The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1874-05-23

which was made of various materials,
to the circumstances of indi-
viduals.
In the Feejee Islands parents are gen
eraIIy killed by their children. SoI. g
times the aged people make up their |
minds to die; sometimes the children |
give notice to their parents that they |
are burden. A family consultation is
thereupon held, 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 proof of affection that
none but children can be found to per-
form it. The reason is. that they are
persuaded that they will instantly pass
into another state of existence, where
they will be just what they we're when
thew died. The Feegeeans generally
bury the body in a sitting posture.
New-Zealanders were buried in their
houses, which were left with all they
contained. They believed in a future
state that " as entered upon immediate
Iy after death, and missionaries could
not induce them to accept the doctrine
of the resurrection of the dead. SIM
ilarly, 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 I'M
der the 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 Cold
Cast, do the same.
The Tahitians 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
While thus the large mass OF mankind
has ALWAYS striven to expedite the dls-
solution of the body, a small NUMBER
of races have. from the most remote
antiquity, made it a subject of tender
and serions 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
suscitaEed. after q more or less extended
period hence it was necessary that the
body should be preserved from all IN
iury. and, If possible, from all corrup-
ton. that the soul might find 1t unIn-
iured on the day of resurrection. No peo-
Mo have maid more care and labor on the
nreseryation of the dead than the Egyp-
tians. They believed that, after a sub
terranean pilgrimage, the soul was TO re-
| enter the body, and give 1t movement
/ and life. The Jews also believed IN the
resurrection of the dead, and hence
they covered the corrses with spices, 10
preserve them for a while from corrup-
/ ton. Eighty pounds of spices we've
/ ueed at the funeral of Rabbi Gamaliel,
/ and Nicodemus furnished hundred
/ pounds' weight of mixture OF myrrh
| and aIoes for the burial OF Jesus. Eg-
! ery Jew wished to be buried in that land
/ where the Messiah should come to
reign. and call the dead from their
graves. Jacobs and JOseph's embalmed
| remains we're returned 10 the land OF
| Canaan and it was a 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
| sepulehres were ''houses of the living.
I The Christians of the first century
/ gave to their burial grounds the name
/ Of cemetery, which means sleeping
rlace." or dormitory" It was taught
| that every enc would rise from the
grave wherever he had heard the wore
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 ward, consecrated by the bene
diction of the sprinkling of holy water
took. therefore, the place OF the Hol
Land. Unbelievers could not be IN
. Il 10 "
rendered it incumbent to receive ais
the bodies of herstics, they we're burie
. in a portion of the cemetery which wa
rs.Jsr ees-,siaared So forming part OF tn
| not been conseexAssd- HA4szs, - t-z-azs
2 in every mode of disposing of the deaC
and no scientific process can very mat,
rally lessen it. It is the duty of INTEL
: gent men to make such provision f
{ the dead as will not injure the livint
| Nevertheless, man will always be Les
: intent on performing his funeral rites
accordance with the latest researches
chemistry than in a manner intended {
relieve the painful feelings which a
tend them Grief for TIE dead Will a
ways suggest such rites as correspon
with the traditional ideas of what is Ia
most loving and honorable mode {
parting with the remains of the deceased
ana IL matters little whether IL IS ate
the manner of the Feejeeans or Tab
tians, Greeks or Romans. Brahmans {
: Buddhists, Parsees or Scandinavian!
, or any other people.
2 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 a mar
, ner that the earth can completely al
sorb and neutralize the products of d.
, composition. Cremation does not W
commend itself TO our hearts. Som
} future day, when all our religious, ST
/ perstitious, or traditional ideas, an
changed, and our hearts are completed
J set on living solely by the laws {
science, then we shall probably offer
premium for the discovery of an instar
taneous destruction of the lifeles