The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-04-26
DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD.

In October, 1888, the Anglican church
congress met at Liverpool, and during
the course of their discussions, de-
voted an afternoon to the subject
of the disposal of the dead. The
papers read were under the heads,
ta) funeral reform, CD cremation.
The subject is very live one with
US, and it may not be amiss to
consider what some of these gentle
men said upon the matter
The subject of burial within city pre-
cincts became a live one in London in
1S43, and ended in it's being forbidden
to have what were called 'intramural
interments." The question which met
the burial reformers there, is just
what meets us here, viz: That the
cemeteries are filled up; other cemeter-
les have to be found further afield,
which in time get filled up, and the
question of how long such a process can
be continued is question.
The funeral reformers met the ques-
tion in one way the cremationists in
another. We have never had the views
of the funeral reformers put forth here,
we have gone, in a large measure into
the ranks of the cremationists.
The funeral Teformers' argument was
that Theoretically sealed collins strove
to prevent the natural decay of the
body, and that preventing it's dissolu-
ton by the law of nature, it is we, our
selves, that cause the unhealthy accum-
ulations. If bodies were buried in collins
which did not prevent the resolVent
action of the earth, that is to say, in
perishable collins, all trace of body and
coffin would be gone in from three to
five years.
To reach what this set of thinkers
desire would require legislative action,
but it is action which would not be
so resented as compulsory cremation.
The argument was put forward at con-
siderable length, and the disadvantages
and dangers Of collins which do not
decay was enforced by examples taken
from experience. Thus the Holborn
burial ground was abolished in 1875,
and the collins removed. II was found
that the collins 4Qf Charles lis time
were in exactly the same state as when
they were buried with their contents in
state of putridity, disgusting beyond
description.
The funeral reformer has good ideas,
but his process is a long one. He wants
the body to dissolve by natural process
in the earth, and then he proposes 10
ri 70 4 In,
on the other hand, comes forward, and
says, the funeral refoImer is on the
right track, but he does not go far
enough. AS it was put by the Rev.
H. r. Haweis, Cremation and burial
have one common aim, which is this-to
resolve the body into it's comronent
parts, and restore them to the elements
without injury to the living" Burial
fails to do this satisfactorily, while
cremation does it satisfactorily.
In restoring the body to the elements
it must be distributed. The earth re-
distributes it in one way, fire in an
other. But the earth is slow even
where perishable collins are used; from
three to five years at the earliest. But
where indestructible collins are used, a
fostering mass of putridity may be
kept for over 200 years, as was shown
when the Holborn graveyard was re-
moved.
1t is the rapid returning of the body
to its elements which commends crema-
ton to the thoughtful and those who
believe in sanitary disposal of the dead.
Cremation can only be made general
by the force of example, but that it win
become general, and the prejudice
against it will be overcome, is abso-
lutely certain.