, 1874-07-04

products are developed by which the num-
Der. of diseases and deaths among the
surrounding populations is increased, in
some cases through the poisoning of the
drinking water, in others through render
ing the air impure. Typhus e%pidemics have
frequently followed the opening of grave
felds-instance, in the Riom, in the Au-
vergne, in the past century, and only a
few decades ago the epidemic among the
inhabitants of the March6 des Innocents,
in Paris, when, in 1880, the corpses which
had been temporarily placed there were
again dug up. The German, Riecke, re-
cords ar interesting case. In a village in
the Kingdom of Wurtemburg the commu-
nifty had erected, from motives of economy,
the schoolhouse on an old unused church
yard but when, in winter, the heat in
the schoolroom attracted the air from the
soil beneath it, sickness became so preva-
lent among the scholars and teachers that
the school had to be closed. But all these
are facts so generally known that it may
seem q presumption to repeat them here.
That putrefying human corpses dissent
nate death bringing pestiIence was proved
by Hannibal's warriors before Syracuse,
when, as a taunt Oohn) to the beleaguered,
they opened the graveyards about the city
and cast the corpses about the open field,
and lost their own lives for their pains.
CREMATION IN ITALY.
The Indictment to the present revived dis
cussion comes from Italy, where, in 1872,
the Lombard Academy offered a prize of 1000
francs for the best thesis on the best method
&c or,r,otino 70 toko tho O1ooo of tho rraooOt
form of burial. The plans of Professor Polli,
of Milan Brunnetti, Of Padua, and GOrini, of
Lodi have since then attracted much attention,
Professor Pollis plan is to place the corpse
in a receptacle of stone ware and to allow a
stream of ordinary burning gas to pass through
the vessel. The corpse is quickly charred, and
the ashes and the calCined bones remain over.
The operation lasts about an hour, and what
remains is, perhaps, the twelfth part Of the
original human being. The system is never
theless too costly and u%nrefned for adoption.
A system of flames has to be introduced at the
point of exit for The gases in order to consume
the obnoxious products. A more practical
svsfem is that of Professor Brunetti, whose
models and plans excited mnch interest when
exhibited last year at the Vienna Exposition.
In one Of the galleries occupied by Italia there
was a glass case with the inscription, "Iadoote
yetitum mems r~en0vata petit" and a series of
glasses containing specimens of cremated bO-
dies. Professor BRUNETTE had made FIVE ex-
periments His system is as follows -
%BRUNETTI's SYSTEM.
In an oven made of fire bricks and provided
with openings to regulate the circulation of the
air the corpse is placed upon an iron plate and
fastened firmly in its place by means of strong
iron wire. The consumption is produced by
the agency of a wood fire, and the heat is con-
centrated as much as possible by two arched
iron plates, which are made to close Immediate
" over the body. An intense heat is thus pro-
duced and the corpse burns with fearful rapidity,
and in about two hours is completely charred.
Then the arched plates are opened, the charred
remains are raked together and the fire is re-
newed. The flesh portions are then changed
completely into ashes and the bones c%alcined,
SO that all that remains is about three pounds
and a half. This result is wrought at an ex-
pense of 14O to 100 pounds of wood. The pro-
cess is, nevertheless, primitive and abhorent in
comparison with German systems. Even Pro-
fessor Brunetti admits that the process had
filled him with awe. $50 long," he says, cas-
/ could discern the human form and the soft
portions are seized by the flames the a%stonish-
mcnt is indescribabIe but when the form dis
appears and all is charred there follows on US a
deep depression" Professor Brunette does