Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-06-03
THE CRsMAroRrUM AT MILAN.
AFurnacc that Incineratcs Eighteen or Twenty
Bodies Monthly.

Furnace that Incineratcs Eighteen ar Twenty
Bodies Monthly.
From the London World.
The crematorium stands at the far end Of
the grounds, building not large nor high,
but, with its crescent-shaped open dtrium of
white marble, sufficiently handsome and i'm
posing. On the frieze il this description :
7cmpio CrcmatOrio per votontddcI alberto
Keller eretto C donald alta cittd al Mitdno
On the wall facing the entrance Is hand
some medallion of Albert Keller, who was
duly cremated in the temple of his own
providing. Many portions of the wall are
marked of in SMALL tablets inscribed with
the names of The persons whose bodies have
undergone cremation, and whose ashes, in
many cases, reposed in an urn or small vessel
In niche behind the tablet Ashes they are
not properly speaking. I was shown
about couple of handfuls of white
bleached bone, in bits no longer than ones
iinger--all that remained, as ! learned, after
the cremation of the body of u man some
ten stone i'm weight. Other spaces have
been appropriated by intending cremators,
and have the word "Assegnato" inscribed on
them. Through small door you pass from
the atrium into what may describe as the
operating-room, i'm the middle ofwhich stands
the inclosed furnace, looking much like an
enlarged edition Of tho familiar laundry cop
per. The fire is kindled at the back of this
furnace, and when at the proper moment re-
leased by the uplifting of iron shutters comes
roaring through two large orifices and
quickly fills the whole of the space where
lies its prey. The body-t cadapcrO,
as the attendant called 1T, seeming
to take great delight in repeating
the words-dressed in a light linen or wool
en- shroud or other domestic costume, is taken
from the shell i'm which it has been brought
and laid on a marble slab, thence transferred
To large iron tray which is borne To tho
mouth of the furnace and laid on a frame,
which, by the action of winch, il wound
into the interior with its burden. The iron
door is then closed, the shutters as described
above, are raised, and the furnace, to use an
American expression, is literally in full
blast At tho end of two hours the operation
is complete, and all that there remain of
what was once a man, full of "blood, ZONES,
marrow, passion, feeling" are
"Two handfuls of white dust shut In an urn
of brass"
The system at present i'm use is that of
Paolo Gorini; it takes, as ! have said, two
hours and the consumption of 300 kifu-
grammes of wood and p kilogrammes OF
charcoal. Tho cost of everything, including
the mural tablet, is 81 francs new method,
known as the Systeme Venini, under which
the incineration will be effected by gas, was
then Immediately about to be tried-I saw
the furnace just cOmpleted-and is no doubt
now i'm operation. Under this system the
whole affair will be completed i'm fifty min
utes.
In this place, which was perfectly sweet,
clean, and wholesome, without the faintest
trace of anything calculated to offend the
sense of sight or smell, there are about cgh-
teen or twenty cases of cremation every
month. They are, the attendant told me,
decidedly on the increase, and were the
cholera scare again to appear he had no
doubt, from what he had heard, that the
practice would have large numbers of adj
herentss.. Already bodies for cremation are
sent from distant parts of Italy, and on the
next day one was expected from Paris. And,
indeed, when / thought of all the horrors of
our ordinary buryings," 1 could not won
der at the desire to be quit of them, no mat