San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1885-05-28
CREMATION.
San AulonlO REprs's.

Literary and Scientific nssoclntion'
Recently strenuous efforts have
been made TO disseminate tho theory
and views of those favoring crema-
ton, and this fact has had tend.
ency to create rather a general belief
that the practice OF cremation il q
novel one; but this is gross mis-
take.
Cremation was adopted and prao.
ticed by the anoients, tho only excep-
tons, as far MS known. being among
tho Egyptians, who embalmed and
preserved the bodies OF their dead by
process only known to thom; the
Hebrews, who inferred their dead in
stone caskets or sarcophagi; and the
Chinese, who were the only ones. who
gave their dead earth burial
The most civilized of all nations,
those who advanced farther than all
others in arts and sciences, the
Greeks and Romans, practiced crema-
ton, and tho custom, as in vogue
among them, was n very beautiful
one, surrounded with the most hal
lowed ceremonies and fraught with
the most sacred memories. The ashes
of the deceased loved ones were
placed in a sacred urn within the pre-
cincts of the premises of their rola-
tives. A shrine was erected, and Mt
stated periods, OF at any time, the
family visited them, without having
to undergo the dangers consequent
upon visit to n pestilential GEM
etery. The rite of cremation was n
sacred one, and to be deprived OF it
was Disgrace. 1t was denied to the
lower order of criminals, and Grim
inals who were placed in tho same
category. The custom Of cremation
was so universal that any other dis
position of the body was regarded
with as much disfavor rs cremation
has created in modern times.
The principal objection to crema-
ton at present is the prejudice Gre
ated by custom Earth burial being
almost universally in vogue now in
the civilized world, it is difficult to up
root the custom, although when the
advantages presented by cremation
are contrasted with the advantages OF
earth burial and carefully considered
by unbiased minds, rational persons.
especially sanitarians, concede the
advantages and superiority of crema-
ton over earth burial as means OF
disposing of the bodies of the dead.
The principal objection offered and
engendered by prejudice against Gre
nation is that 1t is against the reli-
gious faith of Christianity to cremate
the dead, and wrong to destroy the
body which is to be resurrected on
the last day. This is entirely errone-
GUS. A largo number of the Christ
ian martyrs who have been canonized
as saints, were burned and their
bodies destroyed. There were many
whose bodies were thrown into the
sea, and some were devoured by wild
beasts. When bodies are consigned
to the ground, they are destroyed by
the process of decay, and only the
mineral portion, or handful of ashes,
is left. Decay is heat; and why not
submit the body to the rapid heat of
the cremation furnace, rather than de-
post it in the earth, where the
temple of the mind and soul becomes
the habitation of worms, reptiles and
crawling things, when the gases ex-
uding from the body breed pestilence
and contaminate the living? The
body is placed in furnace and sub
iected for an hour to such intense
heat that nothing but the ashes re-
main. These are taken from the fur
mace and delivered to their relatives,
who deposit them in an urn at their
homes.
III had my choice Of disposing Of
my body, L would have it disposed of
SO that my loved ones could have it's
ashes near them. The ceremonies
attendant on cremation could be made
as imposing and beautiful, even more
so, than the present ones connected
with the earth burial.
Another great advantade Of crema-
ton is its economy. The cost of
crematinga body is not more than
$50, while the present custom OF fu-
nerals involves an expenditure of
from one hundred to FIVE hundred
dollars for a coffin, not to speak of
the costly attendance of carriages and
many other expenses which often can
but lily be afforded by the family who
are tyrannized by a custom which
leaves them after the funeral almost
and in many instances entirely penni-
less. The poor, by resorting to ere
nation, could save this useless ex
penditure, while the wealthy might
still surround the cremation ceremo-
mics with as much cost as they choose
20 afford
Tue religious objection is overcome
bv the fact that cremation is now
pIacticc1 IN countries where Christ
ianity prevails. aud IN Rome and
Italy. the scat Df the Roman Catholic
religion There is nothing in the
tauets 0f any Christian creed against
cremation.
Finally. the greatest argument in
far8rof cremation j. its sanitary al
van'1-c Tic great cholera plague
ID LYnlpB was crcatsl by diauter-
ri1- t.l rea.a- Gf victims e q
former rLllra epidemic. alter t4sy