Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1885-12-24
lNCiNERATION.
The Process Of Cremation - Observed In
the Lancaster CremaforY.

by means of a cast-iron cradle like 9
coffin in shape. Perhaps better ides
OF it may be obtained by calling it 8
cage OF cast-iron bars, which are about
SIX inches apart. Wrought-iron was
the material first used, but the intensity
OF the heat so warped the frame, OF
cage, that it was found impossible to
preserve ITS form. Before placing the
body in this cradle, sheet, saturated
with solution of alum, is placed on
the bottom of the receptacle, and the
ends OF the sheet extending over the
sides so as to be folded over and AROUND
the body. In an adjoining room.
known as the undertaker's room, the
coffin in which the body is brought to
the ''crematorium" (as the house is
called in Lancaster,) is opened, and all
superf1uous clothing is removed from
the corpse. 1t is particularly necessary
to remove buttons and other metallic
substances from the clothing, to avoid
the assimilation of foreign substances
with the ashes of the body. Having
been properly prepared Ior delivery to
the retort, the body was then conducted
to and placed in the cage, which4ested
upon wheeled truck. The loose ends
| of the alum-soaked sheet were then
folded over the body, and the truck was
pushed to the front of the retort. An
opportunity was offered for whatever
funeral service might have been de-
sired, but none had been requested OF
desired, and none were held.
The retort had been heated to tenn
perature estimated to be about $500
degrees. cit is not clear what the
former experiments were on which
this estimate is based.) One man
opened the large iron door of the retort
and two Others pushed the iron cage
containing the body into fierce white
heat of the retort. This transfer of the
cage and body from the truck to the
fiat fire-clay surface of the retort occu-
pied only thirty seconds. The body
was in the retOrt-an arched receptacle
that was nine feet long, three feet wide
and thirty inches high. Against the
outer surface of this friedrich structure,
known as the retort, fierce little jets of
flame were pressing. unseen, forced by
means of a blower, which also applied
its blast to the furnace, and distributed
the heat rs equally as possible to all
parts of the retort, and maintained the
intensity of the temperature as long as
was desired. The action of the heat
upon the body. as seen through little
slide in the door, was, first, to force
out all the moisture in it-fatty oils or
aqueous particles-and to convert these,
as well as the moisture of the alum
water sheet, into dense cloud of
vapor, which filled the retort and for
awhile hid the body from view. The
alum-soaked sheet saved the body from
instant injury by the heat, in the act of
decOmposing it in the retort, and left it
to the regulated action of the intense
heat after it had been properly placed.
As the vapor-cloud dissipated. the out
lines of the body could be seen imper-
fectly defined under the glowing sheet
which, in the absence of outside air,
and in the asbestos-like effect of the
alum, still preserved its general form,
even while it and the body which
it had covered had grown all
into the incandescent mass-in-
tensely brilliant. like the interior
of big melting-pot in glass
makers factory. The time which had
elapsed in effecting this brilliant trans
formation, and during which the body
had remained hidden in the cloud, was
perhaps twenty-five or thirty minutes.
What was revealed, when the vapor
cleared, was a scene of incandescence,
an intensely brilliant light, that could
only be compared to the arc of an
electric light. Once or twice there was
a quick flash of even an intenser light
in the midst of that Shadrach furnace
the bit of flame lasting but 4 second, of
some last escaping gas.
And there the body lay, 4 deeper
heart of fire, in the midst of all that
flameless but dazzling heat, than any
'.core of heat in the heart of nearly
consumed oak log in a great hearth-fire.
Its vaguely defined outline could be
seen, but what was the body and what
was the sheet could hardly be told,
where all was one integral body of
flameless fire.
One hour sufliced. in all probability,
to reduce the body to ashes. 1t is an
error to suppose that these ashes are all
literally fine ashes; some of the remains,
as hip bone, for example, remain, in
ash-like condition, but not disinte-
grated, in sizes perhaps from three to
four inches, and to thoroughly pulverize
the whole, longer continuance in the
retort at its highest heat would be
necessary.
The time required to cool the retort
is about twenty hours. This must be
done by a thoroughly natural process,
and without letting in cold air. or the
retort would be injured if not ruined.
After the cooling had been accom-
plished, the whole interior of the retort
is scraped with stiff steel brush, to
collect all the ashes and all the residue
of combustion. Then, to insure the
extraction of particles of iron, which
have faxed off the iron cage, a power
full magnet is applied to the particles,
and the metallic parts are separated
and removed. Hartford Times.