Cremation. j 



'only in the minds of those who have scarcely contemplated the 

 subject. In such minds it seems associated with the fagot, the 



: funeral pyre and the rude processes of the ancients. In imagina- 

 tion the dead body is still endowed with sensation, and in the 



..crematorium are kindled anew the fires of the inquisition. The 

 modern method accomplished by suitable apparatus has so little 

 similarity to those heretofore practiced as to constitute it a very dif- 

 ferent process. The latter is conducted with all due regard to the 

 most tender sensibilities of the friends of the deceased, and though 



• carried on in the midst of a densely populated neighborhood, and 

 in the presence oi such spectators as may be permitted to witness 

 :it, there is nothing in it to shock or offend the senses. 



The body enveloped in a sheet saturated with a solution of 



-alum or asbestos is placed by delicately acting machinery in a 



.retort at white heat — 2000 to 2500 Fahrenheit — and is quickly 



and beautifully diffused in the air without visible flame or vapor, 



• all gases being consumed in the retort. 



Contemplate for a moment the beauty of this transformation 

 compared with the stages of slow decay, through which the buried 

 body is compelled to pass in order to reach the same end,through 

 oxidation, which, in either case, is a combustion by which it is 

 returned "earth to earth, ashes to ashes and dust to dust." In 

 the latter case we contemplate the forms of loved ones presenting 

 spectacles too shocking to desire to witness or to permit the 

 thoughts to dwell upon; the ghastly remains of poor mortality 

 being even more repulsive by contrast with the pomp of funeral 

 pageant and the gaudy trappings of the grave. 



There is some force, it is admitted, in the objection, the only 

 plausible one to cremation, that it would destroy evidences of 

 crime which might be obtained by the exhumation of bodies. 

 But instances are so rare of conviction of criminals brought about 

 by evidence thus obtained that the preservation of bodies in the 

 earth with their dangers to the living would hardly be justifiable 

 on that account. In a portion of the instances in which poison 

 has been detected in the exhumed body, it was impossible to 

 determine whether it had been introduced into it before death or 

 after it, to thwart the ends of justice. Notwithstanding official 

 vigilance and the rigid application of legal processes, a very large 

 proportion of the criminals of our country go unwhipped of jus- 

 tice. It were better that a few more should escape the penalty 

 due to their crimes than that thousands of innocent children 

 should perish. 



Death should be robbed of all its terrors. The shabbiest of 

 fears that weigh upon the minds of many who approach the 

 dark valley are those of premature burial and body snatching. 

 They may be dissipated as perfectly as can the body be. 



