REVIEW. 
45 
those which cover the ashes of the great and mighty, in our old cathedrals ; 
the openings being filled with prepared plate glass. Within this — a suffi- 
cient space intervening — is an inner shrine, covered with bright non- 
radiating metal, and within this again is a covered sarcophagus of tempered 
fire-clay, with one or more longitudinal slits near the top, extending its 
whole length. As soon as the body is deposited therein, sheets of flame at 
an immensely high temperature rush through the long apertures from end 
to end, and acting as a combination of a modified oxjhydrogen blowpipe, 
with the reverberatory furnace, utterly and completely consume and decom- 
pose the body, in an incredibly short space of time ; even the large quantity 
of water it contains is decomposed by the extreme heat, and its elements, 
instead of retarding, aid combustion, as is the case in fierce conflagrations. 
The gaseous products of combustion are conveyed away by flues, and means 
being adopted to consume anything like smoke, all that is observed from 
the outside, is occasionally a quivering, transparent ether, floating away from 
the high steeple to mingle with the atmosphere. 
“ At each end of the sarcophagus is a closely fitting fireproof door, that 
furthest from the chapel entrance communicating with a chamber which 
projects into the chapel, and adjoins the end of the shrine. Here are the 
attendants who, unseen, conduct the operation. The door at the other 
end of the sarcophagus, with a corresponding opening in the inner and outer 
shrine, is exactly opposite a slab of marble, on which the coffin is deposited 
when brought into the chapel. The funeral service then commences, ac- 
cording to any form decided on. At an appointed signal, the end of the 
coffin, which is placed just within the opening in the shrine, is removed, 
and the body is drawn rapidly, but gently, and without exposure, into the 
sarcophagus ; the sides of the coffin, constructed for the purpose, collapse, 
and the wooden box is removed to be burned elsewhere. 
“ Meanwhile, the body is committed to the flames to be consumed, and 
the words, ‘ Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,’ may be appropriately used. 
The organ peals forth a solemn strain, and a hymn or requiem for the dead 
is sung. In a few minutes, or even seconds, and without any perceptible 
noise or commotion, all is over, and nothing but a few pounds or ounces of 
light ash remains. This is carefully collected by the attendants in the ad- 
joining chamber ; a door, communicating with the chapel, is thrown open, 
and the relic, enclosed in a vase of glass, or other material, is brought in 
and placed before the mourners, to be finally enshrined in the funeral urn of 
marble, alabaster, stone, or metal. 
“ Then may they follow it to its last resting place, either within a niche 
or alcove in a gallery built for the purpose, and leading from the chapel ; 
or, if preferred, on a pedestal in the adjoining grounds.” 
That the substitution of burning for burying the dead, 
especially in or near large cities, would be of incalculable 
benefit to the general health of the community at large is 
held by our author as indisputable ; and he closes his 
pamphlet with the following apposite quotation from Sir 
Thomas Brown : “ J Tis all one where we lye, or what be- 
comes of our bodies after we are dead, ready to be anything in 
the extasie of being ever ” 
