee was taken up by the formation of a\nstock company, which proposes the erection of a crematory. Influenced by\nflattering prospects, the promoters of the project had prepared by\nMessrs. Spiers and Rohns, architects, plans for a handsome crematorium.\nThe chart shows three divisions, viz.: the exterior of the building, the\nmain floor, and the basement.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  CREMATORIUM AT LANCASTER, PA.\n  (Exterior View.)\n]\n\nThe exterior view shows a handsome Romanesque structure of one story and\na basement. The main height is 16 feet, which rises in four gables on\nthe sides. A dome, 35 feet in circumference, attains a height of 65\nfeet. The drawing of the first floor shows an auditorium of octagon\nform. Back of the two rear niches are dressing-rooms for clergymen. Two\nhandsome altars on which to hold religious services will front from\nthese niches. Two rooms in the lower end of the building, on either side\nof the approach, are reserved for toilet rooms, one for ladies, and the\nother for gentlemen. In the center of the upper end of the auditorium is\nplaced a catafalque, resting on an elevator. After a body has been\nproperly prepared, it will be placed on this catafalque. When the\nreligious services are concluded, the body will be lowered to the\nbasement, and the opening in the floor closed with a slide trap.\n\nThe plan of the basement shows the same divisions as are made on the\nmain floor. On the left-hand side is a retiring-room. The front is\ndivided into four rooms. An ice cellar, a frigidarium, which is\ncalculated as a place in which to preserve bodies for several days; a\ncalidarium, a heated room in which bodies can be placed for several\ndays, to insure against cremation while in a state of trance; and a drug\nroom, where restoratives will be kept. The right-hand wing is designed\nfor a preparing room, from which the body is taken directly to one of\nthe furnaces. The furnaces, of which there will be two, are not yet\ndefinitely designed. It is supposed, however, that they will be after\nthe plan of the apparatuses at Lancaster, in Pennsylvania.\n\nIn the rear of the building it is proposed to build an addition, in the\nform of a three-quarter circle, which will be styled the columbarium. On\nthe inside this will be divided by three corridors, and the walls\ndivided into compartments for containing urns. There will be room in\nthis limited space of 40 \u00d7 30 feet, it is estimated, for holding the\nremains of 8000 bodies.\n\nThe building is designed to be built of Ionia red sandstone. Two immense\nflue chimneys, one for ventilation, the other for the furnaces, rising\nto a height of 75 feet, will give character to the building. The front\nwill be set off with a handsome porch supported by Roman pillars and\napproached by a half-circle road-bed, over which the hearse and\ncarriages can drive up to the main entrance.\n\nThe Michigan Cremation Association was organized at Detroit on the 31st\nof March, 1886. Dr. H. Erichsen was chosen temporary chairman, and Mr.\nA. N. Low secretary of the meeting. The documents of incorporation were\nsigned. On motion of Dr. J. H. Carstens, a board of directors was\nelected. At the close of the meeting the directors met, and elected the\nfollowing officers: President, James F. Noyes, M.D.; vice-president,\nHugo Erichsen, M.D.; secretary, Mr. A. N. Low; treasurer, Mr. M. W.\nField. The treasurer furnished a $10,000 bond, as required by the\noriginal agreement.\n\nThe subject of cremation was first agitated at Baltimore, Md., in the\nwinter of 1884, by Dr. G. W. Lehmann and Mr. J. R. Rennous, who were\nalso the originators of the cremation company in that city. In 1884, two\npublic meetings were held; but they were poorly attended, and the\nprospects gloomy in the extreme. But the two advocates of incineration\nworked steadily on until their efforts were crowned with success. The\nCremation Cemetery Company of Baltimore City was incorporated on the\n30th of March, 1885, with a capital stock of $15,000, divided into 600\nshares of the par value of $25 per share. At a meeting of the\nstockholders the following officers were elected: B. F. Horwitz,\npresident; J. R. Rennous, secretary; J. W. Middendorf, treasurer. The\nfounders of the organization were obliged to call it \u201cCremation Cemetery\nCo.,\u201d to comply with the general laws of Maryland in obtaining the\ncharter. $9000 worth of stock has already been taken up, and the company\nexpects to make such headway that it will be able to build soon.