The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-06-07
CREMATION In GERMANY.
Must the End BE Dust
or Ashes /?
THE ITALIAN AND GERMAN SYSTEMS.
How the Body May Be Reduced to H,ndful
Of Sn0w-White Ashes for g.
THE DISCUSSION ON THE CONTINENT.

THE DISCUSSION ON THE CONTINENT.
FRANKFORT oN-THK. MAIN, May 49, 1874
The question whether In future the dead are to
be burned or not Ia exciting just now IN Germany
. large share OF attention. and the discussions
thereon are OF considerable scientific interest.
Scarcely week passes but the papers announce
the constituting Of new cremation societies, whose
members, with the veal OF future generations at
heart, have taken a solemn oath that after death
their bodies shall be subjected to the process OF
cremation instead OF being deposited in cemeteries
or churchyards, where they would be allowed to
decompose themselves leisurely and, as they
think, disseminate epidemcs and miasmas so long
as particle Of them remained. Germany, Swift
zeriand Austria and Italy have each several such
societies. In Germany, Dresden, Vienna and
Breslau; and in Switzerland, Zurich, have taken
the lead. 1t is reported that In few weeks the
first cremation oven will be ready In Dresden.
The architect Friedrich Siemens is engaged in con.
structing it, according to the plan OF DR.. Reclaim.
and the communes OF both Dresden and Leipsic
have declared their
READINESS TO ADOPT THE SYSTEM
Of cremation If the trials shall prove satisfactory.
The Crema Society "Urn" Of Vienna Is about to
build cremation institution on the plan OF Profes.
sOr Reclaim. In Zurich number OF popular meet
ings have been held IN the st. Peters church for
the purpose OF discussing the subject, and doctors
and theoogians, scientists and laymen seemed to
agree in the necessity of burial reform in order to
prevent the spread OF epidemics. did not
find that the new system would hurt his religious
feelings, and Professor Kinke spoke OF the project
entertainingy from the aesthetic and artistic
points OF consideration. The Medical Society OF
Vienna discussed, in February the subject OF
Ilcra q nna 0f
ing of drinking water and infectious diseases" A
committee was elected to examine the systems
and results OF cremation and to report thereon.
Cremation makes rapid progress In Italy, where
Professor POLL, Of Milan; Professor Brunette, in
Padna, and Professor Gorini, in Lodi are Its earn
est advocates. Indeed, the subject will soon be
discussed before the Italian Parliament, bill hav-
ing been proposed to accept cremation as proper
method OF 'burial."
REASONS FOR BURNING THE DEAD.
The cremation mania does not appear in Ger
many now 1or the first time. The subject was
holly discussed in the sixth decade OF the present
century and q number OF cremation societies were
then formed. The question was again permitted to
subside, though not until some important author
tiles had given their opinions thereon. But cities
nave developed largely since then and epidemics
and cholera have troubled the learned professors,
who have come to the opinion that graveyards
poison the ground for large distances around;
that water the people drink becomes thereby pol
soned and people get the cholera and die;
and, again, that the obnoxious gases developed
by decomposition pass through the porous crust
OF earth above the putrid Masses and thus vitiate
the air we breathe TO extent but little dreamed
OF by most OF US innocent human sufferers Some.
body has made the interesting calculation that at
the time when the graveyards were used within
the city OF London some $500, 900 cubic feet OF
carbonic acid gas was annually developed from
decaying cOrpses and distributed in the air. The
foul gases developed In the process OF putreac-
ton are much more Injurious, as has been 80
frequently proved in the removal and opening up
Of disused graveyards. Proofs may be found
in the works OF Tardieu In France and
Parkes in England. They show that in over
crowded graveyards products are developed by
which the number OF diseases and deaths among
the surrounding populations Is increased, in some
cases through the poisoning Of the drinking water,
In others through rendering the air impure. Typhus
epidemics have frequently followed the opening
OF grave nelds-instanee, in the Rom. IN the Au-
vergne, In the past century, and only few decades
ago the epidemic among the inhabitants Of the
Marche des Innocents In Paris when, In 1880, the
| corpses which had been temporarily placed there
| were again dug up. The German, Riecke,
records an interesting case In village
| In the Kingdom OF Wurtemberg the community
had erected from motives OF economy, the school,
house on an old unused churchyard but when, in
winter, the heat In the schooroom attracted the
air from the soil beneath 1t, sickness became 80
prevalent among the scholars and teachers that the
school had to be closed But all these are facts so
generally known that It may seem presumption
to repeat them here. That purifying human
corpses disseminate death. bringing pestence was
| proved by Hannibal's warriors before Syracuse,
when, as a taunt (hohn) to the beleaguered, they
opened the graveyards about the city and cast the
| corpses about the open neld, and lost their own
lives for their pains.
CREMATION IN ITALY
The incltement to the present revived discussion
| comes from Italy, where. in 1872, the Lombard
! Academy offered prize Of 1000 francs for
the best thesis the best method OF cremation to
take the place OF the present form of burial. The
plans OF Professor Pol,, OF Milan; BRUNETTE, OF
Padua, and Gorini OF Lodi, have since then at
tracted much attention. Professor Pols plan is
to place the corpse in a receptacle Of stone ware
and to allow 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 nevertheless too costly and unrefned
Tor adoption. system OF names has to DO intro
duced At the point OF exit for the gases In order to
consume the obnoxious products. more practi-
cal system Is that Of Professor Brunette, whose
models and plans excited much interest when ex-
hibited last year at the Vienna Exposition. In
one OF the galleries occupied by Italia there was a
glass case with the inscription, 'lndocte vetitum
mems ren0vata petit" and series OF glasses con.
tanning specimens OF cremated bodies. Professor
BRUNETTE had made nve experiments His system
| Is as f0lows:-
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 q
wood fire, and the heat Is concentrated as much
| as possible by two archpd iron nlataa which are