The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-09-12
THE cREMAroR,uM AT MILAN.
A Description of the Method of Incinerai
tlon Employed There.

A Description of the Method of Incinerai
tion Employed There.
The crematorium stands at the far
end of the grounds, building not
large or high. but with its crescent
shaped open dtrtum of white marble
sufficiently handsome and imposing.
On the frieze is this inscription: Tenn
pho Crematorio per Uolonta del Alberto
Keller eretto donate ala citta di Mildno.
On the wall facing the entrance is
handsome medallion of Albert Keller,
who was duly cremated in the temple
of his own providing. Many portions
of the wall are marked off in small
tablets inscribed with the names of the
persons whose bodies have undergone
cremation, and whose ashes, in many
cases. repose in an urn or small vessel
in niche behind the tablet. Ashes
they are not, properly speaking. ]
was shown about couple of handouts
of white bleached bone, in bits not larger
than ones finger-all that remained, as
| learned, after the cremation OF the
body of a man some ten stones in
weight. Other spaces have been ap-
propriated by intending cremators, and
have the word "Assegnato" Inscribed
on them. Through small door you
pass from the dtriunl into what | may
describe as the operating room, in the
middle of which stands the enclosed
furnace, looking like an enlarged
edition of the family laundry copper.
The fire is kindled at the back of the
furnace, and when at the proper mo-
ment released by the uplifting of iron
shutters, comes roaring through two
large orifces, and quickly fills the
whole of the space where lies its prey.
The body-H caddUero, as the attend
ant called it, seeming to take
great delight in repeating the
words-dressed in q light linen
or wooden shroud or rather costume,
is taken from the shell in which it has
been brought, and laid on marble
slab, thence transferred to large iror
tray, which is borne to the mouth O
the furnace and laid on frame
which, by the action Of a winch, II
wound into the interior with its burden
The iron door is then closed, the shut
tcrs, as described above, are raised
and the furnace, to use an American
expression, is literally in full blast. A
the end of two hours the operation
, complete, and all that there remains Q
, what was once man, full of "blood
bones, marrow, passion, feeling, ar
"Two handouts Of white dust shut in an ur
of brass"
The system at present in use is tina
3 of Paola Gorini; it takes, as | hav
hN, nd anti in 4
} three hundred kilogrammes of WOO
and twenty-five kilogrammes of char
t coal. The cost of everything, incluC
1 ing the mural tablet, is ninety-fou
: francs. A new method, known as til
5 Systeme Venini, under which the incil
h Grafton will be effected by gas, W.
Il then Immediately about to be tried, =
u saw the furnace just completed, and
s. no doubt now in operation. Undo
e this system the whole affair will
completed in fifty minutes.
In this place, which was perfect
IL sweet, clean and wholesome, withoI
70 the faintest trace of anything Gale
lated to offend the sense of sight
l. smell, there are about eighteen
Il twenty cases of cremation every mont
It They are, the attendant told me,
S cidedly on the increase, and were Il
l. cholera scare again to appear, he hi
II no doubt, from what he had hear
o that the practice would have large nuI
Is bers of adherents. Already bodies f
s. cremation are sent from distant par
of Italy, and on the next day one W
expected from Paris. And, indee
when l thought of all the horrors
lie our ordinary 'buryings," l could n
wonder at the desire to be quit
1t them, no matter at what amount
,e trouble or expense. LONDON World.