Wilmington daily gazette., 1874-04-07
From the Philadelphia Press
Burning the Dead.

How to dispose of the dead is a subject now
beginning to attract public attention. The sug-
gestlon of return to the ancient plan OF lncTe-
nation, improved of course, by modern science,
Is meeting with some favor. 1t proceeds upon
theories which may be outlined US follows:
Death Is not rest for the body, whatever it may
he for the soul. While the corpse lies pallid and
moveless, unnumbered changes are going ON with
III 1t. A marvelously contrived machine Is falling
apart, and the spectacle o. Its decomposition Is
one which men hide in the earth. Were the body
suffered To lio where it fell nature would resolve
It INTO carbonic acld, water, ammonia, lime phos
phorus, iron, sulpher. MAGNETISM, and other sub
stances. The gases mIngle with the atmosphere
the minerals with the earth nothing is wasted.
Death creates material for the support OF life
The gases given oit by the decaying corpse are
absorbed by the thirsllng pores Oi vegetatlon.-
The carbon goes to form the fibre which hardens
into wood. The expression, "hearts OF oak" as
applied to the vessels of the British navy has,
when viewed in the light OF science, new sfsrir
icance. The woody fibre beaten by the waves
has beaten in the hearts Ot many brave SONS ol
| Britain, and after the ship has perished, aud its
timbeTs have been consigned to the flames, Its
elements mngie with the atmosphere only TO be
again absorbed by vegetation. and assimlialcd By
animal life.
Death then is but a dread analys ISIS which sets
the elements of the body tree to pass into other
organizations. Thanks To existing customs, the
process now Ia the slow and shocking one OF de
composition. The idea of substituting Tor this
the quicker analysis effected through the nstI IL
mentality of lire, is one that is beng received
| with growing favor. 1t must he admitted that
| such growth Is very gradual. A thousand hal
lowed associations cluster round the battle-ground.
The instructive feeling that the body is the per-
sonaty is SO strong that To resolve it into its cle
| ments by mechanical or chemical means would
| seem like combined sacregc and cruelty. At
| the same time, If the mourncrs, even they
shudier at the thought or incremation, could
have lnl ff hpr hast lv gtt Ia,
l chaTnel house, even they might prefer the more
tender mercies OF the furnace or the retort. An
other fact which will gradually exert an influence
i'll favor of incrematon is that the dead in under
going decay, fur all they seem so passive, become
nevertheless active agents OF owl. From Congre-
4 gated graves arises an eiiluyia which spreads a
tsubtle poison among the living. Among the hid
l den horrors OF graveyard creep the rain drops
| which swell the volume of neighbonng springs
aud rivers. Of this we have an instance close al
lhome-an instance unheeded by us because 1t |:
Thoroughly familiar, but one which, upon retlcc
tive strangers, must produce sickenng imprcs
SION Alter beholdng the beauties OF Fairmoun
| Park, the visitor continuing his course up tht
Schuylklll, some OF "thc citys sepulchres In
dead upon the hills" Down through these slop
ing hillsdes, over hundreds OF moulderng col
l Tins and decayiug bodies, the rains flow into tn
river, from which, at point almost within sigh
OF Laurel Hill. the water is pumped up into tn
reservoirs, whence it Is distributed over the cit
1 ior bathing ana urluklng. Inc new process III
still further III its favor the consideration that al
3 danger OF being buried alive would be at one
and forever obviated 1t death were cnly appaI
ent, 1t would become real, and become SO instan
taneously and painlessly. Il 10 true that intei
ment oil the living must be very rare, yet il stand
in the category OF acknowledged facts, and shoul
The one case in n million be destined to be one
Iown-which is far from impossiblc-the ConteL
plation of such possibility were surely enough I
enlist the sympathies most enthusiastically III I.
fvor OF inclemation. Indeed, those who wopl
prefer it for themselves are already many MOI
D Than those who would consent to it in behalf
their friends. After all, the resolution OF n hi
man body into its constituent elements by m
chancal or chemical means Is only doing rapid
what nature does gradually.