Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-09-02
Mfst&ll
BURNING AND BURYING.

In the report of the medical officers of health
for London we read that in the Victoria Park
Cemetery, last year every Sunday, one hun
hed aid thirty bodies were inferred which
act one of the medical journals expressed by
saving that there were sixteen thousand pounds
Of mortal matter added on that day alone to
The already decomposing mass. At the time
when we were reading about such things, A
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, :"
@ued pamphlet upon an old subject of ours,
Burning the Dead, or Urn Sepulture" Our
1Tn arguments upon that subject, we have used
.-ead! but the surgeon proves to be most
Intelligent ally and brief statement of his
Argument may be of some service in these
columns. This is it
The soul of man is indestructibe and at
death parts from the body. OF matter, only
tie elements are, humanity speaking, indestruc-
loe. The body of q man is made up of oxy-
2l, nitrogen and carbon, with small quanti-
les Of phosphorus, sui lphur, calcium, iron and
@ne other metals. BY the law to which all
natter is subject, mans body, when done with,
RconpOses into these elements, that they may
Dc used for other purposes in nature. Can it
natter to him whether the process be effected
\ npdIy or slowly?
tpon the doubt as to the possibility of re-
lF7ecton, when our bodies have been burnt
Stcad Of rotted, the surgeon lays the balm of
1IS: THAT which thou sOwest, thou SOW
8, not the body that shall be-" and, "we skaR
changed" But he adds those who claim
nave hereafter the whole identical body
lck again, must remember that in life it
.ases and is renewed, SO that il every particle
aat ever belonged to an old man were returned
aln, he would get matter enough to make
Selye or twenty bodies. 1t is just possible
4li somebody may be cOmfoeted with a theo-
8nch the surgeon quotes in note, that a
Jul carries away with it out of the world, one
'oa OF matter which is the seed of the future
"ly, and these seminal atoms not being here,
vl not be included in our calculations about
lungs material.
we could, by embalming, keep the form Of
departed upon earth, that would be much;
Wy lor any such purpose, embalming fails
.5Vaay ~ will use its effacing fingers. " La the
llseGn OF the College of Surgeons in London,
u! oe seen the first wife of one Martin Van
'1clell who, at, her husbands request, was
raOalAed by Dr. William Hunter and Mrs
.1Penter, in the year seventeen hundred and
eu'y,hye. No doubt extraordinary pains
',s taken to preserve both form and feature !;
YET, what wretched mockery of once
.'s! woman it now appears, with its shrunk-
al1 rotten-Ooking bust, its hideous, mahog-
\ '!ooored face, and its remarkably fine set
se'n Between the feet are the remains
green parrot-whether inundated nor not
-. ue death of its mistress is uncertain; but,
=" sun retains its plumage, it is far less re-
g's 5.s"e object than the larger biped" There
n,s lawsuit once, to try the right Of dead
~, ~ 70 an IRON coffin, when Lord Stowell de-
s,, n9 mat all contrivances that, whether in
+. ,~OaaIIy or not, prolong the time of diSsolu-
~ ~ oeyond which the common local under
fin f'r!ng and usage have fixed it, form an act
~ Justice, unless compensated in some way
ns"t Suef" And when an iron coffin has been
fnas f,rusa after lapse of years, what has been
e,'o. s-a Chiefly dry grubs of worms and other
er5o., 5oS mat have fed upon the flesh Socrates
~".ed his friends, 6" Let it not be said that
a,b 5a'eS Is carried to the grave and buried !;
amoa.I %u expression were an injury done to my
d MA mn.s part" Not very long ago harden
@'uVrer, being told by the judge that his