CREMATION 
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indeed which especially require to be dealt with in the manner 
proposed. Perhaps it will be desirable, at first at any rate, to limit 
cremation to such cases. Much would certainly be gained to the 
public health. The permanent extinction of any one of such diseases 
as are admitted to be preventable, would alone confer inestimable 
advantages on the human race. 
Of course many will exclaim, “ Oh ! the idea of being burnt after 
death is horrible ! ” Is not a dead body a horrible mystery, and the 
disposal of it by any method a horrible duty ? 
Suppose for a moment that burial in the earth were a new custom, 
previous to which the dead were collected and deposited in the sea— 
which would have much to recommend it from a sanitary point of 
view—how horrified would many he at the proposal to dig a hole in 
the ground, in which to place their friends, with the knowledge that 
those first buried would in time be disturbed by the sexton’s spade, 
and mixed up in inextricable confusion to make room for later comers. 
And though the proposal would be opposed to the teachings of true 
science, that would not be the cause of the opposition it would meet 
with, any more than the approval of cremation by science convinces 
those guided by sentiment rather than knowledge. 
It is only a question of time. As the pages of the book of 
knowledge are unfolded, our stupendous ignorance is reduced, in spite 
of sentiment; sentiment which is unfortunately so rarely allied to truth. 
Far be it from me, however, to despise sentiment. Life would 
indeed be dull without it. It may indeed be said that fact and fiction, 
truth and falsehood, are necessary to each other’s existence. Truth 
shines brightest in a setting of fiction. But whilst disclaiming any 
inclination to repress sentiment or the healthy exercise of that 
imaginative power with which mankind is blessed, and by the aid of 
which so many of the burdens and toils of life are lessened, I make a 
clear distinction between it and prejudice, the child of ignorance and 
superstition, prolific parents, from whom it behoves us, to the best of 
our ability, to free ourselves and our children. 
Civilisation is ever calling for and initiating measures intended to 
prolong human life. More, a nation’s desire to extend the average 
life of its subjects is undoubtedly a measure of its civilisation, and is 
one of the first duties of statesmanship. The increasing density of 
our population is prompting us to adopt measures of a sanitary nature 
which have been too long delayed. The results so far, are such as 
ought to encourage us to the adoption of more general and consistent 
fulfilment of recognised sanitary principles. Hitherto legislation in 
sanitary, as in other matters, has been the result of a desire to cure 
rather than to prevent. Only when a nuisance has become so great 
as to be no longer bearable, are steps taken to alleviate if not remove 
it altogether. 
Universal education will doubtless develop a more logical public 
opinion, which must insist upon a policy of prevention, as superior to 
cure, not alone in matters of bodily health, but of crime also. It is 
