PARK AND CEMETERY. 
# * CREMATION. * '% 
While there has been comparatively little said 
recently on the subject of Cremation, statistics goto 
prove that it is making slow but sure progress. The 
number of crematories is increasing, and new struc- 
tures are being planned and erected in localities 
hitherto deemed too conservative to admit of the 
innovation. 
The same may be stated of the condition of the 
question abroad. The most recent items of interest 
coming to hand are, that at the meeting of the Town 
Council of Dundee, Scotland, held early in October 
the question was raised of establishing a Cremator, 
ium in that staid old city by the corporation itself 
No effort was made to permanently shelve the mat- 
ter, but for the time being it was decided to defer 
it. The Norwegian Parliament has passed an act 
decreeing that every person over 15 years of age 
may be cremated after death, if he or she has made 
a declaration in the presence of two witnesses. For 
those under 15, a declaration on the part of the 
parents must be made. The police, medical regis- 
trar, and the attending doctors, must also furnish 
written testimony as to the cause of death before a 
body can be cremated. 
The report of the Council of the Cremation So- 
ciety of England for 1897 gives the number of cre- 
mations at the Crematorium at Woking for 1897 as 
173, as compared with 137 for 1896, making the 
aggregate of cremations at that place over 1,000 
since the commencement of operations. Increased 
activity was shown at Manchester, Glasgow and 
Liverpool. Over 150 town and district councils, 
including many of London, have approved of the 
proposal to apply to Parliament for an amendment 
to the Burial A ts and Public Health Acts “enabling 
them to adopt cremation as a permissive method of 
dealing with the bodies of the dead.’’ 
In Paris cremation is being operated on quite a 
large scale and on a very reasonable tariff of charges. 
In Germany and Italy cremation is progressing 
quite noticeably. 
In our own country the prejudices against the 
incineration of the dead are moderating, due in a 
measure to the favorable opinions expressed by so 
many eminent clergymen and other public teachers. 
It was on Dec. 4, 1885, that the first incinera- 
tion of a human body took place at the Fresh Pond 
Crematory of the United States (^remation Com- 
pany of New York. Since that date between two 
and three thousand bodies have been cremated. 
Crematoria have been established in many large 
cities and the number is steadily increasing; in fact, 
18 
9 
O 
many of our larger cemeteries have found it exped- 
ient, from a businees standpoint, to provide for 
this method of caring for the dead, in order to meet 
the growing sentiment in its favor. 
The figures of the North Western Cremation 
Society, whose Crematory is located in the West 
Davenport Cemetery, Davenport, la., are interest- 
ing. The first incineration took place March 3, 
1891, and 6 was the number for the year. This 
figure was increased to 7 in 1892, and to 13 in 1893, 
In 1894 the number dropped to 8, with the same 
for 1895 ; in 1896 there were 9, in 1897 the figure 
rose to 23, and up to October 15 of this year there 
have been 15 incinerations. 
# # # # 
Many noted men have placed themselves on 
record in connection with this very important sub- 
ject. 
The late Right Rev. Phillips Brooks wrote: “I 
believe that there are no true objections to the prac- 
tice of cremation, and a good many excellent reasons 
why it should become common.” 
The late Charles A. Dana expressed himself 
thus: “It is my judgment that cremation is the 
most rational and appropriate manner of disposing 
of the dead.” 
Prof. Charles Eliot Norton says: “The argu- 
ments in support of cremation are so strong, and 
those against our present fashion of burial are so 
conclusive, that I have little question that, when 
they are fairly presented to intelligent men, the de- 
velopment of a sentiment favorable to cremation 
will be rapid, and the adoption of the practice 
speedily become familiar.’’ 
Rev. Thos. C. Hall: “ I do not regard the dis- 
position of the remains of our dead as a religious 
question at all. It is one of sentiment and hygiene, 
and I think both sentiment and hygiene would be 
better subserved by cremation than by our present 
dangerous and really disgusting practice of burial. 
The rapid resolving of the poor earthly remains into 
their constituent elements through the cleansing fire 
seems to me to be a far more rational and beautiful 
disposition than the prevailing custom.” 
Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones: “Sanitary and human- 
itarian considerations will hasten the growth of pub- 
lic intelligence and quicken the poetic sense of fitness 
and beauty; will bring into our modern life the cus- 
tom of cremation, which by the help of science and 
ingenuity has been reduced to a degree of simplicity 
and poetic effectiveness and beauty that is surpris- 
ing. A modern crematory stands on the picket line 
of our advancing civilization, a symbol of the simple 
manners, the purer faith, and the unaffected sincerity 
toward which we are tending.’’ 
