142 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
rors of decomposition. If these were 
realized every one would cry out with 
Hamlet, “How abhorred in my imag- 
ination it is! My gorge rises at it.” 
We would speak with all tenderness 
of the feeling that sees in cremation 
a kind of outrage on the dead. Some 
feel that the separation from the 
loved one they have lost is somehow 
less complete when the body is laid 
in the ground than when it is quickly 
destroyed by fire. But this is, after 
all, not only a morbid but a selfish 
sentiment, for it is only for the satis- 
faction of the survivors. It is surely 
a greater outrage to the dead to let 
their bodies rot in the ground than to 
save them from putrefaction by a 
flame which in the most literal sense 
is purifying. It is, we have no doubt, 
the freedom ensured by cremation 
from loathsome decay that makes so 
many artists and men and women of 
letters choose it instead of burial. By 
all means let the ashes be buried with 
all suitable rites, and amidst surround- 
ings likely to soothe the sorrowing- 
heart by their beauty. Cremation 
would make it possible to continue 
the custom consecrated by long usage 
of burying in churches. The state of 
things found in some old churches 
when vaults have been opened or ex- 
cavations have been made has from 
time to time shown how revolting and 
dangerous this custom is when bodies 
are buried in the ordinary way. 
Some years ago protests were made 
in the name of hygiene against fur- 
ther burials in Westminster Abbey; 
and, to judge from letters which ap- 
peared in the press, these protests 
were regarded by some as imperti- 
nent and almost sacrilegious. It is 
with the greatest satisfaction, there 
fore, that we noted that in the cases 
of Sir Joseph Hooker and Lord Lis- 
ter, the offer of interment was made 
subject to previous cremation. This 
enlightened action of the Dean will 
doubtless have a great influence in 
disabusing people’s minds of the no- 
tion that there is something in cre- 
mation inconsistent with Christianity. 
We recently met with a curious in- 
stance of this prejudice in a review 
which appeared in that very superior 
publication, the Literary Supplement 
of the Times. Speaking of a tomb 
in the Cathedral in Toledo bearing 
the inscription Hie jacet pulvis et 
cinis, et nihil, the writer said that was 
a strange sentiment to find expressed 
in a Christian church. But what more 
is there besides the decaying remains 
of the body to be found in any tomb? 
We think this worth mentioning as 
it illustrates the state of mind that 
engenders antagonism to cremation. 
There is an irrational feeling that 
there is something more — some spark 
of the divina particula aerai — which is 
destroyed by cremation. So gro- 
tesque a conception may be left to 
the occultists; Christianity does not 
teach that the soul dies with the body, 
still less that it moulders with it in 
the grave. 
We have laid some stress on the 
theological objection to cremation 
because it is the most powerful. The 
argument that the burning of the 
body destroys evidence of crime has 
a certain weight; but this is counter- 
balanced by the number and strin- 
gency of the regulations that must be 
complied with before permission is 
granted for the cremation of a body. 
No precaution can absolutely prevent 
the possibility of a crime remaining 
undetected. But it may confidently be 
affirmed that by the provisions of the 
Cremation Act of 1902 and the Reg- 
ulations of 1903 that risk has been re- 
duced to a minimum. Cremation is 
a far greater protection to the public 
than the ordinary system of death 
certification, which, lax as it is in its 
provisions, is still more laxly carried 
out in practice. 
Great Britain. 
From the table given on the pre- 
ceding page it will be seen that the 
total number of cremations in Great 
Britain during 1911 was 1,023. Of that 
number 656 were carried out at the 
two crematoriums — Golder’s Green and 
Woking — managed by the London 
Cremation Society. The total shows 
an increase of 183 as compared with 
last year. 
Germany. 
In Germany cremation has made 
much more rapid progress. The va- 
rious societies have a total member- 
ship of about 60,000. The total num- 
ber of bodies disposed of by this 
method in 1911 was 7,555, as against 
6,074 in 1910, an increase of 1,481, or 
more than 24 per cent. The figures 
for the several crematories are as fol- 
lows (the figures in brackets repre- 
sent the number in 1910): 
Baden-Baden 
71 
(48) 
Bremen 
561 
(454) 
Chemnitz 
630 
(643) 
Coburg' 
. . . .326 
(310) 
(25) 
Dessau 
Dresden 
328 
Eisenach 
162 
(164) 
Gera 
213 
(79) 
Goppingen 
12 
Gotha 
598 
(549) 
(678) 
Hamburg 
669 
Heidelberg 106 (112) 
Heilbronn 61 (36) 
Jena 391 (413) 
Karlsruhe 123 (143) 
Leipsiz 905 (477) 
Lubeck 98 (50) 
Mainz 450 (410) 
Mannheim 218 (188) 
Meiningen 17 
Offenbach a. M 268 (208) 
Possneck 88 (89) 
Reutlingen 13 
Sonneberg 2 
Stuttgart 438 (356) 
Ulm 336 (297) 
Weimar 9 
Zittau 289 (206) 
Zwickau 140 (139) 
From this list it will be seen that 
six new crematoriums were opened 
in Germany during 1911, and therefore 
afford no figures for comparison; 
these are at Reutlingen; Dresden 
(opened May 19th, 1911); Meiningen 
(opened on October 8th) ; Goppingen 
(opened on October 8th); Weimar 
(opened on December 8th) ; and Son- 
neberg (opened on December 12th). 
The progress of cremation in Ger- 
many may be estimated from the 
steadily ascending scale of the num- 
bers. In 1878 only 1 body was burnt; 
in 1880 there were 16; in 1885 there 
were 79; in 1890, there were 111; in 
1895 there were 266; in 1900 there 
were 639. From that time the in- 
crease was much more rapid, the 
number of cremations in 1905 having 
been 1,768; in 1910, as already said, 
6,074; and 7,555 in 1911. The total 
number of cremations carried out in 
Germany up to December 31st, 1911, 
was 37,529. 
Now that a law permitting crema- 
tion has been passed in Prussia, there 
will doubtless be a still further in- 
crease in the number disposed of in 
this manner. The law was passed in 
the face of much opposition, but in 
its passage through the Legislature 
was so modified that its sphere of 
operation was greatly restricted. 
Among other provisions was one 
which can only have been introduced 
with a purpose hostile to the general 
acceptance of cremation. This was 
that in the case of women the body 
must be examined, and the evidence 
of virginity, if present, mentioned. 
Naturally, the proposed post-mortem 
outrage excited widespread indigna- 
tion. The women of Berlin held a 
meeting of protest, and sent a petition 
to the Minister of the Interior asking 
for the repeal of the obnoxious clause. 
Herr von Dallwitz bowed before the 
storm, and it is stated that as a mat- 
