The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-12-21
CREMATION.
Successful Cremation at Washington,
Pa.-Burning Of the Body Of Baron
de Palm.

Successful Cremation at Washington,
Pa.-Burning Of the Body Of Baron
de Palm.
From the Pa.sburg Dispatch, December T. ''
Starting from Vienna, Austria, in 1873,
with all the impetus that hearty recon-
mandation of the Managers of the
Worlds Exhibition could give it,, crema-
ton was yesterday firmly planted on the
soil of free America. If there had been
the slightest defect in the process of
Baron Won PALMS cremation, that
method of disposing Of theremains of the
departed would have received a death
blow in this country. But the expert.
ment was success, not alone in the per-
feet incine.ation Of the body, but also
from q sanitary standpoint. Opponents
of cremation have asserted that the gases
arising from the burning body would
poison the surrounding atmosphere. The
test of yesterday proved that the gases
can, and are consumed in the furnace,
before reaching the aue through which
the smoke passes to the air beyond.
The experiment yesterday proved
another thing incontestably. Two hours
and twenty y.seven minutes were consumed
in the cremation of the body of the
Baron, and as preliminary to the ere.
nation it was necessary to maintain q
fire in the furnace during thirty-six
hours, so that it may be brought to a
proper degree of heat for the reception
of the body. In the actual work of in
cineration but forty bushel of coke were
used. These facts show that the system
is yet in its infancy here, even in the ap.
plication of facilities. The furnace of
Dr.. LIE Moyne is susceptible of many i'm
provements, whereby there would be
much saving of time and fuel.
At the exhibition at Vienna Professor
Brunetti displayed the ashes Of man
whose corpse weighed ninety pounds
The body was reduced to ashes in about
four hours, at an expenditure of about
l60 pounds of wood. The furnace he
used was oblong in shape, and was made
of refractory bricks.
The greatest success in the matter of
furnaces has been achieved by Siemeus.
His furnace is constructed Oh the princi'
pie of regenerative heat. To build it
costs about 81, ,250, or about $500 less than
that of lie Moyne, and it will incinerate
body of 200 pounds weight in one hour,
at an expense of IS cents for fuel. The
wife of Sir Charles Dixie was cremated
in furnace of this description at Dres-
den in 1874.
Yesterdays cremation yividly recalls
the burning of the body of. the poet Shell.
ley, on the banks of the Mediterranean,
| in 1922. The horrid details of that sad
scene in Tuscany are familiar to all
English readers, as Trelawney did not
fail to graphically reproduce them.
That was probably the FIRST cremation in
modern times. That of yesterday was
the first of any time since the settlement
of this country, or, at least, the first pro-
NOTED and successfully carried to COM
| pletion by the civilized people of the
| country, and the reader of the detailed
report appended cannot fail to mark the
great contrast between the scientific cre-
nation of Won Palm and the burning CT
poor Shelley.
THE CREMATION.
The successful cremation of the re.
mains of Baron Won Palm in Little
Washington, yesterday, was an event that
will make that borough famous. But its
citizens did not seem to appreciate it.
The majority of them are hard-headed
Presbyterians, and they are prone to re-
gard the reform as desecration of the
dead. Rev. George P. Hays, the Presi-
dent of Washington and Jefferson Col.
lege, is a notable exception, however, and
his influence has done much to mollify
the people of bis sect thereabouts. The
apathy of the people seemed to be a
studied one, and very few of them visited
Gallows Hill during the cremation of the
Baron. The narrow space around the
building was at no time crowded. Few
carriages were driven to the scene, and
those were of public character. The
reception room, small as it was, was suf6-
ciently commodious to accommodate the
spectators in attendance. Scientific men
were conspicuous by their absence, and
before the cremation was over it leaked
out that the slim attendance of notables
was attributable to DR.. LIE Moyne, who
had notified them that there would be nc
room for them. The night before the
event was busy one for Col. Olcott
Upon him devolved the whole business
of arrangement, and of this duty he &C.
Quilted himself very creditably. At the
! last moment there was some discussion
as to whether the body should be inserted
head or feet foremost, but at the earnest
suggestion of DR.. LIE Moyue the body was
put in head first.
THE BODY IN THE CRIB.
The crib rested on the catafalque near
a window in the reception room, and di.
rectly opposite the door leading from the
front of the building. In the crib were
the remains of the Baron. The head
only was exposed, the body being
wrapped in winding sheet of linen.-
the face was very dark, nearly black in
color, but the features were natural. The
tissues were faccid, and the eyes sunken
and wasted. With the exception of a
faint smell OF carbonic acid, the remains
were odorless. The body was in such a
condition that a number of physicians
expressed the opinion that 1t would not
be difficult work to separate the skin
from the muscular tissues. The odor of
cafbolic acid noted arose from crystali-
zation of that acid with which the cavity
of the stomach had been partly filled.
In addition to this, preparation of pot
ter's clay was used in the process of em-
balmment. The body weighed ninety
two pounds.
At fifteen minutes after o'clock Col.
Olcott completed the preparation of the
body for cremation. Frankincense,
myrrh, and aromatic spices were sprink-
led over it, and then it was wrapped in a
linen cloth, which had been saturated in
o solution Of alum. A few primro.es,
some immortelles, bunch of geraninms
and roses, and several sprigs of ever
green were laid upon the dead Baron's
breast, and the pall-bearers stepped to
the crib and lifted the body from the cat
afalgue. At the head were Henry s,