, 1885-08-26
CREMATION USELESS.
a CINCINNATI PHYSICIAN SAYS THE
PR CESS IS UNNATURAL


H'H'"t"' t-ufHheTsI
doctor, suppose you give us your
views on cremation. "
We'll. in the first place. cremation is
lagan, not Christian, The Biblc says
dust 10 dust
And ashes TO nshess"
True. but not IN an incinerated sense
These ashes II The Scriptures are the pro
ducts ui deca not of lire. Besides, In
ordinary cremation there is no commin
Cling OF ashes The oh Get Is to separate
them AMI In urn them. The ancients
wrapped the bodies of their dead in cloth
made from the i~ncombuslib,e asbestos,
that they might be kept from contaminat
ing admixture with others.
There is the sentiment Of pcrretua-
tion, though this is really best subserved
in mummihcation, as in Egypt; saponif.
cation. rs in wet church yards: or In pet.
rificniion, which ia accomplished without
din Guilty. An Italian writer once re.
marked that petrifed ancestors could be
used as caryatides. Ieauiiful table tops
have been made Of petrified sections OF
human bodies. MS v%ariegated as those of
fossil stones, which arc natural petrifica.
ions of living things "
vi are not funeral urns more likely
10 be preserved"
NO. because they are entirely useless.
A few months ago d homan washer
woman used up all the ashes she could
scrape from the urns of illustrious
Romans for the abiect purpose OF making
lyc. "
How about the horrors of pulrefac.
ton in the sroundY
You needn't look ut it What the
eye does not sec the heart does not Rrieve
over. To watch the process of crema-
ton. 10 sec the hair SINCE and the fat
sputter. would be just as horrible. After
nil. decomposition is only n slow combus
ton "
Is not cremation cheaper"
Not at present. The process of in.
humation is in itself cheap enough,
though it is often made very expensive.
Five dollafs would really cover all
absolutely necessary expenses. Civ.
ing the laborcr his due reward. The
relatives and friends would nave to be
conveyed to II c%rematorium in the suburbs
Just MS TO a cemetery. and IL ground
should become too valuable for cemeteries
advantage could be taken of the railroad.
But cremation can be just rs cheap. In
Milan W bodies can be cremated In an
hour. at Il cost Of about 8 each. and the
Siemcns furnace at Dresden costs only
e. 80. and is still quicker in its work.
But if speed of destruction is desirable
there are swifter means than incinera-
iious Gorini OF Italy claims to be
able to completely annihilate n body
in twenty minutes by immersing it in a
hot solution Of chronic acid He says he
can in this way destroy 10. 00J bodies in
three days"
Nv hat are the points on the ground OF
health DO not chutchyards poison the
wa err and tie air?H
This is a question upon which not
books but libraries have been written.
Tut the drift Of opinion OF scientific men
does not run hat way. Have you ever
heard Of an epidemic or disease caused in
That way / don't know how many
gravcyards there are in our country. but
l have somewhere seen il stated that there
are about -. 900 In France and as many
in 4 ermany. Now. 1t would soon be
known if the vicinities of these places
were more dangerous TO health. | do not
mysc I know of a case OF infectious dis
ease contracted at a cemetery. The truth
is. most infections legin 10 cease with de
composition
ow auout the wells and drinkiug.
water
The idea that the wells in or near
churchi ards are bad is a popular ~fallacy.
So far as running water is concerned tue
Researches Of elcn Offer have shown that
all impurities nte speedily destroyed. for
even n The distance of a few rods from
the reception OF sewage the water is safe.
And standing water will puriff itself,
too. II exposed TO the air. The observa.
tions If Nuth and ex ave shown that
tile water Of the wells of fifteen church
yards IN ncrlin contained nitrates in less
quantity than the average wells of the
city. anil leck made a SINH
lar statement will regard 10 the
wells ot Dresden Eut no one in our day
would rely on a mere chemical anal sis in
the detection Of the organic poisops or
particles Of disease tits the physiological
or biological test that determines the
presence Of the germs of disease, and this
test shows that the wells of churchyards
arc moro pure Than the wells Of cities
Reinhard states distinctly that the wells
Of gra eyards contain purer water tina
those Of inhabited places. No. it is not
the dead. but the living that polute the
drinking water. and it would be far better
to cremato the chambers Of the sick than
the dead so far as public health is con.
cerned.
"Would cremation interfere with jus
tice -
"Cremation would cover up crime be-
yond all possibility of detection. IL is
no argument to say that an examination
could be made first, because crime is often
detected In eXhumations after many
years The works on medical juris
prudence abound in such cases. aud we
have fresh records added every day from
our own courts Cremation can never
receive judicial sanction on this &c
count %
Can not poisons be detected in ashes,
too"
Very few only a Few mineral poisons
The great majority Of agents used in this
way are utterly d%estructible by fire. and
with them, OF course. their effects upon
the body. Thea ashes are too easily
scattered. II for these reasons alone ]
should hope hat cremation would never
prpXal lint fhqra aro many othara y