Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-02-21
CREMATION tHELtSS,
CINCINNfTl PHYSICIAN SAYS THE
PR CESS IS USNATySAL
c.entihc and Sentimental Reasons {: ven
in support of H. sw Points ON
the Ground of Health-Ia-
riou~ Objections.

.Cin"n. %. Frn,lr..-r
I'octor, supp So YOU q Us your
views on cremation.
ell. III the tir>t place. crema i'm il
agan. Mt hristIan The -4U.e saws
dust to dust
A d ashes to ashe-r~
m II rue. but MT IN an inrinrra.ed ,ense
htNe ashes = the scripture, are the pro-
| "uctN "I dt'r not Of NE RtsiGt, in
ordinary cremation there ; no comm
! ling 0. ashes The ob c,t = l., ,,,,nrare
them ami IN uru them The ancieutx
! wrapped the bodies OF their dead IN &. 9th
made from TIE incumbu,.iDr e asBr.f..s
nat they might he kept from cunialninat-
lnS adm XtuIc with others
There IS the sentiment 0f per etua.
ton. though tins Is really best suI,seryed
III mummItcati"n. As in Fg,pt. sapo.ir-
catioL. ~ in wei church Yards or in net
rlhCnllOn. which Is accomplished without
III. Gully An Italian writer once re-
marked that petriied ancestors could be
used as Caryat des eauri.uI table tons
have been made of petriied Sc .tions of
human bodies, rs variegared As those of
fossil stores which are natural petrifica-
tons of living things
vi are not funeral urns more likely
70 bS preserved"
No. because they are entirely useless
\ few months ago koman washer
woman used up all the ashes she could
scrspe from the urns of ilustrious
komans for the at. .ect purpose of making
lye.
How about the horrors of putrefac-
tion in the ground?
ou needn't look at it. What the
- Inas ~ k. haart
over. To watch the process of crema-
ton. TO see the hair sipge and the fat
Nputter. would be just as horrible After
all. decomposition is only slow combus-
ton
is not cremation cheaper"
Not at present. The process Of in
humation is in Itself cheap enough.
though it is often made very expensive.
Five dollars would really cover all
absolutely necessary expenses, Civ.
ing the labOrer his due reward The
relatives and friends would have to be
conveyed 10 u crematorium in the suburbs
ust as TO a cemetery. and if ground
should become too valuable for cemeteries
advantage could be taken of the railroad.
But cremation can be Just as cheap. In
Milan two bodies can be Cremated in an
hour, at cost of about ) } each, and the
Siemens furnace At Dresden costs only
&. -. and is still quicker in its work
But if speed of destruction is desirable
there are swfter means than incinera-
tiorS Gorini of Italy claims to be
able TO completely annihilate a body
in twenty minutes by immersing it in =
hot solution Of chronic acid He saws he
can in this way destroy 1900 bodies in
three days.
W hat are the points on the ground of
health. DO not ChuIChyardS poison the
water and the air."
This is a question upon which not
books but libraries have been written.
But the drift of opinion Of scientific men
does not run that way. Have you ever
heard OF an epidemic or disease caused in
that way? don't know how many
graveyards there are in our country. but
| have somewhere seen II stated that there
are about %. OOU in France and as many
in q Germany. Now, it would soon be
known if the viCinities of these places
were more dangerous to health. do not
myse I know of u case of infectious dis
ease contracted at a cemetery. The truth
is. most infections begin to cease with de-
composition
i ow about the wells and drinking.
water
The idea that the wells in OF near
ChurChyards are bad is a popular fa.lacy
so far as running water is concerned the
researches of Petenkofer have shown that
all impurities ale speedily destroyed for
even at the distance of a few rods from
the reception of sewage the water is safe.
And standing water will purify itself.
too, if exposed TO the air The observa-
tiOns Of koth and ex have shown that
h.. oF h. H., ,F
yards in Berlin contained nitrates in less
quantity than the average wells of the
city, and tleck made simi-
lar statement with regard to the
wells of Dresden Eut no one in our day
would rely on a mere chemical anal sis in
the detection of the organic pOisons or
particles of disease ltis the physiological
or biological test that determines the
presence of the germs OF disease, and this
test shows that the wells of Churchyards
are more pure than the wells Of cities
Reinhar,i states distinctly that the wells
Of gra eyards contain purer water than
those of inhabited places. No. it is not
the dead. but the living that polute the
drinking water. and it would be far better
10 Cremate the chambers of the sick than
the dead so far rs public health is con-
cerned
w Would cremation interfere with JUS
rice
Cremation would cover up crime be-
yond all possibility of detection II is
no argument to say that an examination
could be made first. because crime is often
detected in exhumations after many
years. The works on medical juris-
prudence abound in such cases and we
have fresh records added every day from
our own courts Cremation can never
receive judicial sanction on this &C.
count
Can not poisons be detected in ashes.
too"
Very few: only 'ev mineral poisors
The great ma ;ority of agents used in tus
way are utterly destruct!ble by fire. and
with them, OF course their effects upon
the body. Then ashes are too easily
scattered II for these reasons alone l
should hope that cremation would never
prevail. but there are many others.
Fl, mOnizing Our Foods
New York Mail AMI Expr-sS1
Taste has its laws. fixed rs the proper