The St. Johns herald., 1890-09-04
NEW BURIAL SCHEME.
Our Bodies to Be Dried and Put
 Away in Vaults.
Dedication the Latest Fad of Enthusiasts Some Respects fin Which 1t EKcels Cremation - Provisions Against
 Premature InterI1ent.

is to be broken, it is said by the New York Sun, in the spring. The idea underlying the new mausoleum is based on the fact that current of dry air will preserve body from decomposition, and change it into a condition resem- bling life, in which it will remain for an indefinite time. This process is applied by nature to the unfortunate traveller and his beast who succumb upon the great deserts. In the Smithsonian In- stitution are many bodies thus desiccated by nature which have been brought from the battlefelds of Mexico and Peru, from Southern plains and Indian districts of the far West. The ancient Colchians and Tart2rs suspended their dead from branches of trees to be dried by air and sun. The PeruVians first dried their deceased friends and then buried them in sitting posture. Savages of South Australia place the dead body on the top of the hut till per fectly dried, when it is bandaged and hidden among the branches of the trees. The body retains it's form in the proc ess, and the skin, though it becomes hard and dry like leather, remains white, while the face, though more or less emaciated, remains life-like and recognizable.
 Modern science and skill are to be ap- piled to the original preservative power of the atmosphere. Experiments have recently been made by specialists, first on animals and later on human bodies. In the course of one recent experiment. conducted by a sanitary engineer in Washington, in nine weeks a pig was reduced in weight from 9 to 71I pounds, and remained just as plump and round as in life. In laboratory in this city the body of a man weighing 1G4 pounds was subjected to the process in 1888, and the effect was marvellous.
 The arrangement for the interment of desiccated bodies in the new mausoleum will be similar tC that of the drawers in safety deposit vaults, whiie the interior plan of the building will resemble that of well-appointed public library, with main corridor and diverging halls lead ing to different sections. These draw CTS or sepulchers will be of solid con- crete four inches thick without joint or seam, of certain sizes, and arranged in tiers of six on either side of the hall way. The opening into each sepulcner will be provided with two doors, the inner one of glass dramatically scaled as soon as occupied, through which the body may be viewed by those holding the keys; the outside of iron, wrought gold, silver or bronze, decorated and adorned according to the ability and taste of relatives.
 For family use there will be separate and distinct compartments cf various sizes, with sets or suites of sepulchers adorned as desired and having but sin gle entrance.
 The space that holds the casl1et will be a cell of concrete permitting neither the escape nor admission of moisture. In the erection of the walls hollow pipes or conduits will be formed over molds, so that no destructible material, as iron or metal, will be needed.
 Through these conduits will be made to pour into the nermetically-sealed se- butchers currents of dry air, which, passing rapidly and repeatedly around the body, will extract therefrom every trace of moisture, vapor or fluid and con- vey it to a huge furnace, where, without possibility of escape, all noxious matter will be destroyed. Gradually the body becomes hard, smooth and dry, with lit tie or no change of appearance, and once done preservation is secured forever
 Provision is to be made against pre- mature interment by the adjustment of electrical appliances to the body, so that the faintest motion will be instan- taneously conveyed to the guard by means of alarm signals.
 . The mausoleum will occupy compara- lively little space. A building covering 100 feet square could inclose 10000 sepulchers, and one that occupied an acre would provide as many resting places as a cemetery of thirty-five acres.
 It is intended that ample and suitable grounds shall surround the building, and that adornment inside and out will be made as perfect as taste and wealth can dictate.
 The sepulchers will be numbered and registered as lots in cemetery, and a fund will be provided for the perpetual care of all treasures of art or nature that may be provided, All records of inierment wiR be kept in the mauso- lenm. A chapel will be provided for the discharge of the last rites.
 The cost of single sepulchers will prob ably range from $40 to S20O, while family compartments will vary from $500 to $40, ,OO0 Burial lots in cities range from S4OO to 5000 for space to allow six graves, tc which must be added the cost of headstone, monument, statuary, in- closure and care.
 , Concrete is the material of which it is proposed to build the mausoleum. Re search, ancient and modern, establish the quality of this material for impene- inability, instability and consequent permanence, even an earthquake being powerless to destroy buildings made of it. This substance will no doubt be faced by ornamental materials.
 or Days Even for Watch.