7 X 5 
1882.] The Cremation Question . 
or the vat-waste of the alkali manufacturer. We forget that 
the cemetery — though less unsightly than the plots of land 
to which I have been referring — is, like them, simply a place 
for depositing refuse-matter, — a refuse, too, which modern 
sentiment forbids us to think of utilising. Such notions 
have not always prevailed, or there would be no space on 
the earth available. But I believe if a burial-ground had 
been in disuse for five centuries its restoration to agricultural 
purposes would be regarded by many as “ desecration.” Few 
persons reflect what will be the appearance of the neigh- 
bourhood of London in another century. By that time, if 
no fundamental change occurs, burial-room will have been 
found and provided for more than twelve million human 
bodies ! 
Some will advise to meet both the sanitary difficulty and 
the lack of space by going further afield. They would esta- 
blish gigantic cemeteries at a distance of 20 or 30 miles 
from the great city, and convey the dead to their long home 
by railway. There are not a few grave objections to this 
proposal,, for even greater distances from London the land 
along the principal lines of railway has become populous 
and valuable. Sufficiently large vacant spaces could not 
readily be found without incommoding the rural towns and 
villages. The expense of funerals, which already proves a 
sore burden to the wage class and to no small portion of the 
middle classes, would be notably increased. And in case of 
infectious diseases, what could be more dangerous and more 
reprehensible than to take the dead to a busy railway- 
station ? All such schemes as special lines of rail, or even 
special dead-trains and funeral-stations, would not merely 
still more enhance the cost of interment, but would involve 
a shock to the feelings of all concerned. The funeral train, 
with its cargo of (say) fifty coffins and as many accompanying 
parties of mourners, steaming out into the country, would 
have about it nothing of the poetry of grief. Let us picture 
the unloading scene at the terminus ! 
From whatever point of view we regard the disposal of 
the dead, a total change of our existing system is pressed 
upon us. We cannot continue in our present track. It is 
surely well to look the only alternative boldly in the face, 
and consider what objections can be urged against cremation 
— the disposal of the dead by fire. 
The most serious argument that can be offered is, perhaps, 
that cremation would give a prospeCt of impunity to poisoners 
by annihilating the only decisive evidence of their crime. 
But this difficulty would be overcome by an expedient which 
3 A2 
