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In the early part of the Stone Age, when man gave up his cave to live in 

 tents, we find the caves being used as burial places for the dead. Similar 

 to the cave we get Tomb Burials, and many of these tombs have been 

 found in Algeria, Poland, and France, as well as in Devonshire. Later we 

 find the common mode of sepulture was that of "Dolmens." The simplest 

 form of Dolmen was that of three or four upright slabs of stone fixed in 

 the ground, with another laid on the top of them. The body was then 

 placed inside in a sitting position, the whole was then covered over with 

 earth, making what is known as a Dolmen or Funereal Mound. These 

 Dolmens can be seen from the Baltic to Morocco, also in Asia and South 

 America. They are common in England and France, and their use lasted 

 till the Bronze Period. 

 Dolmens simply covered over with stone were known as "Cairns." 

 "What is known as " Barrows " was simply an earth mound piled over a stone 

 chamber, with a passage leading into the centre, so that the body could be 

 seen or the tomb cleansed. While Dol mens and Barrows were common in the 

 first half of the Bronze Period, burning was practised to a large extent in 

 the second half. But as civilisation progressed, strange to say, cremation 

 was given up, and we meet with, in the early part of the Iron Age, earth 

 burial. This earth burial took the place of cremation it is said because 

 of the expense of fuel, and partly because of the increased power of man in 

 using efficient tools. From whatever cause, it became common in Europe 

 several centuries before the Christian era. Since then it has been practised 

 by all Christian people, in fact any other mode of disposing of the dead 

 was, for a time, looked upon as pagan. The most persistent practisers of 

 this method are the Chinese. They have never carried out any other 

 method, and no nation of people pays greater respect to the dead than the 

 Chinese ; their idea being that unless the body lies comfortably in the 

 grave that misfortune will follow the family, This is the secret why the 

 celestial is so anxious in life that his bones should be sent back to lie with 

 his forefathers in the Flowery Land from the many and different parts of 

 the world where he may have migrated to. 



The Jews, like the Chinese, have always practised burial, first in tombs 

 and then in graves. Men of wealth bought tombs, while the poor were 

 buried where they died in their wauderings. Criminals and unclean things 

 w T ere thrown into the fire. Of recent years the Jews in the East End of 

 London have adopted a method of half-and-half cremation, viz., by adding 

 quicklime or caustic soda to the body. This is scarcely ever likely to 

 become common. 



As you know, the ancient Eg} T ptians had a dread of decay, believing that 

 the soul returned to the body in about 3,000 years, aud hence they practised 

 embalming. This process of embalming was confined to the Egyptians 

 except iu the case of Jacob and his son Joseph. We are told that "Joseph 

 commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father, and the 

 physicians embalmed Israel," and when Joseph died "they embalmed him 

 and he w r as put in a coffin in Egypt." Some have advocated embalming at 

 the present time, but for what purpose ? — there is no object in keeping from 

 Nature her own, and what she insists upon, whether we return it to her in 

 an hour, a year, or 1,000 years. Besides, embalment could only be carried 

 out in a dry hot climate such as Egypt is, and it is questionable even if 

 the Egyptians would have cherished the idea of having a "mummy" of 

 their beloved friend placed in the Hobart Museum — on exhibition, even to 

 satisfy our indefatigable curator. The last process which I will mention 

 before speaking of cremation, is one practised by the ancient Peruvians 

 and I believe also by some of the South Australian tribes, and is known as 

 "Desiccation." The body is dried in the sun, then bandaged, and the 

 saltpetre in the ground completes the process with the Peruvians, while 

 the South Australian hangs up the body on the limb of a tree. It was 

 some such process as this that enabled the remains of that great and good 



