Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1835-05-21
III 7 8 C z I, l. A NJ Y,

/ ARTIFICIAL MARBLE CoFFiNs.-Wc some
time since alluded TO the fact oil Parker's cement
having been proposed to be applied to the ma
king CT cofil1s. We have since had an inter
view with Mr.. w bite, one Of the gentlemen w no
J obtained patent for this novel species of mann
facture. Mr.. White has left sample Of the ce.
ment thus prepared, at our office, where the en-.
rIons may call and see it. 1t Is certainly another
extraordinary evidence Of the success and rapi.
dirty with which the inventive genius of our
couhtr men strikes out new paths and new dis
eoyerles In the arts, while the older nations Of
the earth are creeping behind us at the slow and
Crawling pace Of the snail or sloth The sam
pie OF cement in question is almost two-thirds
OF an inch in thickness solid and hard, yet light
IN IFS texture, and on the outside polished, and
afterwards vanished Of dark walnut color
This glazing or yarnish, Mr.. White informs us,
may be made, as we suggested TO him, in imita-
tion OF mahogany. maple, rose, or any other ele-
giant wood. The collins, it is presumed, are TO
be made with the lid separate. After the body
is placed in it, athckncss Of cement is to be laid
on the edge of the coffin, to connect the lid lea
wing a small opening, TO be used temporarily un-
I'll the air is exhausted by a receiver. This omen.
ing also being filled in the whole is perfectly air
and water-tight. The interior being deprived
OF air, decomposition Of the body, aud the breed
ing OF those germs Of insects which are supposed
to be inherent in our flesh, cannot of course, 90
on, and must be suspended We know how
and how few are SO callous as not TO wish to pre-.
serve unaltered, after death {" this sensible warm
belng, and still to gaze on its cold tenement as
the silent but eloquent image of the spirit that
once animated it, and which we know NAV be
effected, by exclusion from air and moisture,
from the opening Of the leaden coffin of the I'M
fortunate Charles the |. during the time and in
the presence OF George Nv. Though two ccntu-
rles had elapsed from his death, the very color
Of the complexion, and the pleasant smile of the
features, were the same In the best portraits
OF him taken at the time, from life, by the cele-
brated Vandyke. The Egyptians, deprived of
convenient burial places by foundations of the
Nile, and admonished by their belief in transmit
grafton, resorted 10 embalment. Caacombs and
pyramids were built in honor Of the dead, whom
they respected more than the living. The in
yention of which we speak far excels that compli-
Gated process, & we doubt not it will be entirely
substituted Tor destructible wood, and come into
general use, not only for collins, but for all kinds
OF vessels and receptacles in which il is desira-
bic TO preserve the contents from dampness and
the external ar-thus, for records, public docu-
ments transported 10 great distance over the
sea, &c IL is also proper 10 add that, in these
air tight collins, Mr., white proposes to insert in
the lid, over the face of the corpse, thick plate
OF transparent glass, while the cement is soft,
and when thus, on hardening, becomes part of
the I'D Thus, the friends and relatives Of the
deceased may here view, after DEATH al their
discretion, the reyered face itself on which they
doated, in life, with parents devotion. broth
ers affection, OF a sisters love. In fact, not on
ly might the body be thus visited in its vault,
but, so far its freedom from faint is concerned,
might be kept in the residences Of the living
II buried, the graves need not be deeper than
the surface
Mr., White, and doctors Hoyt and Dayton, of
Syracuse are owners of this Improvement.
Mr. White is joint owner with MIR. Parker in
the cisterns of this material, and some other i'm
proTements. Those going into either branch,
would find their in terest, therefore, in the OPP
portunity OF embracing the whole. Will not I'M
dertakers, as matter of interest, be disposed 10
adopt the stone collins at once, in preference 10
those of wood IN. Y. Star.