Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-07-12
PROGRESS OF 1Nc1NERATIoN.

Money has been raised in Philadelphia
for the erection of crematory in the
north part of that city, and by the close of
the year the cremation retorts will be
ready for use. So the reform moves in the
staid old city. The Telegraph says: at
would without doubt have received more
practical adherence long ago hereabouts if
the city had cremation apparatus of its
own; but at present Lancaster is the near
est point TO which bodies can be taken. 1t
cannot be long before every important cen
ter has crematory of its own. Prejudice
IS still strong, but it is subsiding; and
there is nothing in the reform to prevent
the majority adhering to earth burial, as
they may be expected to adhere for long
time, perhaps always" Prejudice" is
the word. 1t is that, and nothing else,
behind inhumation Not brutal preiu-
dice, mind you, but the result of thousands
of years charlottesville custom; one around
which tender memories are entwined one
that touches with its mantle the hottest
recollections of wife, mother, husband,
father, brother, sister, friend. But it is
still prejudice" We bury our dead be-
cause we do-and that is all there is of it.
No one has, no one can, advance a scien-
tifc reason for it, superior to proofs to be
advanced against it. We bury" says one,
thatthe loved ashes may return to ashes"
So do we cremate," replies the crema-
ZIONIST, that earth may return to earth,
but not by the loathsome process of de-
cay" awe bury, that we may testify by
visitation and adornment of the lowly
mound our love for the one gone before"
owe incinerate," replies the other, that
we NAV, from the ashes Of our loved ones
and for loves sake, make grow the rarest
of tender flowers in plat devoted to the
memory Of the one gone before" We
bury that we may not witness
the decay of the body" eve
cremate that such decay may not set in at
all" 1--WE bury that the percolatiug
streams and the moisture Of sub-earth may
drink up the poison of the moldering
body and convey it TO our wells, or by
evaporation discharge it at the surface to
poison the breath of the living and bring
them TO beds Of sickness and death"
We eremate The dead that these things
cannot be- And so the debate goes on.
He reads the progress of it to small pur-
pose who does not perceive how steadily
and surely the crematist advances in it
to final triumph BIZ vote Of l59 to LOG
the American Medical Association re-
Gently adopted the report of its Committee
on Cremation and Burial, which concluded
in these words:
Resoired, That cremation or iucineration of
the dead has become sanitary necessity in all
populous cities. and that this Association ad-
wise its adoption as tar as practicable.
True, the vote was reconsidered by the
persistence of the minority, but only to
refer the whole matter to further debate
at the next annual meeting But it is
very significant that out OF 265 leading
sanitarians and physicians of the United
States assembled in annual Convention,
l59 should fatty declare in favor Of Gre
nation. Such vote five or ten years ago
could not possibly have been secured, so
stubborn and difficult to remove is burial
prejudice. Really, cremation as now prac-.
ticed was first advocated only about ten
years ago, and already there are cremato-
ries throughout Germany, Italy, France
and other European countries, and in five
States of the American Union. There are
scores of cremation associations actively at
work; cremation literature is plentiful
cremation journal has been established I;
thousands of physicians have come to the
support of the doctrine and practice, and
pulpit, press, bar and business have con-
'trihuted the best Of their classes to fill the
ranks. We honestly believe that within
the next ten years crematories will be
erected in all considerable cities of the
country, and within two decades this people
will look upon the crumbling remains of
burial cemeteries as relics of an era of alb
surd prejudice, and wonder why the world
so long rejected the truth.