PARK AND C E M E T E R F. 
450 
to 1,800 degs, F.) being quite suf- 
ficient to prevent any unconsumed 
gases escaping. 
The chimneys at the Leeds and . 
Bradford Crematoria are concealed 
inside towers and are quite invisible. 
This is certainly a desideratum. A 
crematorium ought not to suggest 
even remotely an ordinary refuse de- 
structor. 
(e) The Columbarium. — It is usual 
to make some provision for storing 
the ashes of the dead, where this is 
desired. Where a separate building 
or chamber for this purpose (called 
a columbarium, from the pigeon-hole 
appearance of the niches or recep- 
tacles) is not provided, the walls of 
the chapel may be fitted up with 
niches as required. This course is 
being adopted at Leicester, Bradford 
and elsewhere. At the Liverpool 
Crematorium the columbarium is in 
the basement under the chapel with 
direct access from it. The niches 
should be arranged to hold from 1 to 
5 urns, so that family ashes can, if 
desired, be stored together. The 
urns in use for holding the ashes 
are usuall}^ of what is known as the 
“Box” shape, being 16 in. by 8 in. 
by 8 in. high. 
The fronts of the niches should be 
closed with slabs of glass, marble or 
other material. 
mation averages 4 or 5 lbs., and con- 
sists of whitish, gritty powder mixed 
with fragments of incinerated bone, 
and absolutely devoid of organic mat- 
ter. Personally, I consider the best 
method of disposing of these is to 
bury them, and it is scarcely neces- 
sary to point out that the amount of 
ground required for this purpose is 
trifling as compared with that re- 
quired for inhumation. But with 
many, the practice of storing the 
ashes in urns placed in niches finds 
favor, and hence the need for colum- 
baria. 
(f) Mortuary. — The necessity for a 
small mortuary in which bodies may 
remain prior to cremation is obvious, 
though, as it will only be occasion- 
ally required, no great expense over 
this item need be incurred. 
(g) Vestry, Waiting Room, Offices, 
Etc. — A room for the officiating min- 
ister, and a waiting-room for friends 
and others remaining during the 
progress of cremation, are also desir- 
able. 
Before any cremation can be al- 
lowed in England the following for- 
malities must be complied with; — 
(1) The death must have been 
duly registered. 
(2) Application must have been 
made on a prescribed form, and the 
particulars duly confirmed by stat- 
utory declaration (before a Justice 
of the Peace or Commissioner of 
Oaths) by an executor or near rela- 
tive. 
(3) Two medical certificates must 
be obtained, one from the medical 
man in attendance during the last ill- 
ness, and the second — the confirma- 
tory certificate — from a medical man 
who has personally investigated the 
cause of death. The medical man who 
gives this second certificate must be 
of at least five years’ standing, and 
must hold some recognized public 
appointment, such as medical officer 
of health, police surgeon, or honor- 
ary physician or surgeon to a hos- 
pital. 
Every cremation authority must 
appoint a medical referee, whose duty 
it is to examine all certificates and 
see that all the necessary formalities 
have been duly complied with, and 
no cremation may take place except 
upon his written authority. He has 
power to make whatever inquiries he 
thinks proper. 
The precautions taken, and the for- 
malities to be gone through before 
a cremation can take place, are such 
that the likelihood of cremation be- 
ing resorted to as a means of con- 
cealing the evidence of foul play is 
exceedingly remote. 
NEW CEMETERY ENTRANCE 
Perhaps the finest columbarium in 
the world is that at San Francisco. 
It is a separate building from the 
crematorium, and provision is made 
for upwards of 4,000 niches. 
Before leaving this part of our sub- 
ject it will be well to consider the 
question of the best means of dis- 
posing of the ashes of persons who 
have been cremated. The fact that 
there is an indestructible residue af- 
ter cremation is sometimes urged as 
an argument against the practice. 
“It is not total annihilation,” the ob- 
jectors say, “and after you have had 
your cremation, you have still to dis- 
pose of the ashes.” This is true, but 
instead of being an objection, it is, 
in the eyes of many, an advantage. 
Sentiment — and it is impossible to 
dissociate the disposal of our dead 
from sentiment — calls for something 
tangible and material around which 
the memory of those departed may 
be focussed. Hence the fascination 
the graves of our dear ones have ever 
possessed. The ashes of the cremat- 
ed dead satisfy this natural craving, 
but how much better surely to have 
to deal with the inoffensive residue 
purified by fire than with the nocu- 
ous and putrefying corpse! The 
amount of ashes remaining after cre- 
The illustration below shows the fine 
new entrance to Riverside Cemetery, 
Marshalltown, la., just completed from 
designs by S. W. Rubee, the superin- 
tendent. The view shows a handsome 
effect of curved drive and stately trees 
broken only by the six massive stone 
posts that form the gateway. The large 
posts are twenty feet apart and the walk 
gates six feet wide. The fence and 
gates are of steel and the posts of 
blue Bedford stone. The entire struc- 
ture was erected by the cemetery force 
at a cost of $1,200, which was raised 
by the Ladies’ Cemetery Aid Society, 
a very active and useful organization. 
ENTRANCE TO RIVERSIDE CEMETERY, MARSHAL!, TOWN, lA. 
