The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-14
AGAINST SANITARY SCIENCE.

The discussion by the state board or
health Of proper precautions to be OBJ
served in the transportation Of the
bodies of the dead, a subject that re-
Gently engaged the attention Of the
national conference of boards of
health, affords the strongest possible
argument that could be made in favor
of cremation. 1t will strike one who
approaches the subject free from the
rrepossessions of custom or fixed ideas
as a very remarkable thing that, in
this modern and enlightened age which
prides itself especially upon the ad-
vanced and commanding position Of
sanitary science, the great multitude
of people should persist in practice
which is unsanitary, unscientific and
has nothing to commend it to either
reason or sentiment 1t is claimed
that sentiment alone perpetuates the
practice of burying the bodies of the
dead. Sentiment is not the proper
word, however, for this, but, rather,
fixed habit and the prejudices born of
ence and consider the sentimental ar
gument alone, there can scarcely be
anything more repulsive than to imag-
inc the fate to which we now commit
the mortal remains of those who have
been dear to US. The reduction of these
to small portion of clean white ashes
by the purest and most uncontamina-
BILE of the elements has nothing often
sive about it. The bestowal of our
dead where the processes of corrup-
ton can work their slow and dreadful
will is something too repulsive to speak
or even think of. Yet this is the prac-
tice which persists in response, we are
told, to a popular sentiment
In reality, every argument that can
be advanced from any point of view
is in favor Of the crematory as against
the grave; or, rather, as a preliminary
to it. There is no reason why the
ashes of those who have gone should
not be buried as reverently, and their
resting place as tenderly cared for.
after cremation as after interment But
the retention in it's original form of
the human body after life has depart
ed from it until it has been slowly re-
solved into it's original elements is as
offensive to the sensibilities as it is
inimical to public health. We have but
to read the proceedings of the board
of health, with it's numerous and COM
pllcated rules regarding the transpor-
tation of the dead which are deemed
necessary to the public safety, to see
what host of deadly influences are
set at work constantly by our adher-
ence to an empty and offensive tradi-
ton. Even if the regulations set forth
were observed in all their disagreeable
detail they would still offer an unan-
| SWerable argument in favor of crema-
ton. Violated, as they too Frequently
are, and would be in the majority of
cases, but for the supervision and au-
| thority of health Officers they show
! that one of the most powerful influ-
ences at work to increase, perpetuate
| and spread infection is the preserva-
| tion of the remains of the dead, and
their carriage from spot to spot in or
der that they may be inferred at a Sc
lected point.
All of this danger could be done away
| with, and the ravages of disease tre-
smendously curtailed, if cremation were
substituted for burial. 1t is strange
| how slowly, with every consideration
on it's side, the practice of cremation
makes headway. 1t is gaining ground,
| however, and no one can doubt that,
with the growth of the race into entire
reasonableness. it will supplant alto
| gether the custom of burial In the
meantime, it is the part of every
| thoughtful and progressive man, as
careful for the living as he is reverent
of the dead, to do his share toward the
| conversion of the bulk of mankind
| from a habit which has nothing but
antiquity to commend it, to a custom
that is beautiful and tender, as well