The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-10-04
WHAT CREMATION is
CREMA1ORY COMPANIES ORGANIZED
IN ELEVEN DIFFERENT STATES.
A Mistaken Notion About Cremation-Af.
ti6cial Decomposition Through Extreme
Heat-Cremation In Germany AID Italy.
Prominent People Who Favor It
Especial Correspondence

Especial Correspondence
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. What 10 10
garded by unthinking persons as modern
method of disposing Of the dead-that Of
cremation-is only return to the one
wisely employed by the. ancients for a sim
liar purpose, but it may be remarked that
the crematory of the nineteenth century is
as great an improvement, scientifically
considered, over those employed in the
days of Rome and Greece as Is electricity
ahead of the rushlight or as steam is an
advance over the crude, primitive motors
in use by our forefathers. Now that the
natural advantages of disposing of the
dead by cremation have been demonstrat-
ed incarceration is being more widely
adopted and it is only question of time
when the barbarous custom of poliuting
the soil by burials will be altogether su-
perseded by the more clearly, pure health
full and natural method Of cremation. At
the present time ii states of the Union
have organized crematory companies, built
crematories, and more than ZOO bodies
have been disposed of by cremation. So
cieties have sprung up in nearly all the
leading cities, the members of which have
pledged themselves to have their bodies
incinerated, SO that in the comparatively
early future far greater demands will be
made upon the crematories than are made
at present.
Modern Cremation.
The important fact should not be over
looked that cremation is not the burning
Of dead bodies by contact with flames or
fuel. Cremation is decomposition-quick
artifcially assisted decomposition through
the agency of extreme heat. 1t does in
three or four hours what nature would
take months to do under the most favora-
BILE conditions. The body is composed OF
certain gases fluids and solids. Decom-
position is the separation Of the constitu-
ent elements of the combination, the re-
solving of it into its original gases and
solids. By cremation the solids, as pure
as snow, are urned and preserved for ages.
By burial the time eventually arrives
when no vestige of an ancestors form can
be found In modern cremation the body
is quickly reduced by extreme heat to
gases. There are three stages-evapora-
ton, decomposition and Incarceration.
Briefly, the method employed is this: The
body, in its funeral dress, is removed from
the coffin in the preparation room. 1t is
carefully wrapped in large linen sheet
that has been saturated with alum. 1t is
then placed in a steel crib and the crib is
by mechanical means slid into the retort
where the cremation takes place. The re-
tort, made of fire clay, has already been
heated to a rosy glow by several hours fir
ing, begun previously and continued dur
ing the process of cremation. There are
no flames in the retort nor any fuel. They
are outside and around the retort and are
invisible. There is no impression of a
roaring furnace, nothing to jar upon the
nerves Of sensitive persons. The crib con-
tanning the remains virtually suspends
them in a current of superheated air of
temperature ranging from Q, 600 to 9, 700
degrees, and this air is constantly passing
through the retort. After the crib has
been placed within the door is tightly seal
ed, but the inside of the retort may be
viewed through little window of mica.
The Process of Reduction.
The first effect of tho heat is to evapo-
rate all the fluids of the body. These evap
GRATED fluids arise in dense cloud of
steam, which is carried off by ducts. The
gases, decompOsed and set free by the heat
pass directly out of the retort through
small opening in the rear and circulate
SO as to pass through the flaming fire, the
body thus contributing fuel for its own
reduction. The gases are purified by their
contact with fire and their noninf1amma-
BILE parts, absolutely without color or odor,
pass off through ducts into the outer air at
an elevation where nature cares for them.
The body may again be seen through
the mica window as soon as the steam has
cleared away. 1t is apparently unchanged
except that il is in a rosy glow, and the
alum saturated winding sheet, now ready