The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-05-28

which was made of various materials,
according to the circumstances Of indi- |
viduals.
In the Feejee Islands parents are gen
orally killed by their children. Some
times the aged people make mp their
minds to die; sometimes the children
give notice to their parents that they
are burden. A family consultation is
thereupon held, a day appointed, and
the grave dug. The aged person has
his choice of being strangled or buried
alive. The Feejeeans consider this Gus
tom so great a proof of affection that
none but children can be found to per-
form it. The reason is. that they are
persuaded that they viii instantly pass
into another state of existence, where
they will be Just what they we're when
they died. The Feegeeans generally
bury the body in a sitting posture.
Now-ZealandeTs were buried IN their
houses, which were left with all they
contained. They believed in a future
state that as entered upon Immediate
ly after death, and missionaries could
not induce them to accept the doctrine
of the resurrection of the dead. Sim
ilarlv, the islanders of Torres Straits
use the ordinary huts as dead houses
and, in the great Central African king
dom of Bornou, every one is buried uu-
der tho floor of his own house, without
monument, and sometimes the house is
occupied as usual, but among the great
it is abandoned. The Dahomans, Yoru-
has, and the other races of the Gold
Cast, do the same.
The Tahitinns do not bury their dead
at once, but put them, carefully pro-
tected, on a raised platform until en-
tirely decayed; then the bones are col
lected, scraped, cleaned, and buried.
Son, etimes the head is not deposited
with the rest of the body, but in box
They believe in the survival of the soul,
and destroy children, and the old, and
diseased.
While thus the large mass of mankind
has always striven to expedite the dis
solution of the body, a small number
of races have, from the most remote
antiquity, made it a subject of tender
and serious consideration to guard the
human body after death from all chance
of destruction. These races fostered
the belief that the dead were to be re-
suscitated, after a more or less extended
period hence it was necessary that the
body should be preserved from all in
Jury, and, if possible, from all corrup-
tion, that the soul might find it unin-
jured on theda of resurrection. No peo-
pie have paid more care and labor on the
preservation of the dead than the Egyp-
tians. They believed that, after sub
terranean pilgrimage, the soul was to re-
enter the body, and give it movement
and life. The Jews also believed IN the
resurrection of the dead, and hence
they covered the corpses with spices, to
| preserve them for O while from corrup-
ton. Eighty pounds of spices we, c
used at the funeral of Rabbi Gamaliel,
and Nicodemus furnished a hundred
pounds weight of mixture of myrrh
and aloes for the burial of Jesus. Ev-
! cry Jew wished to be buried in that land
/ where the Messiah should come tC
reign, and call the dead from theil
graves. Jacobs and Joseph's embalmed
remains were returned TO the land Of
Canaan and it was q popular BELIEF
among the Jews that the bodies of the
righteous, wherever else buried, rolled
back to Canaan underground. This
land of the resurrection was called by
them "the land of the living" and the
sepulchres were "houses of the living.
The Christians of the first century
gave to their burial grounds the name
of cemetery, which means sleeping
place" or "dormitory." It was taught
that every one would rise from thu
grave wherever he had heard the Wort
of God and believed in it. Hence, a!
the Jews wished to be buried in Canaan
so every Christian wished to be laid il
the ground adjoining his church.
church yard, consecrated by the bene
diction of the sprinkling of holy water
took, therefore, the place of the Holy
/ Tx, IL - IL =.
TERED in it and, where municipal law
rendered it incumbent to receive alst
the bodies of heretics, they were buried
in q portion of the cemetery which wa
not considered as forming part of tn
sacred ground, and which, in fact, hat
not been consecrated. There is horro
in every mode of disposing of the dead
and no scientific process can very mate
rally lessen it. It is the duty of intelli
gent men to make such provision 70
the dead as will not injure the living
Nevertheless, man will always be les
intent on performing his funeral rites il
accordance with the latest researches i
chemistry than in manner intended
relieve the painful feelings which al
tend them. Grief for TIE dead will al
ways suggest such rites as correspon
with the traditional ideas of what is tn
most loving ana honorable mode Q
parting with the remains of the deceased
and it matters little whether it is afte
the manner of the Feejeeans or Tab
tians, Greeks or Romans, Brahmans c
Buddhists, Parsees or Scandinavian
} or any other people.
: In the present state of popular fee
, ing on this subject in our country, W
must be satisfied when we see the dea
, deposited in the ground in such q mar
, ner that the earth can completely al
sorb and neutralize the products of d.
, composition. Cremation does not ye
} commend itself to our hearts. Som
, future day, when all our religious, ST
perstitious, or traditional ideas, ar
changed, and our hearts are completed
set on living solely by the laws {
science, then we shall probably offer
premium for the discovery of an instaI
taneous destruction of the lifeles
bodies of those we love