Morning journal and courier., 1882-06-24
Price Four Cents.

subject of cremation. M. Martin agrees with M. Cadet that cremation In short time wlll be regarded as the only possible solution of problem which in great cities is ever increzs- ing in urgency; but he contents himself with proposing that for the present cremation should be rendered optional The cremato- ry, however, IS as yet but in early stage of development. Under the stimuius of com petition it is probable a much nearer ap- proach to perfection may be made than has yet been attained. The regeheratiTe furnace of M. Siemens at Dresden only cost S2J0, and is one of the best yet invented. Combus- tion is effected by heated air, and the pro cess is very rapid. The Brunetd eremstOry is complicated and slow. It takes four hours to consume body, and necessitates @ con- sumption of hundred weight of wood. The most ghsstly of all the apparatus of creus- ton is the Kuborn which Is devised for use on the field of battle In this dreadful ma chine as many as twelve bodies can be burned at one time, the operation lasting from sn hour to an hour and a half. A dozen Ru- borns, working day and night, could dispose of ,, ,5O0 corpses in twenty four hours 1hir- ty years ago it was proposed to dispose of bodies by pas sing them into gaS retorts, and since then many inventors have sought to use gas as the agent for reducing them to their elements. The apparatus of MAI. Pol lini and Clericetti, in which many crems-
 
 which gas is used much on the principle of the ordinary gas-o oven The process Is com plete in an hour and half, and the charge is twenty francs. On an altogether different principle is the crematory of Professor Paolo Gorini, of Lodi He professes to be able completeiy to destroy human body in twenty minutes, at cost of eight francs, by immersing in chemical solution heated to g high temperature. The composition he keeps strict secret, but chronic acid is be- lieved to be one of it's chief ingredients. The best known crematory in Europe IS that erected by NJ. Keller in the cemetery of Milan. In this monumental cremstory' two bodies can be consumed at a time without producing any odor. The process, which IS completed in an hour, can be watched through small glazed openings, and at the close the survivors can carry home with them four or five litres of fine ashes weigh ing about sixty ounces. The cost varies from 15f. to 25f.
 ''The chief objections to cremation are those which are made by those who plead re- igicus principles, and by those who lay stress upon the impossibility of procuring evidence as to poisoning after the victiG has been cremated. The first objection is not serious, and in Italy, according to A- Mar tin the clergy have already accepted the pro- cess, and are now seeking permission to place the funeral urns containing the ashes of the
 
 churches The difficulty as to poisoning is more important and it undoubtedly consti- tutes an objection to the new system. But the cases in which poisoning is discovered by exhumation are few. Only three cases have occurred in Paris in eight years, and Tn two of them close examination of the corpse which would be obligatory before cremation would have led to it's detection Many poi sons are undiscoverable by exhumation, and others, such as arsenic, antimony, lead, etc, can be detected in the ashes of the cremaao- " furnace or in the fumes which are given of in the process. At Milan the presence of arsenic in the ashes of poisoned dogs has been repeatedly discovered; but of course in cases where the surviving relative was the guilty party the ashes would not be allowed to remain for any time in the funeral-urn- On the whole, notwithstanding the pleas urged by its advocates, cremation can hardly faII to increase to small degree the chances of poisoner's escape"