The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1883-04-07
Qbt Gbibnoaux Sentinel.
SATURDAY, APRIL Z, 1888.
CREMATION.

~ that this too too solid 1esh would molt
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew"
!Let's talk Of graves, and worms and epitaphs''
Within the scope of history and ira
dition, there have existed Mt various
times. three general method. for dispo
sing of the bodies of the dead, viz
Burial, Cremation and EmbalMing.
Of these the first named is the oldest,
and is now almost universal, but like
most of the changeabIe fashions Of man
kind it has been subject ut various pc
RODS to alterations, and has at times
been almost wholly superseded by one
OF the other :wO methods named. And
thus We see the art of cremation which
not many years ago seemed almost lost
to memory being gradually revived.
The perfection tn which this art has
been brought. and its advantages over
burial from Observation-Disclosures, form
the theme of this discourse.
1t was almost two centuries ago that
q poet, speaking Of death, remarked
"The grave. dread thing, men srive.- w.er
thou'rt named: nature appalled, sh. lie, o fine
wonred firmness."
And who when viewing the bn. al Of
some friend. will not shiver when he
gazes on the damp and narrow resting
place Of hun whose pearly flesh will
soon be food for worms. As Shakes
peare has said
"a ma may fish " til he worm tbsS hatn
cut ola King. and eat Of the fish tia. nath led
d that worE.'
A pleasant thought indeed. But out
side OF the various prejudices which ma
turally arise from such facts and find
expression, not only in words but in
air-tiSht coffins and sepalchers. there
are various sanitary and other objec
lions to the form Of burial as now prac
tised.
An English writer has defined the hu
man body chemically, as As pounds of
carbon and nitrogen dissolved in 81
gallons Of water. Now the effect Of de-
composition which sets in usually direct
~ after death is to resolve this com
pound into various gases, evaporating
the water, and leaving as q residue,
four or five pounds of lime, salts. The
gases produced by decomposition are
generally acknowledged to be very
harmful. If not poisonous, as is proved
by the delegation of church yards to
the outskirts of the city. The time re
CURED TO; decomposition is from n to
ONE and a half years, during all of
which the body is giving off these dan
gerons gases which the su.roundinp
earth may deodorize but cannot q
fine ; this ia owing to a considerable de
feet in orr method of burial. The In
dian leaves his dead above the surface
where the sun apd air as we'll as the
many surface worms can dispose of it
in a comparative)y::sho,t time /; but We.
IN the, interest OF so called decency con
fine the body in the nartowest possible
space, beneathfour or Eve feet of earth
SO that the unhealthy process Of decom.
position may be prolonged as long as
possible.
Now the objections to grave yards
are not only their unhealthfulness. but
the fact:that their removal il notao easv
to accomplish and is -:generalIy sufficient
It witnessed. to destroy all the pleasant
illusions about that, ''rest in the g, ave..
OF which Knox speaks in his immortal
hymn. Grave yards can only be placed
at a certain distance from the CITY, in
order tn be convenient, and when by
Its growth the City enc, caches upon
them, it Is necessary to remove. one a:
ter another. the homes of those who are
buried there which is not only difficult.
but sometimes almost impossible. It
was only'about a year ago that a sensa |
tlonal article appeared in one of our
daily papers describing the condition
of one of the old grave yards in the
south western portion ofthee city in which
the children of the neighborhood might
be seen playing with the bones of skcle
tons exposed to view by the caving
away of a large bank. ! have even
known myself of Two young ladies help
ing themselves surreptitiously to some
Of the bones exposed to view in a grave
yard in process of remova! in order to
complete q skeleton which they were
constructing.
Of what avail are costly monuments
and whited %sepulchers when such con
tingeDcies as these and others are in ex
lstencef What security can we feel
that when our bodies are committed to
he soil that they will rest there in
peace until the last day ? Many saw
what difference does it make 7 We can
Know nothing of all this /; our bodies
'annot feel the inlignisies to which thew
re subjected after death Z: one might a.
yell on the same reasoning beqneath
us body to the surgeons knife.
But the fact remains that va
re prejudiced against such disposal Of +,
bodies, and should a law be submit {
ed to any of u legislative bodies. ,
.ompelling the delivery fall corpses to {
he colleges of surgery it wocld be very i
uickly and easily defeated. Why then I
we have such a national preind;ca a