DR. J. TV. POUCHER. 305 



teachings of science prevailed. To-day the use of cre- 

 mation is not only optional throughout the kingdom, 

 but the authorities at Lisbon have decreed that it should 

 be compulsory in times of epidemics. Cremation so- 

 cieties are now numerous in Switzerland, Holland, Den- 

 mark, but has made greater progress in Japan, where 

 more than half the dead are now cremated. 



In the United States the first cremation took place in 

 1876, the body being that of the Baron de Palm in the 

 private crematorium of Dr. LeMoyne. The second 

 crematory was built at Lancaster, Pa., in 1884, the fur- 

 naces being designed by Dr. M. L. Davis. During the 

 next year, 1885, the crematories at Bufifalo and Fresh 

 Pond, Long Island, were built, and during the next six 

 years seventeen crematories were built throughout this 

 country. In September, 1883, the grand jury of New 

 Orleans recommended on sanitary grounds that a crema- 

 tory should be established in tbat city for the burning of 

 bodies who die of contagious diseases. The Legislature 

 of Massachusetts, in 1885, passed an act authorizing the 

 formation of corporations for the purpose of cremating 

 the bodies of the dead. New York was, however, the first 

 state to authorize the erection of a crematory. In 1888 

 the Legislature appropriated $20,000 for the building and 

 equipping of a crematory on Swinburne Island, for the 

 use of the commissioners of quarantine, and the crema- 

 tion of 300 bodies already buried at Seguin s Point. 

 The crematory in Oakwood Cemetery, Troy, was built in 

 1889 and is one of the finest buildings of its kind in the 

 world. It is an imposing and costly structure, built of 

 Westerly granite in Romanesque style, and was erected 

 by Mr. and Mrs. VVm. S. Earl as a memorial to their son, 

 the late Gardiner Earl. The building is 136 feet long, 70 

 feet wide and has a tower 90 feet in height. On the 

 whole it is a model structure. 



A few years ago a pamphlet was published, giving the 



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