\n\nWhen the La Crosse (Wisconsin) Cremation Society was founded in the\nmiddle of October, 1885, with Mr. John Pamperin as president, it\nresolved upon a full investigation of the subject of incineration and\nappointed a committee to get reports from other societies. This\ncommittee having performed its work, a meeting of the committee was held\nat the residence of Mr. Gustav Carl, and these reports read, arranged,\nand discussed. The report from Detroit was particularly exhaustive.\nDavenport also furnished a report. The cremation society there had sent\na representative to Lancaster, Pa., who had examined the cremation\nfurnace there and had prepared a report, of which La Crosse was given\nthe benefit. The result of the conference was that a resolution was\nadopted calling for a meeting of stockholders at an early date for\npermanent organization. The La Crosse Cremation Association filed\narticles of incorporation with the secretary of state on the 26th of\nNovember, 1885. The purpose of the association is to dispose of human\nbodies after death, by cremation, and it shall continue its business for\n20 years, unless the holders of two-thirds of the stock consent to the\ndissolution of the association. Mr. J. Pamperin is the president, Mr. G.\nCarl, secretary, and Mr. J. Ulrich the treasurer of the association. A\nperson wishing to become a member of this association may subscribe for\none or more shares of $25 each (not exceeding 50 shares) of the capital\nstock of the association, which is limited to $8000. The shares so\nsubscribed shall be paid in instalments. The first instalment must be\npaid at the time of subscription, and the balance in instalments, as\ncalled for by the directors, within one year thereafter; but none shall\nbe called for until three months after the other. If any of the\nsubscribers should die before the projected crematorium has been\nerected, and the deceased should have expressed a wish to have his body\ncremated, and provision is made by him or his family for the expenses\nincident thereto, the officers of the society shall see that his will in\nthis respect be carried out at the nearest convenient crematory.\n\nThe Kentucky Cremation Society, at Louisville, which was organized in\nthe fall of 1886, has been steadily growing, and now counts about 70\nmembers. The subscribed capital is sufficient to buy a lot and commence\nbuilding, and the society therefore hopes to have a crematory ready\nduring next year.\n\nA license was issued on Jan. 2, 1886, to William Christian, of the\nChicago _Tribune_, Elmer Atkinson, a lawyer, and David Hamilton, a real\nestate dealer, to build a crematory for the incineration of human\nbodies, near Chicago, Illinois. The capital of the company which they\nhave organized, and which is called the \u201cChicago and Cook County\nCremation Company,\u201d is $40,000.\n\nOn April 6, 1886, Dr. O. W. Carlson read a paper advocating cremation,\nbefore the Academy of Medicine, at Milwaukee, Wis. At the close of the\naddress the subject was discussed at some length by those present, and\nsome very interesting facts were brought out. A proposition was made\nthat the Academy of Medicine found a cremation society at Milwaukee,\nand, though no action in the matter was taken at the time, it is\nprobable that steps will be taken by the members with that object in\nview.\n\nLately a cremation society was organized at Milwaukee, that has already\nsecured a desirable site upon a local cemetery, and intends to erect a\ncrematorium as soon as the necessary funds are obtained.\n\nIt is proposed to build a crematory at Toronto, Canada. The pastors of\nthe leading churches, upon being interviewed, almost unanimously\nexpressed their opposition to cremation.\n\nThe newspapers state that a crematory will be erected at Atlanta, Ga.\n\nThis volume would not be complete without the mention of the _Modern\nCrematist_, a monthly journal devoted to the interests of incineration,\nand published by Dr. M. L. Davis of Lancaster, Pa. The _Neue Flamme_, a\nworthy German contemporary, is published at Berlin.\n\nMy native country was always eager to embrace deserving reforms; there\nis no reason why it should not adopt the superior system of\nincineration. Nay, I think it will become the standard-bearer of this\nsanitary reformation, and march in the avant-guard of this signal\nprogress. The subject of incineration is already awakening much interest\namong us, as is evinced by a recent sermon of that eminent New York\ndivine, Rev. Heber Newton, who spoke strongly in favor of the\nsubstitution of cremation for sepulture. He said the mode of disposing\nof the dead human body was only a form, and that mode was best which was\nbest for the living. In England, only a few years ago, a dignitary of\nthe national church dared to assert that cremation endangered the belief\nin the life to come. He knew, or ought to have known, that the same\nprocess of combustion is surely carried on, whether in the ground or in\nthe crematory, and that if dissolution of the body imperiled the true\ndoctrine of resurrection, then that doctrine was long ago hopelessly\nlost. These words from the lips of a famous American preacher are\ncertainly proof that the antagonism of the clergy to cremation is\nwaning.