Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1884-04-24
Cremation.
|Fhe Process Of Burning the Dead Wv
Idly Described bv an Eye-wItn+ss.

Fhe Process of Burning the Dead Wv
4 IDLY Described bv an Eye-Witness.
8 The following er"ptic account
burning the dead was ~rlt'eu ty "Ar
Eye Wl,pess' o: 5be process who hac
before regarded it with repugnance
Put who was convinced by witness
Ing it into an earnest advocate /:
! "a furnace FIRE is built aud her
burning for twenty or thirty houl'
before the cremation is to take place
Immediately above the fire is placed
in a horizontal position cyl'ndel o.
tlay called the incinerator, three feel
! n diameter by seven feet long This
FIRE clay incinerator, the walls ol
which are from one to two inches
ahick, receives TO itself the intense
heat Of the fire below, but does not
admit the flames. The consequences
Hs that the body, when placed in the
+ Encinerator, is not, in proper sense
of the word, burned. 1t is reduced
TO ashes by the chemical application
pf intense heat. Gases are driven OF
br absorbed, and, being carried down
into the fire from the incinerato and
led back and forth 25 feet through
it's flames, are utterly consumed
Even the smoke of the fire is con
bumed, and nothing can BE zen iasu
Ing from che chimney butthe quiver
pf the heat. The process might be
called, as we have aaid, the spiritual
|zation Of the body, the ethereallza-
lion or sublimation Of its material
parts.
when the incinerator has been
raised to a white heat it is ready for
aAhee aAhe reception of the remains. AS the
cover is removed from its mouth the
inrushing air cools it from a white
10 a red heat. and the whole inner
surface is filed with a beautiful rosy
light which ia fascinating to the eye.
It looks like the blush of dawn up n
the sky, or like the exquisite u Is
which sometimes flicker along The
aurora borealls There is no'bltgte
pulsive about it, and nothing, as ba>
been said, to suggest the idea Of fire
except the intense heat.
"The body, being decently clad
for burial, and tennerly laid IN The
crib for thepurpose, is wholly covered
with clean white sheet which h..t
been dipped in a solu'ion Qf' alnm.
The effact of tbis il en- rely 20 pre-.
vent smoke cr fur,s or q M, ~n b
would otherwise arise from rnt'i' g
anything f. mmsbie into th' MI st
Of such heat; but, under - +
lection, even the extraordinary h-a
of the inciperator does no, lrcducs
upon the body the appearance ol
scorching or smoking or anything oi
the sort. There is no such impression
az that of burning made upon 'h'
eye. The sheet, saturated with alum
retains it's original position over the
crib, and conceals the entire form u, :
til nothing but the bones are lef;;
and when the eye first rests u lon the
remains after they are left in the rosy
light of the. cylinder, it sees nothing
bus those bones@gently crumbline
away into DUST under the my stlc
touch Of an invisible agent, whose
only appearance to the eye is like the
tremor o. the Northern lights in the
sky; or, more exactly, the radiation
Of heat from the earth beneath tht
8 sun. You have LAID white
robed form within the rosy cylinder
and have turned away to TIN k witt
gratitude that all is well. You have
let your imagination dwell lovingly
upon the pleasing sentiment thai
whatever may be left beside the cal
ciued bonea, most pure and clean
has gone to mingle with the upper all
aud dwell with sunshine, birds and
flowers. The darkness and the damp,
ness Of the earth ha been escaped
and so have the perils Of grave
snatcbing. the iDdeeencles of pos,i
BILE dissecting room and the nsmeleae
horrors of putrefacrion. YOU have
pleasant memories TO cherish of ht
last sad hour, which, instead Ct
breathless darkness and the 'narr"W
house and the dread nj 'hui oi II
ing. earth upon the c'fi presents
mind lovely bed OF r.sy llgh', al
A peaceful form, clad in virgin Fur ",
resting within its soft embrace. II a
lily had been laid upon a bed OF pinE'
or roses ir the summer, and you har'