The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1883-01-25
liiperisllable Corpses.

Gertrude Garrison in The Indianapolis Review.
Man is fond of obtaining the mastery over
nature. He never really does obtain it, bnt
occasionally when he succeeds in arrestine
her processes for ever so brief time he is
delirous with delight at his fancied victory.
couple of enthusiasts of Erie, Pennsylvania,
have applied for n patent on newly -discov-
cred process of preserving the dead They
think they have the long lost art of mummy
making within their grasp. Anyhow they have
proved liquid, which if diffused through a
dead body, even when the body is foul from
decay, will destroy all corruptible matter and
convert the flesh into cartilaginous state, the
oars becoming like polished horn These
two inventors experimental on the corpse of
an infant, and in ten weeks after the body had
been removed from contact with the compound
tho little mass of clay had become like rub
Der doll, with checks full and plant to the
touch, and ears as hard and polished as cor
net. 1t is claimed by the patentecs that
bodies treated in this way cannot decay, and
IN the stereotyped words of the ve.acious
chromcler of the daily press, @the discovery
has excited great interest among scientists"
Az mon w III tWo VI STdSS 10
grow where but one grew before is benefac-
ion to human kind, but for the life of us we
can't sec where the man who keeps dead bodies
IRON rotting benefits anybody. He is posi-
i've foe to agriculture, as much valuable fer
tilizing matter will be lost if his patent is gem
orally adopted In what way will civilization
he advanced and mankind be helped by max
ing corpses indestructible? We shall be
leithor happier nor better for walking
over imperishable bodies. We don't be-
lieve any one who seriously thinks about
it feels at ell comforted by the thought that
after death he can be put down in the earth
with his ears like horn and his cheeks like
those of rubber doll Life would be no
easier for us if We knew that the bodies of our
kindred were preserved that way than if we
knew they had yielded to the decree of nature
and returned to their original elements. 1t is
the spirits or souls of our beloved that we
value not their bodies and though we turned
corpses to everlasting stone and stacked them
higher than the tower of Babel, we. could not
win y comforting smile or word from one of
them.
Nature intended the human body to perish
entirely after the immortal soul passed out of
it. and this is one of the benignest and tender
est OF her wise DEGREES. Hygiene and happi-
ness both demand it. Instead of searching for
means to preserve the dead, quicker methods
of complete disintegration should be adopted.
If We knew that beneath our feet the ground
WAS thlckiy spread with indestructlbic corpses,
ghastliness would be tile prominent feature OF
life. Dead people who are superior to decay
are no propsto any country, no solaee to any
heart, no help to any living creature. We
do not take orr dead out of their tombs to
ltok at them every once in WHILE as we
do our jewels and keepsakes and personal
treasures. We put them away from us for
ever, and by and by when our grief has soft
ened into regret we stand by their graves and
feel II sorrowfui comfort in the thought that
their bodies have become dust, and can never
by any possibility be subjected TO ANY rude
conqueror worm and the ghouls OF our own
race.
Tie Egyptian art of mummifcation has
lsystied the people of modern times and fur
nisled iirewood for some of them Beyond
that it has been no benefit to the world Those
who choose may take advantage of the new
patont Tor preserving corpses; but we predict
that there will he no general anxiety among
men and women to be converted into lideous
imperishahle calicature of their former selves
with ears like horn and cheeks pulled out like
ancient Pistol.