Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1882-06-01

deprived of animal matter aud may be pre-
served any length of time without change.
There arc four to seven pounds Of these
remains from various sized adult bodies,
they can be placed, for preservation, in q
one-gallon druggists bottle, with large.
ground stopper, into which photograph Of
the deceased, with appropriate record, can
DC placed before introducing the remains
This bottle can be placed 10 the colunJd-'
'tan, of tho orematory, kept among the
cherished memorials Of the family Of the
deceased, or placed beside other remains
previously buried in cemeteries or graye-
yards.
This building, with its appliances, cost
about $1,000. A palmer one, equally
efficient, could now, at the reduced cost Of
labor and materials, DO built for $1,000.
40 impression prevails that this crematory
was erected for public accommodation and
that the owner Of it follows cremation as
business for fees. This is u mistake. It
was built for the uso of its present pro-
prictor and friends in the vicinity who CON
our with him in this reform. No fees have
been charged nor ever will be whIo in his
possession.
not unimportant item in this process
IS the great dimnution in the expense of
funerals. The average expenditure for each
body buried is 500, the average cost by
cremation is $40; tho aggregate saving in
the United Suites, from the adoption Of
this system would annually amount 10 nils
lions of dollars TIE expense of cremation
is less than that of an ordinary burial case.
Cremation certainly is not burbarous, for
it never entered, nor could enter tho heads
OF barbarous people. 1t is not burning;
there is no pile of wood or other combusti-
blcs, no visible flame, no smoke, no sioken-
Ing odor; it is process of great scientific
skill, the reduction of tho body to ashes by
the application Of intense heat, ,00Oo to-
2,OOOo Fahr., by which it is resolved iuto its
chemical elements at once, and without the
tlime coming in contact with the body.
We arc all, more or less, carried away by
our emotions and scnsibiltics, especially 10
tho matter of the treatment of tho bodies Of
our dear ones. As rational beings we must
not allow our instincts and emotions to run
away with our renason especially in matter
as Important as this.
The history of cremation in the United
States is very brief, as the progress of such
radical change in long established customs
must, OF necessity, be slow. The earliest
known instance was Of Col Hcnry Laurcns,
in South Corolina, in 1906 Including
that, to the present time not moro than
eight, or poisstly ten, cases have occurred,
the last in the current year, and three or
four in the crematory at Washington, Pa
Among those who left instructions for the
disposal of their remains by cremation was
DR.. Charles Il. Wiosow, of California. q
former member of tho Society of Arts,
whose body was crcmated about five years.
ago, in Salt Lake City, 10 temporary fur;
mace erected by his command, by the ad.
ministrators of his estate The Washington,
Pa, crcmutory has had nearly one hundred
applications, which have been declined, aS'
the trustees do not intend to follow it as q
business. ThcJ i'll permit only an occa-
s'onal cremation there for the purpose Of
Keeping the subject before tho public and
OF fastening the disappearance of the prcju.
dice which exists against this mode of
disposing of the dead. 1t is believed by
them that similar structures will be built as
other places and they will furnish for such
loudab!o purpose any information which
their experiences enables them to give
Leaving out Of the question, then, oil
but sinitary reasons, cremation is far
preferable to earth burial; and we cannot
ont think that by degrees this reform will
supplunt prejudiced superstition, the pomp'
and profits of undcrtakers and give to tho
living that immunity from many diseases,
arising from foul air, impure water, and
poisoned earth, which they arc entitled to
receive from the progress of sanitary science.
Proc. Soc. Arts, Boston.
SEVEN or eight steamers, and
ten times as many sailing vessels,