PARK AND CEMETERY. 
141 
used in erecting — first, statues of him- 
self and other members of his family, 
and secondly, artistic towers on his 
estate, declaring that his wish was to 
encourage young rising artists, and 
for that purpose prizes were to be 
given for the best plans of the pro- 
posed statues and towers, it was held 
that it was not an educational or 
charitable bequest. Compare with the 
preceding case, Smith’s Estate (1897) 
181 Pa. 109, 37 Atl. 114, under II. b. 1, 
infra. 
A bequest to trustees, to be ex- 
pended in the construction of a fence 
around a public cemetery, and the 
construction of a vault therein for the 
use thereof, is not void as contrary 
to the statute against perpetuities, 
there being nothing restrictive of 
alienation in the provision. Louns- 
bury v. Square Lake Burial Asso. 
(1910) — Mich. — . 129 N. W. 36. 
In Pfaler v. Raberg (1885) 3 Dem. 
360, it was held that a gift of the 
residuary estate to the executrix, “to 
remain with her forever upon the fol- 
lowing trust however: to be devoted 
and applied in such sums and amounts 
as she may see fit to preserve and 
keep in order my burial place or plot 
in B. cemetery,” was valid, the ob- 
ject for which the trust was created 
being one for which the law recog- 
nizes the right of a testator to make 
provision, and (the executrix being 
empowered to consume the entire 
residue at once, or to draw upon it 
from time to time, as in her judgment 
might seem advisable) not involving 
an unlawful suspension of the power 
of alienation. 
But in Hartson v. Elden (1892) 50 
N. J. Eq. 522, 26 Atl. 561, it was held 
that a testamentary provision that 
$2,000 “may be employed in building a 
monument for” testator’s parents, sis- 
ter, and brothers, being permissive, 
and not imperative, is bad under the 
rule against perpetuities, as a power 
that may never be exercised, or may 
not be exercised within lives in being 
at its execution and twenty-one years. 
(To be continued.) 
RECENT PROGRESS OF CREMATION IN EUROPE 
The figures given in the accompany- 
ing table show a distinct but slow in- 
crease in the number of bodies dis- 
posed of in that way in Great Britain, 
and a much more rapid increase in 
Germany, says the British Medical 
Journal. As to other countries 
it is not easy to get exact figures; 
they are scattered through various 
more or less inaccessible publications 
or not published at all. Some of the 
societies formed to further the move- 
ment should make it their business to 
collect all available statistics and pub- 
lish them from time to time. This 
could hardly fail to help in exciting 
interest in the public mind as to an 
important matter, which at present it 
looks upon with repugnance or indif- 
ference. This feeling is largely due 
to ignorance, for although death in 
itself is not to most people a cheerful 
subject of contemplation, it is made 
infinitely worse to the imagination 
by the thought of the horrors of bur- 
ial. The public mind needs to be edu- 
cated on the subject. How is this to 
be done? Scarcely by the distribution 
of leaflets or even by the oratory of 
paid lecturers, as if it were an unpop- 
ular Act of Parliament. It can only 
be done sensim sine sensn by the in- 
stallation of the hygienic advantages 
of cremation as the opportunity 
arises. This private and informal 
propaganda can usefully be carried on 
by individual medical practitioners. 
Although the profession is virtually 
agreed that cremation is from a sani- 
tary point of view the best method of 
disposal of the bodies of the dead, the 
time has not, we think, yet come for 
what may be called an official utter- 
ance on the subject; the public is not 
yet prepared to respond adequately 
to the teaching. The diffusion of 
knowledge on the subject is a neces- 
sary preliminary, and, as a first step 
the collection of exact figures show- 
ing the position of cremation in all 
civilized countries should be under- 
taken. 
Man is to a great extent led by ex- 
ample, and we are convinced that the 
progress of cremation in Germany has 
been greatly aided by the particulars 
given in Die Flamme. The Crema- 
tion Society of Great Britain does all 
that, with the limited means at its 
disposal, it can to fulfil the mission 
which it has undertaken. The Bel- 
gian Society issues La Cremation , 
which ought to help the cause. We 
ourselves have for years past pub- 
lished all the facts within our reach, 
and have sought to impress the ad- 
vantages of cremation on the public 
mind. Parts of these articles have 
often been quoted by the general 
press. But newspapers, as a rule, 
seem to be afraid that their pages 
will be defiled if they touch the sub- 
ject. This is not a very dignified at- 
titude on the part of the organs which 
exist for the enlightenment of the 
public mind. An honorable exception 
is the Referee, in which Mr. G. R. 
Sims (“Dagonet”) is not afraid to 
force the matter on the attention of 
his innumerable readers. 
The reform is one that is bound to 
come in time, for already the over- 
crowding of cemeteries in various 
places is a danger to the public 
health, and the purchase of land for 
the purpose of burial is becoming in- 
creasingly difficult, and throws an un- 
necessary additional burden on the 
ratepayer. The advocates of crema- 
tion have therefore, from every point 
of view, a right to plead for the active 
co-operation of the leaders of thought 
in all countries in hastening the ad- 
vent of this reform. 
The list of persons whose bodies 
have been cremated at Golder’s Green 
and elsewhere contains the names of 
several well-known clergymen of dif- 
ferent denominations. This fact en- 
courages us to hope that the pulpit 
may yet be used for the diffusion of 
knowledge which closely concerns the 
welfare of the living and can in no 
way harmfully affect the dead. Cre- 
mation, as we have several times 
shown, is not opposed to any theo- 
logical dogma, and is accepted in 
principle even by the Roman Catho- 
lic Church, which allows the burning 
of dead bodies in times of pestilence. 
It would powerfully aid the accept- 
ance of cremation if some broad- 
minded preachers who command pub- 
lic attention would lay the theological 
bogey — for it is nothing else— that 
stands in the way of reform in the 
mode of disposal of the dead. It 
should be insisted upon that nothing 
can be more reverent than the treat- 
ment of a body that is cremated. It 
is never touched by the hands of 
those to whom is entrusted the dis- 
charge of this last duty, and the ashes, 
are gathered with the utmost care 
into the receptacle in which they are 
to remain. When we compare this 
procedure with the filling of a grave 
with earth, and with the roughness 
and disregard of decency often dis- 
played abroad — where, we have seen 
a body thrown out of a coffin into 
a shallow grave and pressed down, 
when covered only with a thin layer 
of earth, by the stamping of the 
grave-diggers — we can only wonder 
that sentiment should still be gener- 
ally on the side of burial. 
Cremation gets rid of all the hor- 
