598 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



of foreign bones are rendered absolutely necessary by the hoarding 

 of our own some six feet below the surface. The former we acquire 

 at a large cost for the original purchase and for freight. The latter 

 we place, not in the upper soil where they would be utilized, but in 

 the lower soil, where they are not merely useless, but where they often 

 mingle with and pollute the streams which furnish our tables. And, 

 in order to effect this absurd, if not wicked result, we incur a lavish 

 expenditure ! I refer, of course, to the enormous sums which are 

 wasted in effecting burial according to our present custom, a part of 

 the question which can by no means be passed over. For the funeral 

 rites of the 80,000 in London last year, let a mean cost of ten pounds 

 per head be accepted as an estimate which certainly does not err on 

 the side of excess. 1 Eight hundred thousand pounds must therefore 

 be added as absolute loss, to the costs already incurred in the main- 

 tenance of the system. Thus we pay every way and doubly for our 

 folly. 



What, then, is it proposed to substitute for this custom of burial ? 

 The answer is easy and simple. Do that which is done in all good 

 work of every kind — follow Nature's indication, and do the work she 

 does, but do it better and more rapidly. For example, in the human 

 body she sometimes throws off a diseased portion in order to save 

 life, by slow and clumsy efforts, it is true, and productive of much 

 suffering ; the surgeon performs the same task more rapidly and bet- 

 ter, follows her lead, and improves on it. Nature's many agents, 

 laden with power, the overaction of which is harmful, we cannot stop, 

 but we tame, guide, and make them our most profitable servants. So 

 here, also, let us follow her. The naturally slow and disagreeable 

 process of decomposition which we have made by one mode of treat- 

 ment infinitely more slow and not less repulsive, we can, by another 

 mode of treatment, greatly shorten, and accomplish without offense to 

 the living. What in this particular matter is naturally the work of 

 weeks or months, can be perfectly done in an hour or two. 



The problem to be worked is : Given a dead body, to resolve it 

 into carbonic acid, water, and ammonia, and the mineral elements, 

 rapidly, safely, and not unpleasantly. 



The answer may be practically supplied in a properly-constructed 

 furnace. The gases can be driven off without offensive odor — the 



1 Items comprised in the calculation : 



1. Cost of shroud, coffin, labor of digging a grave — essential now in all burials. 



2. Cost of funeral-carriages, horses, trappings, and accoutrements. 

 Ornamental coffins in wood and metal. 



Vaults and monumental art — more or less employed in all funerals above the rank of 

 pauper. 



The cost of simple modes of transit is not included in the calculation, because neces- 

 sary in any case, whatever the destination of the body. The above-named items are only 

 necessary in the case of interment in a grave ; and not one would be required, for ex- 

 ample, in the case of cremation, or burning of the body. 



