Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-03-19
A0UatfOn.

Something has been said lately in re
gard to the erection of a crematory il
this city. We don't write this to OBJ
ject. We merely write it to suggest
The fact is that most people are afrait
of crematory, and 1t is further tru'
that the living are the persons to settl,
the questions Of fear and burial. II
the dead 1t is dead question. Th,
earthen plan seems to he waning, and al
it wanes cremation seems to take tn,
place of it. The strong arguments il
favor OF cremation have been fully can
vassed, and from the debates that have
ensued few are impressed favorably
with it, We do not know or al
lude particularly to the outlay for q
disposal Of the dead, though we have
heard complainings as to that feature oi
it, But here in San Diego, if we are to
have a change from the burial in the
ground, certainly as old a custom as ere.
nation, it occurs TO us that we should
take aquation in preference, as better
and less repugnant to our preconceived
ideas of right in such matters. Neither
cremation or aquation leaves us an op-
portunity for caring for the last resting
place of our much-loved dead, and that
to great many will be serious objection
to any change. To our mind, aquation,
where it can be practiced and utilized as it
may be here, is far less Objectionable
than that of cremation. The deep sea,
outside Of the peninsula could be made
to answer the purpose, and il one could
only break loose from old customs and
old ideas, the water burial should strike
us as preferable to either earth burial or
cremation; but, after all. it is merely a
matter Of taste. Some have an idea
that their bodies would be eaten by the
fishes, and while that is not true, we
fail to see how it would be more OBJ
noxious than the earth burial, to be
eaten by the worms. A body may
easily be placed at depth to which
fishes do net go, and so wrapt as
TO keep them as near as may be in
tact--perhaps in this respect making a
better case of preservation than by any
other system, especially in salt water.
Oae of the obnoxious features of earth
burials is the fear of contamination of
the water we drink. 1t has resulted in
certain well known localities; but, stu
ated as our cemetery is, we believe that
next to impossible. so that we perhaps
need change as little as any other
place that can be mentioned. But aside
from all sanitary and economic questions,
it appears that some other system than
that of earth burial is fast invading
the mind Of thinking people; and 1t is
likely some change will come. But in no
article that we have ever read from the
scientists has aquation received the
attention due it. Fear is factor in them
all, as stated. Prejudice has much to do
with it. Living people are 60 fearful Of
being bitten by fish. after aquation, but
fear not the worm. That is all folly
The cod is the deepest swimmer we have.
He goes down one hundred and forty
headway on a dead body, even If that
body did not reach greater depth.
The shark sinks about half that distance.
and the great whale much less, und
neither could disturb the dead, because
they must come to the top to breathe
every few minutes. SO that aquation is
safer, more economical and less repug-
nant to our sentiments than either crema-
ton or earth burial. We mention the eco
nomical feature because, as in pretty
much everything else, fnery and non
sense have usurped the palmer ideas of
a plain people, and funerals need re-
forming as badly as any other interest
of which we have knowledge. As to
the loss Of the body after equation, we
believe we have nowhere read of body
buried at sea, by those who understand
such burial, ever having been found
floating on the surface. San d iegan.