The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-04
THE MORNING NEWS: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY T. 1893

| glass beads which the French have in COM
mon with all continental peoples. They try
TO keep up the custom just as il the inches
were graves, with the consequence thar
upon an occasion like all Saints Dav
inches, slabs, and, In fact, the whole wall
OF the arcade, are buried from sight in the
| mass of decorations, which are sometimes
three feet deep, and always in crowded
confusion.
For the last three or four years the mum
Der of persons cremated in Paris has been
about one-thirteenth Of the total dead. The
statistics for 1895, the last year available.
show: Total deaths. s.. $50; burials. So
81; incinerations Also; dissected in hos
pitfalls and medical schools 1883 In 1891
the number of persons cremated was S992
and in 1896, 4302. For the eleven months
of the present year the number also ex,
ceeds 1900. Since 1882, when a law was
| passed permitting a person to determine
how his body should be disposed of after
death, nearly 10000 persons have been ere
mated In Paris.
1t has been contended that one of the
principal causes of the growth of crema-
ton is the expense of being buried de-
Gently in Paris, but that is only part
explanation. Funerals, in common with
most other things. are regulated by the
government In France. The business of
conducting them is a monopoly licensed
and taxed by the state. A single COM
pany has the concession for all Paris ana
from it the government gets large reve-
nue.. One may be buried only by this COM
| pany, as there are no other underiakers
A private burial is Illegal and should one
be contemplated. the body would he seized
and the responsible persons be thrown in.
TO prison. This one company settles every
thing. You must buy the coffin from it
you must hire the hearse and carriages
from it, and you must pay through it all
the incidental expenses of church antF
state. This applies TO incinerations, as
well as to interments.
The charges of this company for flu
nerals are divided into many classes If
you are Roman Catholic, a funeral of
! the first class will cost you $20O0 If a
Protestant, the same class will cost only
| $500; If an Israeliate but 5000. and il you
have no faith at all you will pay but $3.50
The differences in these prices does not
mean that the government has set up a
standard OF riches, love of pomp, or even
| responsibility, according to religious per-
suasion. They mean that the principal
| expense is for church services. As mat
| ter of fact, there were but sixteen first
| class funerals in Paris last year, and the
deceased We're in fourteen cases Roman
| Catholics, Protestant in one, and non-be-
| lever in one. From the prices named for
| the first class the rates go gradually GOV n
| to the NINTH the lowest class in which IL
| Is possible to be buried. In that class a
| common deal coffin, a hearse to carry it
| to the cemetery, and a divine TO say the
| last word at the grave, cost $50 for a
! Catholic and $3.50 for Protestant. In all
| classes the city charges tax. 1t Is grad
| uated in the same manner as the funeral
! charges, being IS In the first class and
| ST.. in the ninth.
The funeral charge and the city tax must
al We rtfI,a ha kfNJt fA 10
be put into the ground or burned; so the
| only saving effected by crema ton is in the
| cost of last resting place. In the ceme-
| teries of Paris a plot of ground three feet
wide by six long costs from $40 to $500.
| For each additional square foot, length or
width, the price is about 500 A grave may
be rented, however, for Ave or for thirty
years, at reduced rate. plus a yearly
| city tax. Cremation, on the other hand,
| is furnished by the city In eight classes,
! the price ranging from $50 down to $40.
| This charge includes the right to a niche
| in the columbarium for the space of five
| years, at the end of which time the con-
| tents of the urn are emptied into COM
| mon grave. IA concession for the use CT
| the niche in perpetuity may be purchased
| from the city for SIS. The fashion OF
| taking the ashes in the urn to ones home
| is growing, There Is, as yet, no law
| against it; but it is likely that there will
| be one, or municipal tax on home-kept
| ashes, as soon as the practice becomes
| common.
| Contrary to the popular Idea OF crema-
| ton a body is not burned by& fiames, but
| by hot air. The great crematory at Pere
| la Chaise, which is without doubt the
| most complete in the world, consists Of
| two floors. 1t is built on the side of
| gentle declvity, so that each floor has a
| direct entrance from without. The second
! floor consists of vast vaults In which the
| funeral services are conducted, and the
/ burning chamber. In the vault there are
| seats arranged as in a church. In the
| center aisle is a railway upon which runs
| a car, or catafalque the railway ends at
| theedoors of the burning chamber. During
| the services the coffin rests upon this car,
| by means OF which 1t Is finally run to the
end OF the aisle. Then the big doors OF
| the hot air furnace are opened and the cof-
fin slid within.
The furnace proper is upon the lower
/ floor. Behind ii are great number Of
| fiues. The burning agent Is oxide of car
! bon, produced by the use OF gaZogene, and
/ fresh air pumped into direct contact with
the tubes is heated to a temperature of
about 1900 Fahrenheit. With this heat
| it takes 25 minutes to consume the body
| of a child, and 55 minutes that of an adult.
| All that remains after cremat ton is little
| grayish-white powder--weighing 21a
| pounds in the case of a man and less than
| two pounds in that of a woman AS there
| are about twelve cremations daily in Paris.
1t will be seen that the crematory is kept
| going pretty steadily.