308 CREMATION AS A SANITARY MEASURE. 



brought home from Japan to the State of New York. It 

 is my desire and command that when I die my body 

 shall be cremated. I prefer a 'fiery chariot' to being 

 eaten by worms." 



Mrs. Lippincott (Grace Greenwood) : " Surely it is the 

 simplest, the surest, purest manner of rendering 'ashes 

 to ashes,' of giving back our mortal part to the immortal 

 elements." 



Kate Field : " Orematiou is not only the healthiest and 

 cleanest, but the most poetical way of disposing of 

 the dead. Whoever prefers loathsome worms to ashes 

 possesses a strange imagination." 



Mme. Alice D. Le Plongeon, Brooklyn: "I am most 

 decidedly in favor of burning the dead, and can not 

 comprehend why so many object to it. The terrible 

 diseases that from time to time cast communities of 

 human beings into an abyss of grief would lose their 

 hold in a short time if the victims were promptly con- 

 signed to the purifying action of the flames. What 

 possible good can there be in burning clothes and furni- 

 ture if the infected flesh be allowed to remain in exist- 

 ence ? In 1868 there was a dreadful epidemic of yellow 

 fever in Lima, Peru, as many as three hundred patients 

 dying each day. From the beginning Dr. Le Plongeon, 

 then praeticing in that city, urged the cremation of the 

 dead. It was impossible to bring the public mind to 

 contemplate such a course. Finally an arrangement was 

 made to keep large fires on the trenches tilled with 

 corpses, public attention not being drawn to the fact. 

 At once the plague abated, and soon died out. tiv 



' 'Do mourners ever reflect what a disgusting sight wonld 

 meet their gaze if the flower-laden sod was lifted from 

 the remains of their beloved ones ? The thought is ter- 

 rible ! To my mind, rapid incineration rids death of half 

 its horror. The sacred frame that has been so long 

 inhabited by the dear friend is wafted to the pure 



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