The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-05-31


Cremation, the ideal method Of dis
posing of the dead" was the subject
discussed by the Ramsey County Med
ical society at Its May meeting held
last night in the rooms Of the society
In the Lowry arcade. Preceding the
business session, the members Of the
society enjoyed a banquet and social
session at the Windsor hotel. DR..
Burnside Foster presented the paper
OF the. evening. He said in parts:
:, In every country and In every age the ques-
ton OF the disposal of the body after dea h
mas been debated and the problem has been
ShIhly populated there was plenty of room
TOT both the living and the dead. but the
situaIion has changed. With the advance of
civilization and the growth of cities 1t be-
comes abvtous that some means of disposing
OF the dead must be devised. This Is naces-
sary mat the bodies may not become source
OF stone, metal and Clay have been used ard
tne pody has been wrapped in materials which
We're supposed to protect 1t from decay, but
none have been successful for nature has
decreed that IT shall be otherwise.
:. 1t shall be M. endeavor to point out to you
the objection to earth burial and to rescribe
what seems to me to be better means OF
accomplishing the desired result.
When body is buried a few feet beneath
che surface of the earth 1t slowly decompose5
and the substance arising from the decompo
sition are taken up by the earth and in turn
by the vegetables and plants and we eat the
vegetables and PANTS That completes the
repulsive features that l have not deemed
1t necessary to mention. Many OF the plaques
that have vssited different sections o. the
", IN n times past may be attributed direct
where company of soldiers were, camped
almost directly over grave yard They We're
attacked with an illness that was fatal In
one instance and yet when the comIany was
moved to another locality they recovered their
usual health in a miraculously short time.
Many such instances might be mentioned. :.
body Is ever placed in the soil W thout pol ut
ing the earth, the4air and the water above ard
about it,
The defenders aef earth burial thrust all
these facts aside and say that such things
cannot happen now, and they point out with
pride some of our vast cemeteries removed
some distance from cities, where all is
peace and quiet and the dead are at rest.
But are they at rest? Even before the body
has been placed in the grave there has
commenced an activity that will continue
sipated. A city grows in every direction and
that part that was set aside for the dead Is
finally wanted. The people move to the very
edge of the place that is polluted with the
decomposition of bodies, and without realz-
ing it, are in danger that words can hardly
describe We have had many instances OF
this SO well known that it is unnecessary
to recall them. we read almost every day
of graves being srudely torn open and the
contents stolen or mutllated.
The question of disposing of the dead has
by many to have religious significance, and
as such has been debated. This is worse
than a mistake. Neither religion, sentiment
or creed should have anything to do with
it. 1t is purely social question, a question
of hygiene, to be decided, not by our churches
but by our boards of health: Sanitary science
offers us in cremation a substitute for burial
that brings about the same result In few
minutes that nature takes months to ac-
complish. Prof Richter, in the year 1855,
was the first advocate of the modern scien.
time as result of numerous experiments
in Italy and Germany, there have been per.
fected various notifications that have been
tested with more or less success.
The first crematory which was completed
and used in this country was at Washington,
Penn. There is nothing repulsive about ere
nation. and nothing that need shock the
NEST refined tastes sPhe apparatus In its
essential features, consists of a gas producer
and furnace, and, inside the furnace, u
retort. The retort is heated to 1900 degrees
Fahrenheit, and then in this is placed the
body wrapped in sheet soaked in alum. In
very few minutes it crumbles ard becomes
almost nothing. In the process all that is
volatile will escape through fue. at the
rear end of the furnace prepared for that
purpose ard conducted thence to the rageR-
erative chambers, where 1t remains subjected
to an intense heat until broken up ana
burned. The flames do not come into ton-
tact with the body at any time. The expense
need not exceed $40 to $25 for this actual
work, although 1t may be increased in other
ways if desired.
The treatment Of the bodies of those that
have persisted on the battlefield has been
frequently discussed by the health confer
ences of Europe, and there have recently
been devised sevraI forms of portable appara-
tus by which cremation could be accom-
plished, and this would seem to furnish the
most perfect solution Of the difficulty,
it is to members of our profession that the
public look and have right to look for m
formation along this line, and in order that
our information may be given wisely it Is
well that each one of us should be possessed
of some such information as I have given
you tonight.