Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-04-29
Cremation.

burial are organizing for putting their
theories into practice. The sc New York
Cremation Society," has applied to the
legislature of that state for charter. This |
charter they want to give them the same
footing as the Cemetery Associations have
as corporate bodies. and not that they think
there is needed any legislative sanction to
make lawful their manner of disposing of
the dead. They purpose to have $4,000
capital stock and to begin operations when
$4,000 shall be paid. which will be as soon
as the charter comes. There is no thought
of making money but a wish to offer Gre
nation to such as prefer it to burial.
The design is to rent a building on the
outskirts of the city in which will be put II
furnace, either of the pattern that took the
Leipsic prize last year or an improvement
upon that Fire, and not chemicals, will
be the agent used to destroy the bodies.
| Popular feeling demands that fire should
be used, as the idea of publication is almost
inseparably connected with it. After the
|
building, they would have II sexton, who
would be provided with all things neces
sary, and who would do all that was requi-
site for the cremation of the bodies, neatly
and cheaply, at IA fixed price. The sexton
would also have on hand boxes and urns
in which to preserve the ashes of the dead,
which would be sold to those who desired
them. There could be no objection to their
locating the crematory in the city, because
there could not he the slightest escape OF
gas The bodies would be burned in IA re-
verbatorv furnace, in which all the gas
that might be generated would have to
descend and pass through the fire, and
would thus be inevitably consumed. y
place of waiting would be provided for
| the friends of the deceased, and the ashes
carefully collected and given to them to
dispose of as they should deem most iii.
t Physicians certificates, and all the ether
formalites required by the law in the burial
of Il man, would be observed The process
of cremation, according to another state
; ment. will be very simple; the body VIII
be placed in kind of retort and exposed
< to very great heat, say from about 100 tC
e 1000 degrees Fahrenheit; there will be ne
escape of gas. and it might be done in the
$ heart of the city without any one being
S the wiser, so far us offensive odOrs are
|. concerned. The residuum, or ashes whicl
5 would be left in the retort, would consist
n principally, of carbonate Of lime ant
+ would weigh from three to four pounds il
n the case of an adult. This could easily b
d compressed into cake of four inches
/ The custom, once inaugurated by the few
# the society believe, would soon be accepte
e by the many.
e The organization was the result of
5 conference among some forty or fifty gen
tlemen who have brought up the question
d as matter of taste, viewing it in its poeti
o and aesthetic aspects. They believe it
IF better mode of disposing of the dead tina
q the one now in vogue, and are DESTROYS
S discuss the whole matter thoroughly, an
Q to form a nucleus which will attract other
ID of the same mode of thinking. The inter
t, ton of the society is not to make any put
in lie appeal or address until they hav
lie thoroughly Invested the subject of all ser
lie sation. They are not freethnkers, nc
ed propagandists, nor pagans, but Christians
at and they desire to manage the matter the
Id have in hand in such manner us will Il
tract clergymen and laymen of all Chri
re tian sects. The recent organization of tt
We society was made purely and simply
~ enable them to secure sufficient means
lis carry out their plans, and to protect the
re from interruption in so doing.