292 CREMATION AS A SANITARY MEASURE. 



always be in perfect order and not overtaxed. The addi- 

 tional bed, for which plans and specifications have been 

 prepared, which is to be built as soon as possible, will 

 double the present area, giving us a total of one and 

 one-third acres, and afford great relief ; but, to render 

 them complete, both the old and the new should be 

 covered. Algae can grow just as rapidly on two beds as 

 on one, and storm and frost can act on both at the same 

 time. 



The ablest authorities agree that, in this climate, to 

 obtain best results at all seasons, filter beds should be 

 covered and our experience unmistakably leads to the 

 same conclusion. 



MARCH 31, 1896— SIXTH REGULAR MEETING.. 



Chairman Ward presiding, and about fifty members 

 and guests present. Dr. J. W. Poucher presented the 

 following paper on : 



CREMATION AS A SANITARY MEASURE. 



Time and experience test the works of man and the 

 highway of progress is strewn with the wreckage of 

 countless inventions, and upon the wrecks of the knowl- 

 edges of thousands of years the search light of chemistry 

 and microscopy has builded up the new science of Biol- 

 ogy that has taught us to look far down into the very 

 proximate principles of our organism for the underlying 

 causes of disease. 



I said upon the wreck of the knowledges of thousands 

 of years but I meant upon the wreck of customs, preju- 

 dices, dogmas and superstitions. These have one by 

 one given way before the truths of science. But there is 

 one custom still remaining with us, that of earth burial, 

 which, before the Christian era, had become obsolete but 

 was revived through the superstitious belief of the early 



230 