\n\nThere are other signs of approaching day. I refer to the constant\ndiscussion of incineration in the columns of the daily press, and to the\nfact that cremation was lately brought to the attention of the American\nMedical Association, while it met at St. Louis, Mo., on the 6th of May.\nThe report of a special committee, appointed the year before, was read\nby its chairman, Dr. J. M. Keller, of Arkansas. The committee moved to\namend the original resolution so as to read:\u2014\n\n_Resolved_, That cremation or incineration of the dead has become a\nsanitary necessity in populous cities, and that the Association advises\nits adoption.\n\nThe Association adopted the amendment by a vote of 159 to 106.\n\nCremation was also endorsed by the American Public Health Association at\nits last meeting.\n\nI rejoice at the thought that most writers on the momentous subject of\nincineration were medical men. Who, indeed, would be better qualified\nfor such a task than the man who may daily witness the pernicious effect\nwhich the dead exercise over the living.\n\nThose who are friends of the reform should come out openly in its favor.\nCrematists who are on the fence, or who, perhaps, hide back of it, might\njust as well keep out of the combat between cremation and interment\naltogether; we have no use for them. If you believe in cremation,\ncandidly say so, and tell your friends _why_ you believe in it. Moral\ncowards do a just cause more harm than good. Those who have tried to\npropagate the idea of cremation in an underhand way have invariably\nfailed; the public must be brought face to face with the question:\ncremation or burial? To spread the reform in this country, I hope to\nsee, before long, the birth of an American cremation association, to be\ncomposed of delegates from the various cremation societies of the United\nStates. There is already a sufficient number of societies for the\nformation of a vigorous organization of the kind, that would undoubtedly\naid greatly the progress of the reform.\n\nThis, then, finishes what I had to say about a hygienic reform that will\nbe the leading one in the latter part of the nineteenth century. There\nwill be a long and warm controversy before the people will generally\nabandon a custom of such antiquity as earth-burial; but cremation will\nsupersede it in the end. The present style of burial does not do any one\nany good. On the contrary, it destroys hundreds, perhaps thousands, of\nlives every year. A good many deaths due to graveyard gases or water\ncontamination by cemetery effluvia escape observation, since the real\ncause of the decease is seldom suspected. Incineration, however, does\nnobody any harm, and is in accord with the humane and progressive spirit\nof the age. Disadvantages it has none; and with the many arguments in\nits favor, it cannot fail to come out of the battle between torch and\nspade victorious in every respect. Moreover, it has the generous support\nof the scientists, physicians, and sanitarians of the times, which alone\nassures success.\n\nI close this volume with a prediction which will soon be realized,\nnamely, that cremation will make more progress in the United States than\nin any other country of the world. Indeed, the progression will be so\nrapid that old Europe will open its eyes wide in blank astonishment, and\nwonder how it is possible. When we Americans once perceive the\nadvantages and superiority of a reformation, we do not hesitate long to\nadopt it; and the time will come when incineration will be customary in\nthe Union, and interment obsolete.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                          TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES\n\n\n 1. Changed \u2018during\u2019 to \u2018during their\u2019 on p. 175.\n 2. Silently corrected typographical errors.\n 3. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.\n 4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.\n 5. Subscripts are denoted by an underscore before a series of\n      subscripted characters enclosed in curly braces, e.g. H_{2}O.","title":"The cremation of the dead: considered from an aesthetic, sanitary, religious, historical, medico-legal, and economical standpoint","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":69377}