The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-02-28
horbitant fees out of poor people as

horbitant fees out of poor people as
well as rich.
CATER death there are three stages
in the processes of decomposition"
continued DR.. Vanderpoel. "On the
first day the features and the flesh are
sunken in and the pallid shade of death
is very CHASTITY. On the second day is
an improved look in every respect and
the remains lose part of the pallor of
the first day. On the third day the
flesh becomes full again, the skin clears
up and the natural hue of life returns
to degree that in some cases is almost
startling. At the end of this period
discoloration sets in and decomposition
does its work with great rapidity if the
weather be warm. But these changes
can be postponed without difficulty by
the proper use of a very little ice on the
stomach and some diluted carbolic acid
sprayed into the nostrils. In 1848,
when the modern ice-boxes were I'M
known, l kept the body of my mother
four days in the hottest summer weather
of July. My son dropped dead in the
street from kidney disease. He was in
full health, and kept the remains in
fine condition for five days with SIM
pie pan of ice. l was attending on a
poor little girl in Thompson street.
Her mother was so poor that did not
charge her anything. When the little
sufferer passed away told the mother
that an undertaken would come and
order the remains to be put on ice, but
l would show her how to keep the body
until time for burial. 1t would keep
without trouble, for there was no flesh
to decay. left the mother to go to my
Office for certificate of death. When
l returned the body was on ice as usual,
and the mother told me that the under
taker had come and told her that she
must have the remains put into an ice
box without delay. She thought it
must be some kind of an official utter
ance, so she borrowed $40 and gave it
to the undertaken before could return.
In cases of poverty like this the under
takers charge is $40. From other peo-
pie they take $40, and such prices are
outrageous. Why, you can get whole
funeral nowadays, with two carriages,
for S25, and without the carriages the
charge is only SIS. went to look at
some of the coffins for these economical
funerals the other day, and they were
quite respectable.
In closing the conversation DR.. Van
derpoel said that his patient might
possibly have died natural death; that
was not for him to determine. What
he complained of was the general and
growing practice of undertakers, with
out proper medical education, putting
people into ice and freezing them be-
yond all possible recovery before the
bodies had time to cool naturally. He
thought that physicians, the Board of
Health and the law should take meas
ures to put stop to such indecencies.
There was no necessity, he said, for the
practice, no excuse for it, except the
sordid anxiety of the undertaken to
make an exorbitant fee. He strongly
favored the Neurological Society, which,
he understood, was making efforts to
have a medical expert especially de-
tailed to investigate each case of re-
ported death and to make a scientific
examination as to whether the doctors
themselves might not have erred and
issued certificates before the vital spark
of life had really fled.-N. 2. ReroI1.
Feb. 3.