The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1876-12-16
BURN Or BURY 2


remains causes considerable inquiry in
this country rs to the advisabiliry Of
the custom OF huryimg the
lie Il, which is now universal among
Christian nations. Our leading ex
changes. in discussing the question. oi
course diiier widely, and The HERALD
will confine itself to condensing these
diverse views, leaving IT'S readers to
form their own Judgment. 1t would
seem that the basis OF the present Gus
tom of burying the dead IS a desire,
however Intellectual, to preserve the
ieeting grace Of life after deaths pale
face has set its mark upon-the form
once associated with love and affection.
Bat this, say the cremationists, is i'm
posi- lie, rs the rapidity Of the vulture
after prey IS nothing as destructive
agent to natures eeaseless work. They
assert that the change from burial to
cremation will never be question OF
health or utility that to bring about
the reform the appeal must be made to
the poetry and sentiment of mankind
Aud this, notwithstanding that the dan
ger, the horror and pestileDce OF the
burial system, can, ~ they allege, be
easily shown. Graves are robbed ard
desecrated to such an extent that many
tons of human bones are sent
north from London each year
to be crushed and used for
manure Tradition tells us that the
grave is an undisturbed and perpetual
sleep, but il is replied that there Is no
such thing as an eternal necrop lis, an
eternal burial, as cemeteries are con-
stantly broken up aud removed to To-
calities more remote from populous
towns Again. wells. springs and rivers
are contaminated by contact with the
soil of grsveyaris, and the exhalation
of gases from cemeteries fills the air
with deadly poison. Grave-diggers are
at times oyerpowered, and at Paris in
1852 three men died from inhaling an
escape of gas from coffins. DR.. Seinii. Of
Mantua, bottled the air above q eeine-
terry in calm weather, and round it to
contain an organic corpusele which,
when administered in solution to a
pigeon. developed putrid fever and
caused death in three days, On the
score Of utility. Sir Henry Thompson
shows that 206 $40 pounds of bone
earth would result from creating the
IS .000 yearly deaths in London, and
that this by the law of nature and a
regard for the living should be returned
to the soil. /. is shown that erema
ton cemetery of twenty acres is snfii
ciently large TO contain the ashes of
| l3,ils0 600 bodies. SO that economy D
space forms an important argument iai
cremation 1t matters not whether
1.-THE process OF dissolution is the mould
ering decay Of the grave or the disin
fectant of fire the result is the same
the body is srosolved into It's simple ele
meDts, whether gaseons or mineral
Why not employ, then, it i
urged. the good angel OF fir,
to hasten the dissolution and rcn
der il innocunus7 The problem, ma,
be thus stated Given. a dead body i
resolve ii into carbonic acid &c OF. ws
ter. GH OF, and ammonis IN H3]. an.
the mineral elements. phosphate. su
phur. magnesia, etc, rapidly. safely an
Il pleasantly. The solution has aIread
: been stated, and when the process {
cremation shall have been general
adopted cemeteries will no longer b
required, and the institutions used !,
: their stead viii be known as estsblisl
ments Tor the icinerAtion ofthe dead.
ii Gods Acre will become. perhaps.
\ gorgeous temple. with almost immune
able sisles and alcoyes, containing mi
lions Of urns, constructed Of poreelai
I a!abaster or precious metal. accordir
= 70 the taste and wealth Of the owns
and within them refined sublisnat
the ashes Of departed frisnda Arous
aud among tlssn msy b grown Iuxu,
! aas tropical plants. lsden viii dellcio,
: | scrfhmes, = : sdbsfitus for the soisuu
) Cypress md weeping willow that adol
= tka eravASard a today. Whass n