The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-08-07
HOT SEPULCHRES.
REVIVAL OF A CURIOUS METHOD
OF DISPoSING OF THE DEAD.
Dessication May Prove to Be More Popu-
lar Than Cremation-Orying Out Human
Bodies in Hot-Air Chambers and Pre-
serving Them Intact.

Dessication May Prove to Be More Popu-
lar Than Cremation-Orying Out Human
Bodies in Hot-Air Chambers and Pre-
serving Them Intact.
A new method Of disposing of the dead
is now advocated, and an organization
has been formed to put it into practice.
Nine out of every ten people have a
horror of being buried IN the earth, but
not one OF the nine has the courage to
give directions that he be crematcd.
The new system proposes to dispose of
dead bodies by dessication, which, in
palmer English, means to dry them out
like so much dried beef.
The plan is not new one by any
means, for it is a known fact that the
Tartars and Colchians practlced this
method in primitive style centuries ago.
Their way was to hang their dead up in
trees and leave them there to be dried
by the air and sun. The advocates Of
the new method propose to erect large
buildings to carry out their plan of des-
Sication. These buildings are 10 be di-
vidcd into many rooms of different
sizes. In each of these rooms there will
be built scpulchres of concrete large
enough to admit the body of any ordi-
nary sized individual. There will be
two openiLg gs in these sepulchres or box
like arrangements. This will be con-
nected with a system of conduits, each
sepulchre, however, having a separate
conduit.
The body will be placed in the sepul-
chre in an open lattice work casket, and
through one conduit will be forced hot,
dry air. This air, it is claimed, will
circulate around the body, accumulate a
certain portion of liquid and gases from
the corpse and pass through the rear
conduit down to furnace, where 1t
will be purified once more by fire.
It is claimed that this dry air has a
greater affinity for moisture than a
sponge has for water, and that all the
moisture will gradually be drawn from
the body and leave it in a sort of dried
apple state. This will take about four
or Iive months, and then the sepulchre
will be hermetically sealed and the body
will remain in its dried-up state for
ever. The projectors of this scheme say
they have for precedents the doiDgs of
the Tartars and Colchians in olden
times, already referred to. Also, they
assert that in the Western part of this
continent. where the air is extremely
rare and dry, men can be hung up and
dried in the hot sun without fear OF pu-
trefaction. They claim that a human
body can be dried the same as pear
or an apple. The ancient Peruvians.
the Dooshais of India and the Amo
aborigines in Japan also practice dessl-
cation. In the well-known catacombs
of the Capuchin monks, near Palermo,
the bodies are dried first in an oven and
are then hung up in inches.
1t is said that the dessicated body of a
Sicllian sovereign, who had lain in his
tomb for over four hundred years, was
found upon inspection short time ago
to be as good as new. But all these
attempts at dessication were rude, and
it is now proposed to bring scientific
principles into play.
1t will be remembered that the body
of the renowned explorer. Livingston,
who died in Africa, was dessicated by
the natives of that country before re-
moval to England.
This method of disposlng of the dead
seems to be very feasible. 1t would GER
tainly be more pleasant, if such thing
could be, than being lowered into hole
six feet deep. The general health OF
every one would be improved, for it Is
known that the burying of dead bodies
in the earth is menace to the health
of those living in the vicinity Of bury
ing ground.
1nother important matter IN -r5a
nection with the dessication method
that the features of the dried corps
preserve life-llke appearance that i
remarkable. Should any question aris
in the courts as to the identity Of dea'
man visit could be paid to the sepul
chre and all doubts 6e set at rest IN
way that would admit of no dispute.
Eight months ago experiments wer
made on man weighing 164 pounds
At the present time it is said that tn
body is perfectly dessicated. The ski
has not become discolored, but insteat
has become hard, feeling like leather t
the touch.
! Another thing which will tend t.
make the system popular is that ther
can be no chance of being buried alive
There could be no grave robbing un
der the new system either. 1t is emf
nently sanitary, for all the gases arr
conveyed to furnace and made in
nocuouS
1t appears to be very rational, clea1
and rather a pleasant system of burial
and it is said it Will soon be put into
practice.