8io THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



though in early ages they buried their dead. Cremation became 

 general at the end of the republic, i. e., shortly before the birth 

 of Christ. Under the emperors it was almost universal, but it 

 gradually disappeared as Christianity gained sway. The Roman 

 burial rites were very rigorous and voluminous. The ceremonial 

 of a modern funeral is as nothing compared with the Roman 

 ceremonial. There were the musicians, the players, the imitator 

 (who personated the dead), the images of the deceased, the train 

 of slaves and freedmen, the relatives tearing their garments and 

 covering themselves with dust, the funeral oration, and the final 

 obsequies at the pyre. This pyre was built in the form of an 

 altar of four sides. On it was placed the corpse upon a couch. 

 The eyes of the deceased were opened, the near relatives kissed 

 the body with tears ; and then, turning away their faces, they 

 applied the torch, while uj^on the burning mass were cast per- 

 fumes of myrrh and cassia, the clothes and ornaments of the 

 dead, and offerings of various kinds. At an officer's funeral the 

 soldiers made a circuit three times round the pyre, the ensigns 

 reversed, the trumpets braying, and the weapons clashing. If he 

 had been very popular, the soldiers cast their weapons upon the 

 burning mass as loving offerings to their dead commander. The 

 ashes were then gathered and put into an urn. Thus preserved, 

 they were deposited in one of those tombs which still adorn the 

 stately roads of Rome. Often lamps were kept perpetually burn- 

 ing in the tomb, while flowers and chaplets were brought thither, 

 that the dead might be reminded of the loving memory of the 

 living. 



This mention of the burning of the body in ancient times leads 

 naturally to the question of cremation, which is attracting atten- 

 tion to-day, not so much in lands of sparse population as in lands 

 such as England, Belgium, and Italy, where the population is 

 dense and the available space small. In the large cities of such 

 lands, cities which have been populous for hundreds of years, it is 

 not a matter of mere sentiment ; it is a matter of almost life and 

 death to the inhabitants. And few persons will, I think, deny 

 that cremation will be eventually adopted in place of earth-burial. 

 This on grounds which will suggest themselves to all. It was, in 

 fact, Christianity that caused the reintroduction of earth-burial, . 

 for Christianity taught the resurrection of the body. This is the 

 reason why the Churches have always opposed cremation. But 

 it is seen now, apart from any theological argument, that there 

 can not be a bodily resurrection, as the same particles of matter 

 form, in the course of time, parts of various bodies, decaying 

 nature ever springing up to blooming life. 



The objects of interest lying about the funeral pyres and 

 burial mounds of the human race in its long, long march are so 



