Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-10-08
BURNING AND BURYING.

hundred and thirty bodies were inferred; which
fact one Of the medical journals expressed by
saying that there wore sixteen thousand pounds
Of mortal matter added on that day alone to the
already decomposing mass. A member of the
London Royal College of Surgeons has recently
issued = sensible pamphlet entitled Burning
the Dead, or Urn Sepulture,n - and We consider
the subject of sufficient interest to our readers
to present the following briet statement of his
argument
The soul of q man is indestructibIe and at
death parts from the body. OF matter only the
elements are, humanl y speaking, indestrEctibs.
The body of man is made up of oxygen, hydro
gen, nitrogen, and carbon, with small quantitie.
of phosphorus, sulphur, calcium, iron, and some
other metals. By the law to which all matter
Is subject, mans body when done with, decOm-
poses into these elements, that they may be used
for other purposes in nature. Can it matter to
him whether the process be effected rapidly or
slowly
Upon the doubt az to the possibility of the re-
surrection when our bodies have been burnt in
stead of rOtted. the surgeon lays the balm of
texts That which thou sOWest. thou sowest
not the bOdy that shall be- and we shall he
changed But he aids: those who claim tn
have hereafter the whole identical BODY back
again, must remember that in life it wastes and
renewed. 50 that if every particle that ever
belonged 10 the frame of an old man were re-
turned to him, he would get matter enough to
make twelve or twenty bodies 1t is just possi-
blo that somebody may be cOmforted with
theory which the surgeon quotes in a note, that
the soul carries away with it out Of the world
one atom Of matter which is the seed of the fu-
ture body, and that these seminal atoms not be-
ing here, need not be included in our calcuIa-
tions abOut things material.
If We could, by embalming, keep the form Of
the departed upon earth, that would be much:
but for any such purpose, embalming fails
Decay will use It's efacing fingers :. In the
museum of the College of Surgeons in London
may be seen the first wife of one Martin Van
Butehell- who, at her husbands request, was
emoalmed by Dr. William Hunter and Mrs.
carpenter, IN the year seventeen hundred and
seventy-fve. No doubt extraordinary pains
were taken To preserve both form and feature
and yet what wretched mockery of once
lovely woman it now appears, with its shrunken
and rotten looking bust, its hideous mahogany
colored face, and its remarkably fine set of
teeth Between the feet are the remains of a
green parrOt-whether immOlated or not at the
death OF Its mistress Is uncertain; but as il still
retains Its plumage il is far less repulsive OBJ
Jeet than the larger biped.'' There was Law
SUIT once to try the right Of a dead man to an
iron cofhn, when Lord StOWell decided that
All cOntrlyances that, whether Intentionally
or not, prolOng the time Of dissolution beyond
the period at which the common local under
standing and usage have fixed it, form an act Of
injustice, unless compensated in soms way OF
other And when an iron coffin has been
a4lcI tno lapse OF years, What mas been
found Chiefly dry grubs Of worms and other
insects that have fed upon the flesh Socrates
exhorted hls friends, = Let it not be said that
Socrates Is carried to the grave and buried
such an expression were an injury done t. my
immortal part Not very long ago, a hard
ened murderer being told by the judge that his
body, after hanging would be given for dissec-
ton, said, +" Thank you my lord; it is well you
cannot dissect my soul" We should look up
ward, and not downward, when we stand beside
the grave.
The surgeon replies to those who regard cre-
nation aS a heather custom. il is not more
heathen than bUrying in holes Sprinking
earth on the coffin is a heather custom based
upon heather superstition. but converted to
a Christian lie gives interesting illustra-
tons OF the use of urn-burial by many nations
but relnInds Us that the cost of fuel was one Oh
staeIe to It's general adoption in old times
Oround was to ne had more cheaply than the
materials necessary for the humblest burnings
when IT Was requisite to burn on large piles in
the open air. the Christians however" saws
cir Thomas Browne - abhnrred this way of OBJ
sequles; and though they stckt not to give their
bodies to be burnt in their lives deteSted that
mode after death" Bot whatever reason
CHRISTIANS had In the first days of Christianity
against the burning Of their bodies they have
leit behind them no objection founded on a per-
manent religious principle. We, now, bury in
graves and build funeral urns in stone and
embens
The report Of the French Academy Of Medi-
cine upon the effect Of cemeteries on the health
Of ParIs, has led in France TO the bestOwiDg of
much serious attention on the subject of crems-
uon; and there IS sober discussion Of the plan
Oi VI. BOnneau, who proposes to replace all
cemeteries near great cities, by a building called
the Sarcophagus. 'Thither the eorpses of
both rich and poor should be conveyed and
laid out on metallic tablet, which sliding by
an instantaneous movement into a ooHcealed
furnace, would cause the body to bc consumed
Ia the space of a few minutes Like a true
frenchman, he urges the bearing of his plan on
the interests Of art " for who would not wish
to preserve the ashes Of his ancestor The fu-
neral urn may soon replace on our consoles and
manteIpleces the ornaments Of bronze clocks
and china vases now found there This NAV
seem misplaced pleasantly" says the Edin-
burgh Medical Journal - bat we cannot hcIp
beng startled at reading the sanitary report
leading u it
The surgeon then dwells briefly on the one
valld objection TO the burning Of the dead II
destroys evidence in case Of secret murder
Now, the dead speak under the spells Of the
chemist. III cremation be adopted, greater ac-
curacy In the registration and closer scrutiny
into each doubtful case of death will be imper-
sGvely called for. While we write this (say.
the surgeon,) II man lies sentenced to death
against whom the cOndemning witness was the
dislnterred corpse of his mother
HE surgeon in his next chapter shows what
the pollution Of a grave yard il. Over this IA
HIhar ground we do not follow him, except 10
take up the testimony Of the French Academy
OF Medicine that no matter from what quarter
the wind blows, il must bring over Paris the
putrld emanatiOns of Pere la Chaise, Montmar-
tire, or MOntparnasse, and the very water which
We drink, being impregnated with the same
poisonous matter, We become the prey of new
and frghtfur diseases Of the throat and lungs
10 which Thousands Of both sexes fall victims
every year. Thus y dreadful throat disease
which battles the skill Of our most experienced
medical men, and which carries of It's victims
in a lew hours, is traced to the absorption of vi
tjate1 air into the wiudpipe, and ha. been OBJ
served to rage with the greatest violence in
those quarters situated nearest to cemeteries "
There need not be foul smell in poisoned air.
The deadly malaria Of the POntine marshes,
near Rome, we reminded. blows soft amt
balmy as she air Of highland summer. In his