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Sir Henry Thompson, in 1874, ventilated the subject in the 

 "Contemporary Review." He was answered by Dr. Holland, whom 

 he demolished in a second paper. As a result of Sir H. Thompson's 

 paper, a Cremation Society was established. The Cremation 

 Society built a furnace, and burnt a horse in it, but then the 

 wrath of the late Home Secretary was aroused, and he warned 

 the members to be careful what they were doing, or he would 

 run a BiU through Parliament which would make the practice 

 on which there is no law, distinctly illegal. And so the subject 

 slept again. Now there seem to be signs of a re-awakening 

 of intci'ost in the subject, and if I can do any tiling to kindle 

 that interest, I shall feel that I am doing a good work. 



I have headed my paper, "Cremation in its Social and 

 Sanitary Aspects." I think that perhaps the sanitary should 

 come before the social aspects, bi;t I have been, perhaps, unduly 

 afraid of the utilitarian point of view. For if Sir Henry 

 Thompson made any mistake in his paper, it was in the terribly 

 titilitarian tone he took. To suggest, as he did, that in place 

 of importing bones for the purpose of enriching the soil, at a 

 cost of some £ 1,000,000 per annum, we should save our money 

 Ijy using our friends for this purpose, was hardly the way to catch 

 the ear of the British public. The British public is practical 

 enough, but it is also very sentimental. It has no hesitation 

 in turning the loveliest river into a common sewer, but you can 

 get any amount of votes in Parliament to prevent a lake being 

 turned into a reservoir. Any appeal to utilitarianism, though 

 made, as Sir H. Thompson's was, from a purely scientific point 

 of view (for his purpose was to show, that by adopting his plan 

 we were doing at once what Nature did more slowly), any appeal 

 to utilitarianism shocks people. 



But there are social instincts which are worthy of consideration 

 I take, first, the preservation of the remains of those dear to one. 

 I have been a cremationist from my youth, and I was driven 

 to think of it from sentimental reasons before I knew anything 

 of the sanitary aspect of the question. I had the misfortune 

 to lose four very near relations; two of whom lie in France, 

 one at Portsmouth, and one at Lima. It was always to me a 



