The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-08-15
HOT SEPULCHRES.
Revival of Curious Method OF Disposing
Of tho Dead.


Revival of Curious Method OF Disposing
OF tho Dead.
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 cremated. The
new system proposes to dispose of the
dead bodies by dessicstien, which, in
palmer English, means to dry them out
like so much dried beef.
The plan is not a new one by any
means, Tor It is known fact that the
Tartars and Colchians practiced 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 build.
ings to carry out their plan of dessica.
ton. These buildings are 10 be divided
into many rooms of different sizes. In
each of these rooms there will be built
sepulchres of concrete large enough to
admit the body of any ordinary sized
individual. There will be two openings
in these sepulchres or box.like arrange.
ments. This will be concluded with
system of conduits, each sepulchre, how
ever, having separate conduit
The body will be placed in the aepul-
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
certain portion of liquid and gases from
che corpse and pass through the rear
conduit down to a furnace, where it will
be purified once more by fire.
It is. claimed that this dry air has q
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 sort of dried
apple state. This will take about four or
FIVE months, and then the sepulchre will
be hermetically sealed and the body will
remain in it's dried up state forever.
The projectors of this scheme say they
have for precedents the doings of the
Tartars and Colchians in olden times,
already referred to. Also, they assert
that in the Western part of this CONT.
nent, where the air is extremely rare and
dry, men can be hung up and dried in
the hot sun without fear of putrefaction.
They claim that human body can be
dried the same as pear or an apple.
The ancient Peruvians, the Dooshais of
India and the Amo aboriginies in Japan
also practice dessication. In the we'll.
known catacombs of the Capuchin
monks, near Palermo, the bodies are
dried first in an oven and are then hung
up in inches.
It is said that the dessicated body of a
sicilian 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 prin-
ciples into play.
It will be remembered that the body
of the renowned explorer, Livingston,
who died in Africa, was dessicated by
the natives of that country before
removal to England.
This method of disposing Of the dead
seems to be very feasible. It 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 burying
ground.
Another important matter in connec.
ton with the dessication method is that
the features of the dried corpse preserve
life.like appearance that is remarkable.
Should any question arise in the courts
as to the identity Of q dead man visit
| could be paid to the sepulchre and all
doubts be set at rest in way that would
admit of no dispute.
Eight months ago experiments were
made on a man weighing 1854 pounds.
At the present time it is said that the
body is perfectly dessicated. The skin
has not become discolored, but instead
has become hard, feeling like leather to
the touch.
Another thing which will tend TO make
the system popular is that there can be
no chance of being buried alive.
There could be no grave robbing under
the new system either. It is eminently
sanitary, for all the gases are conveyed
to q furnace and made innocuous.
1t appears to be very rational, clean
and rather q pleasant system OF burial
and it is said it will soon be put into
practice.
an Appeal fer Wives.
BosroN, Augustl.-A novel appeal fol