The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-10-03
IN FAVOR OF CREMATION
THE NEW HAVEN CREMATION So- CIETY'S MEETING LAST EVENING

Largely yAttended-Several Interesting Ad-
 dresses-Rev. MT. Diclkerman Exhibited
 a Vial of Ashes From a Crematory-Talk
 of Establishing a Crematory in New
 Haven-rhe Matter Looked at From a
 Sanitary Point of View.
 The annual meeting of the New IIa-
 ven Cremation society was held last evening in rooms of the Courier" build
 ing and was largely attended. The president, J. F. Dejon, not being present,
 Frank A. Hermance presided and called
 the meeting to order MT. Hermance
 then made a short address, saying that the society was formed one year ago with only thirteen members. Last night 1t was just a year old and had sixty
 members, more than were at first antic- ipated, and now it hopes to secure forty
 more members during the coming year. He then extended an invitation to all present, who were disposed to do so, to join the society.
 In the not distant future there will be magnificent crematory and colum- barium in New Haven. On the memo
 rial window of the columbarium will be
 placed the names of the first one hun dred members of the society and on 8
 memorial window opposite will be pac- ed the names of the first one hundred | associate members.
 MT. Hermance then introduced Rev.
 MT Dickerman, pastor of the Church Of | the Messiah:
 1 MT. Dickerman said it was novel gathering to him and the first time in which he had been called upon to ad- dress a cremation society. From the | first time he heard of the matter of ere nation he has been committed to it. | He has not been able to divest himself | to some sentiment but he has become | convinced that cremation is the only | scientific manner of disposing of dead bodies. There is so much prejudice that l the reform works slowly, and sentiment | cannot always be displaced by the soundest arguments, especially those sentiments formed when young. This reform of cremation has much senti- | lllCiiL IL. l liC plopiClll iASN- ever, more than one of sentiment-it is
 an economic problem. The matter has ! been settled that the cremation of bod 1 ies after death is a sanitary one. The | subject is receiving serious atteat'sn, and most medical men heartily end )rse l incarceration. While sentiment holds a great place in the world, yet facts stare us in the face and we are obliged to meet them and set aside sentiment. It l is an incontrovertible fact that new means of disposing of human remains is required. It is a question of duty. The decomposition of bodies iOaGs the air,
 water and earth with the daadliest of poisonous gases. The last outbreak of
 cholera in London, in 1851, has been di- Irectlyi traced to the opening of the tombs of people stri 3ken by The plague i in 1865. In Modena, Italy, the plaguc broke out 300 years after bodies If per 1 sons having died of it were inferred, owing to the earth above these graves being opened. It has been found that l bacilli of various diseasa turk in the 1 earth, and the assertion that earth is a l disinfecting element is not always true. He then told of other instances 70 illus l trate this, and said that the Schuylkill river near Philadelphia is much effected 1 by many nearby cemeteries and much 1 fever is caused thereby. Ii has been
 said that ."when you drink water from I the Schuylkill you sample your grand father" He then described a visit to | the crematory in Newton near Brook l lyn. In Newtown there is one grave to
 every ten square feet of ground, ard eighty dead to one living. The death
 rate there is said to be greater than 1 that of any other place in New York state. So dangerous has it become that ! the boards of health of Brooklyn and l New York city have called attention to | the natter
 1 The process of decomposition is a 1 sort of combustion, and cremat tion l makes the combustion more rapid On l entering crematory oile is not effected by the same feelings as they are on en- tering cemetery. In the co.uabarium 1 the funeral urns are placed in niches 1 in the walls. He then described a ere | nation and showed vial coataining 1 the ashes of German professor. who believed in cremation, and who was one of the first to order his body Gis- posed of in this way. The ashes are of a light grey and are exactly similar I to bone ash. MT. Hermance read two letters regretting the inability of the | writers to be present at the meeting. I One was from Judge William K Town- send and the other from R pbi David l Levy.
 Dr. John A. Hutchinson was then l introduced and said that when he had first heard of other than the method
 of disposing of bodies which he had cor 1 sidered the proper way, by burial, it l passed before him like a nightmare. After sober thought, however, ke be- came convinced that incinerdtio1 was l the only proper means of disposal If
 bodies. There has bean much discus sion, he said, as to wh.ther the term
 crema tion or incineration should be applied to the process, hut inclneTa- l ton seems the proper term, as crama-
 ton means reducing the boiy . ashes by fire, and the term is so closeiy con nected with the idea If fire thas many
 shrink from it, while by incineratior i the body is not at all -xpose1 to the fire. If people are to be cOnvi iceG they must be talked to in mild terrls- Gases from incinerated bodies take thGir places in the air, where they are meant to be. Incineration $ said by some I