, 1885-01-17
A Nav cReMAroaY 1gMeLg.

The Conversions Laid and the Building
To BE Ready In February.
Thirty mon and two women climbed the
muddy slopes of Mount Olivet, l. l., the
other day, to lay the conversions OF the new
cremntory temple. The structure was al
ready finished 10 the ground level. On the
occasion Professor Felix Adler, one Of the
directors in the new company, spoke OF tho
sanitary benefits Of incineration. Every
time he went 10 the cemetery, he
said, no was more and more impressed
with the loathsome unhealthineas and decay
consequent upon earth burial Il was pro
ductivo Of disease and pestilence. Professor
Adler thought that poetic imagery had much
to do with the tenacity with which men
chung to the custom OF putting their dead
into the ground Poets and singers referred
10 the grave as an abode OF rest, a bod OF
naI ropose, a place of shelter, thus throwing
a false glamor over the hidoous reality.
Nowadays, he said, an msth9tic sense 70
volted against earth burial. Our bodies
arc the garments Of intelligence, the homes
OF the spirit, and should not be permitted to
gradually putrefy.
Speaking OF the expressed fear that people
might be cremated when life was In the
body, he advised that an autopsy be held
before i~nciDeration TO satisfy doubling law
10 aAa &0 "a IAAt A4 q
rather die under tho knife than awaken
under ground. Taking n moral view of Gre
nation, he thought it would be well TO have
the ashes OF departed ones before us in
churches, either In inches along the walls, or
In a receptacle behind the altar, ITO remind
US OF tho trusts we have inherited from past
generations.n Cremation would do away
with all tho gloomy blachness Of the pail
which now surrounds death.
With good luck the company expects to
cremntc It's first body next February In the
largest retort in America. II Is improved
In many respects over the Lo Moyne furnace
in Pennsylvania. Twenty dead bodies .are
now awaiting It's completion to be reduced 10
ashes. The cost Of cremation in each case
will be from $40 TO SOS. Tho cost Of the
building viii be about 81, 900. The land cost
$500.
The ediice Is designed as a modified Gre
cinn temple OF brick and marble, forty by
seventy-two feet The basement will CON
tain, In the rear, the furnace, which will be
constructed chiefly OF firo-brick, and viii be
adapted to coke, with a regenerator. The
inclnernting chamber will consist Of retorts,
which will exclude all fuel and flame from
contact with the body, and from which the
volatile products of the incineration will DO
carried into the funace for recombustion.
incarceration Will Jake pihco hlh pemporhIuro
Of about ? 500 degrees Fahrenheit 1t will
require about forty minutes per 100
pounds Of tho subject, and will leave about 4
per cent. in weight OF a pure pearly ash.
No smoke viii be visible and no odor percep-
tible during incineration. The basement will
also contain n refrigidarium, where bodies
may DO kept when desired awaiting the ar
rival Of friends from a distance; also a calf
darium for cases OF possibly suspended ami
nation, the high temperature Of which win
induce speedy evidences Of life or death, as
the case may be. There will be, also, In the
basement Al @dicularium, or urn room, and
an atelief. This last will be used also for
making autopsies, which will be required In
all cnses wherein IL is not clear that death Ii
not tho result of natural causes.
The body OF the building, or the ground
floor, win be fitted up as a chapel, where any
service desired may be held. In the central
aisle Of this chapel, directly In front of tho
~lectern, will be a permanent catafalqua,
within which tho body will be placed, and
hidden from view by q pail falling from a
frame above. Thence the body will descend
by an elevator 10 the incinerating room, and
the service and incineration will proceed
simultaneously. The Office and reception
rooms will be on the main floor, In front Of
the auditorium and on either side of the
vestibule.