Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1888-09-28
SOMETHING ENTIRELY NEW.


over our country are evidences of a
very fine order of refinement, and no
people have made more generous pro-
visions for the comfort and happiness
of the living than the American.
While in advance of the rest
of the world in scientific research
and everything pertaining to the inter
est of the living, yet we are very far
behind other nations, and especially the
ancients, in our methods or manner of
disposing of the human body after
death.
These facts have awakened much
interest of late. Scientific societies,
" the press" as well as the public, are
at present actively considering the
means best adapted for the disposal of
our mortal remains. We instinctively
shrink with horror from the thought
of having those sacred remains placed
in the grave in common wood or iron
receptacles, with so soon decay, there
to be preyed upon by Ioathsome OBJ
jectS which infeSt it. Some advocate
return to the ancient practice of ere
nation, but this to the Christian world
seems revolving.
Many eminent prelates, scientists
and others, at a meeting lately held in
the city of Buffalo, advocated the en-
tOmbing of our dead in imperishable
cement. The plan proposed by these
gentlemen has already been adopted,
and casket embodying these princi-
pies is now being manufactured in
this city.
The preserved bodies of the ancients,
taken from the catacombs of the
buried cities, are now exhibited, and
are evidences of the care, skill and
reverence felt for their dead. Money
is freely lavished on costly funerals,
and profusely decorated but flimsy
wood or iron burial cases, which are
covered with costly Satins, velvets and
plush, ornamented with silver and
gold trimmings. These are borne by
loving friends to the cemetery, where
they are placed in marble vaults or
lowered in the ground beneath costly
monuments. All, in fact, is done
which love and sOlicitude could sug-
gcst These things, when regarded
from a Christian or sanitary stand
point, have created a demand for the
substitution of something better than
the common wood or iron burial cases,
something which is not susceptible to
decay from either the acids or decom-
position or the alkali of the earth;
something, in fact, which will preserve
the remains of our loved ones from
those influences, and admit of their
disinterment without shocking the
sensibilities of the living.
These thoughts have awakened the
inventive genius of our people, and
prompted the production of burial cas-
kets made of metal and other substan-
ceS; but they are found to be very de
fective, in that they soon cOrrode and
decay, and retain the fluids which con-
stitute 60 to 20 per cent. of the human
body, permitting their escape to pol
iute the atmosphere, or to hold them
until they eat their way through the
material, leaving holes for the admis-
sion of those loathsome objects which
infest the grave.
A material known as indestructible
artificial marble, made from imported
cement, which is but the dust of stone
or clay, from which all vegetable or
mineral matter has been eliminated,
| embodying principles advocated by the
society for the advancement of sci
ence, is now being manufactured into
baskets in this city.
The mode of manufacture is as fol-
lows: A galvanized woven-wire
frame is formed over core, and the
composition cement is then run into
| the mold, leaving the wire in the cen
ter of the walls, which gives the
strength and symmetry, without the
| unwieldiness of the ancient Egyptian
receptacle.
, \ groove is cast in the upper edge
| or body of the caSket, for the sealing
| of the top to it with cement, or the in
| PRODUCTION of rubber tube, making it
| ABSOLUTELY jointless, air-tight and in
destructible, and arreSting the decom-
/ position of the body and the escape of
| noxiOus gases, making possible their
storage, disinterment OF transhipment
to any part of the world.
The material, being porous, absorbs
the fluids of the body, leaving it dry
and intact, while the exterior can be
made imperyious to moisture from the
| ground by the application of water
proof wash. They are strong, light,
beautiful in design, miniature vaults,
and are finished in broadcloth, plush
and Satins, all of the latest designs,
and are furnished at price which
| brings them within the reach of the
rich and poor alike.
All trimming and handles are adj
! justed the same as on wooden collins
The universal adoption of these cas-
kets should be encouraged and looked
upon with favor by the pulpit, ''the
press and all classes, for in preserv-
ing and arresting the decomposition of
the body they answer all the sanitary
requirements, besides appealing to the
most refined ideas regarding our own
or the final resting place of our loved
ones. in that they bring within the
reach Of all classes miniature port
able and imperishable vault" and
burial casket combined, that viii
guard their sacred dust for all time.