Art. XV. — Cremation and Burial in relation to Death 

 Certification. 



By H. K. RusDEN. 



[Eead 9tli August, 189i.J 



It has l)een alleged that the success of an occasional exhuma- 

 tion and autopsy '\\\ the detection of poisoning, constitutes an 

 argument against cremation, and I consider it important that the 

 fallacy of that statement should be thoroughly exposed. Such 

 cases, otherwise, have the unfortunate effect of producing an 

 impression that ^vhile such resources exist, there is ample security 

 against poisoning, which is very far from heing the case ; and 

 that impression operates simply as a delusion and a snare. For 

 it is entirely overlooked that such expedients are but clumsy and 

 inadequate attempts to atone for previous neglect. When 

 delayed for but a limited period they fail to detect all but prac- 

 tically three metallic poisons — ai-senic, antimony, and mercury ; 

 as the numerous vegetable poisons soon disappear ; and, in any 

 case, a deferred autopsy is a disgusting and defective resource. 

 No one but an utterly ignorant person would use arsenic, as it is 

 known to remain for years. But prevention is always far better 

 than cure, and a sufficient examination should always be made 

 before decomposition and burial. Not only would the majority of 

 poisons disappear by delay, but it is obviously quite possible that 

 the body itself might be removed after burial, and exan>ination be 

 so prevented. 



Cremation as practised in Europe, and proposed here, involves 

 far less risk of impunity for poisoners, than exists under the 

 present system of burial. At Milan, for instance, the parents of 

 a deceased child had obtained all the certificates required for its 

 burial, before it occurred to them to have it cremated. The 

 stricter examinations, however, required for cremation, demon- 

 strated the fact that the child had been poisoned, accidentally, by 

 sweetmeats containing copper. This significant fact not only 

 proved the superiority of the checks used in cremation, Ijut it 



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