The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-04-03

Switzerland, and in Austria, It has
been made legally permissive. The cremation
Society of London was started in 1874
while in France the councils are considering
the Availability of it instead Of ground and of
vsult burial. In referring to past times we
find that the three methods most in vogue
we're by burying or the simple clothing of
the body up in earth; or the embslmingor
nummifcation Of the body; or incinterstion,
or tho burning Of the body and urning
tho ashes. The Egyptians mainly
practice the embalming process, and
with them it was an art SO
highly cultivated rs we'll as greatly prac-
tlced, that q mummy was rs inoilensive as a
piece Of stone; and these mummies me TO day
to be- found in public museums and private
families. So far as We know, buryng in the
earth an,edates rs it has been the most
favored of all other methods of disposing of
Humanity turned 10 clay" In Juies, hu-
man corpses were buried it seems, in sepul-
chres, while in China they were consigned to
the earth. How long ago and By whom
incinteration or cremation was first prac-
ticed, or whether at first from sanitary or
religious consideration, We hS out small
means of ascertsining. Certai" is tina!
in Greece, and in Err. before
and after il camo under
tha Pomona ;,o,o,oa.;o, ,,os oxt,,,;uoI,, l.,
vogue, although the body being burned the
ashes were inferred beneath the soil, in urns
of baked clay, terra Gotta, etc. In the earlier
times the Jews had recourse to this process
as when the plague came in tho vale Of
Tophet. A practice among the Digger In
dams in the Rocky mountains, obtains OF
smearing the ashes Of the burned dead on
the heads Of tho mourners. Other tribes
scatter the ashes to the winds, while the
general custom amongst civilized people is
to urn them. Among the early Romans [
the corpse was placed upon tho funeral !
pyre made in the form of an altar
the nearest relative, with Sverted face, kindled
the pyre and then throwing purfumes, oil,
ornaments, ETC., upon tho fire. The embe r
were eItiDgushed with wine and the ashes,
collected by near kinsmen. were placed in
urRa for interment or for house worship,
these vessels being of various forms and /
materials The MeIicsns long prac,iced
cremation, and TO such an extent that when |
men killed in battle were missing, they made |
figures of them, and after honoring these,
burnt them and buried the ashes, or when !
persons were drowned their figures were
burned on the affairs of the idols, together
with a large Offering of wine AMI bread. So.
too, with many African and Asistic nation /
alties and tribes, as with tho Tucanos, who
drink the powdered bones and ashes Of their
relatives, mixed with water, believing that
the virtues of the deceased will be trans
milted to tie drinkers, aud that it is the
highest honor they can pay TO tho desd; as
with tho whale fishing Koniagas, who when
4 great whaler dies, Gu, up his body
into small pieces for distribution to his fellow
craftsmen for cremation and inhibition, or
IS an amulet for talismsnc purposes
But this thing OF cremation WAS no doubt
arrested by the Christian doutrine Of ihe
body. Yet the argument rapidly melLs away
by the now known fact which science dis
closes that putrefaction accompanies idcn,i-
cally the same thing with tho human names
n does burning, although one is slow aud
The other arapid conclusive process OF de-
On the fourth Of July some
'evsn years ago, the bishop of Lincoln, in
England, preached against cremation, a.
ending TO undermine tho faith Of mankind
n bodily resurrection. This view Of the
proceeds upon tho hypothesis
hat death is merely long suspended ANNA.
lion, doctrine that go many peoples have
irmly believed as shown by their customs Of
eaving food and drink with tho corpse, tho ,
of fro TO the cook, by the co.
nterment ofwoapons for defense or hunting
when 1t should arise, as DO the Fantees who
iupply meats, the KNens who furnish wines,
be rahitisns who leave fruits, and the New ,
Lealsnders and the Peruvans who set resu. ,
ar funeral ieas,s at the grave, and who aver ,
hat at night the spiri. OF tho deceased come, ,
'rd feeds upon the sacred cslabashes until
% examination shall enable tho body 10
AXE caro- Of and provide for itself.
Az the Vienna exhibition in 1873, there ,
Vas exhibited a cremating apparatus whereby
,omplntO incinteration Of II dog was effected
mo day, by tho use Of coal gas, within two ,
hours time. The body weighed some sixty
bounds, and tho ashes weighed abcu, three
,ouads, or, say per cent. under the
,lsn now proposed. We believe it takes
ONE four hours for perfect cremation,
hough year ago, body weighing $50
pounds, in Paris, wc think /, was, WAS
reduced in jus! less than ono hour u,c
our pounds OF line dust. The ST Loui,
'romstion society propose, 10 turn an hon
st penny by roducinga person to ashes for ,
hc price of $40 although tho inciG,eraIion ,
oats less than $40.
Tho question is ono now being preseed 40. ,
N tho people and II has made progress in ,
no way OF securing attention. How tho
wing ehall hes. care for the dear departed, ,
- ~ l,.na.,,,.r Ia k,s, O., "a. ,,.H. n - Al =. |