Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-11-25

lie lueOSOpIuSIS seem TO nave no
fear that the astral body will get
scorched or in any way injured by the
gentle heat of 1000 degrees Fahrenheit
to which its companion body is sub
! jected in the retort. Nobody knew as
much about the astral body as H. F."
| by which affectionate nickname the eel
ebrated Blavatsky is known among her
followers. and she had no hesitation in
directing that her very yoluminous
| earthly envelope should be burned.
| Mrs. Annie Besant. who has succeeded
F., in some degree to Nine. BIavatsky's
position in the TheSophical society, will
probably initiate that arch-priestess and
| be cremated.
The question of religion does not
| very largely. Every sect Of Christians,
, us we'll as Jews and infidels alike adopt
/ it. Even some Catholics have been ere
mated at Fresh Pond, though the Cath
Ole church has never given any author
| itative statement on the point.
| The points which impress most people
in favor of cremation are its cleanliness
and it's cheapness. The New York so
, ciety cremates body for $50, whether
it be Il millionaire's or Il pauper's. This
certainly is not an eXtrava CANT price.
The crematoIy at Fresh Pond is con-
yeniently placed for New York city 1t
is on slight elevation called Mount
Olivet, at Bushwick Junction. the first
station from Long Island city. on the
Long Island railroad.
It is cool, breezy and rustic spot
The building itself is certainly nothing
to boast Of. 1t is Il One-StOry structure
Of brick, With three or four long Win
dows and Il slender iron chimney rising
from the roof. about twenty feet high.
Tie building originally was built of
white marble. with tiuted columns, and
was of some architectural pretensions.
1t was two stories in height, but it be-
came Il ruin almost before it was quite
finished. The famous blizzard cracked
it all to pieces.
Z In Il few weeks work will be started
on a new building for the Fresh Pond
crematOry, after design of Danmar &
Fisher. Of New York. It will be two
stories high and of buff brick with
maj bic trimmings. This will be great
Improvement on the present crernatory
which must be 4 veXati0n TO the :tes-
thetic sense of the Gre cremationists.
There are two rooms, one of them b."
ing Il large hearty square chamber front
ing the two retorts. The brick walls
are of Il slate color, and arm chairs are
placed in front, where mourners Ha;y
seat themselves till the religious eeip
monies are through, if any are held at
the erematory- The smaller room is
where the furnaces are. The presiaiia.,
genius of this department is a small.
stocky German who was once Il stoller
on a transatlantic liner He is firmly
convinced Of the excellence Of crema-
ton, and intends to have his diminutive
frame reduced to ashes. when he has.
done with it. Fine average sized man
produces not more than four pounds of
ashes.
The hearse drives around to, the side.
placed on placed Oh Il stretcher, and the
body is removed. In case of infectious,
disease the casl4et is not opened,
but the whole thing is put into the re-
tort.
The corpse when. taken out is wrapped.
in, Il muslin cloth saturated with alum
This is done to prevent any noXious or
unpleasant vapor from escaping into
the room when the body is FIRST thrust
into the retOrt.
The muslin-wrapped corpse is then
put in an iron crib, which is placed on
a catafalque with rolling oroSS-bars.
This is then trundled in front of the
opening of the retort, the iron door is
raised and the body shot in. The tort
is one solid piece of fire brick, and when
the black iron door is removed shows Il
lovely roseated pink, like the frey glow
of a gorgeous sunset. A temperature of
1900 degrees Fahrenheit produces this
glow
An hour or more is needed to reduce
the remains to, ashes. Then three or
four hours more are necessary to cool
the retort. The door cannot be opened
until the retort has cooled, because
otherwise the cold air rushing in would
crack the hot friedrich. Relatives call
They are a finely granulated powder,
resembling chloride of lime in appear
ance, although much drier. They are
put into Il tin pail painted black and
the coffin plate is generally left in the
pail as a label In case of any loss of
! this means Of identifying the ashes,
it would be impossible to tell those Of
Mr. Smith from those Of Mr.. Rothchild
The company supplies, neat funeral
urns and intends to have in the build
ing columbarium or receptacle for the
urns. Then the ashes can be left there
together.
In two inches in the large room fac
ing the mtorts stand two Of these
cinerary urns. One is q large Japanese
vease, in which are the ashes of the
first president of the New York Gre
nation society, Mr.. John d. Beugless.
He died in Japan and was ineinerated
there. In the other niche is a glass jar
something in shape like those in which
confectioners keep candies. The ashes
in this are those of a lamb and a horse,
who were burned in the Fresh Pond
crematory to test it's efficiency. These
ashes look just like those of a human
beings body.
Of course, the ashes are Of the bones
parts of the body when the 1000 de-
grees Of heat have done their work. 1t
takes ton and a half Of Lehigh Valley