The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1920-05-20
II. c. [. BURIAL RITES.

VIII o kindly give us one or moro
articles on c1ematlon.s ..Three Score
and Ten writes. MAN IN Chicago
ana elsewhere are nearing the end OF
isIa a the last expense trouble them.
ahey are without friends and not money
suihcient to meet the ordinary charges
OF burial spot. cssket, hearse. etc. our
1hihds must turn to cremation as the
only way.
Also an article on embaIming, SO
nd. motneJs may know to what they
submit their children when put in tho
embalmers' hands,"
our burial ~cuStoms originate from ne
cessities OF advantages. Whether our
aead are exposed to insects. the bac-
terra. the sun and the elements on an
elevated platform. or buried in the
ground or burned depended originally
upon the kind and abundance of wild
animals the fighting customs of the
peoples.
Naturally. the builders of religions
found a fruitful theme in the mystery
OF death. and they in turn added a con-
tribution to burial customs. Next came
those who. building racial and govern
mential solidarity. made use of ances-
tral worship and incidentally made their
contributions. Lastly. tradition and pre-
cedent contributed by fixing the proceed
ure.
Incidentally. burial customs have con-
trlbuted to the art of sculpture. They
: have contributed to stability, govern
mental, racial, and family. We a
the custom of %burying. just as other
races have other customs. Our custom
Is hedged about with traditions, mem
cries, sentiments and religious observ-
anceS. That also can be said of the Gus
toms OF other peoples. This is the
strongest argument for the custom. -
Burying contributes to stability. The
desire to stay by the graves of our
dead does operate to keep down wan.
dering. floating from place to place.
emigrating: does serve to keep some
individuals and families stable, self
respecting, upright n energetic.
The common argument. namely, that
burying returns fertility to the soil, pos
sesses no merit. We are so wasteful in
other ways that no one is swayed by
the comparatively insignificant return of
soil fertility which human bodies make.
we regard cemeteries as sacred ground
and cover the ground there with stones
and brick. proving our disregard Of his
argument.
Henri F'abre, a great French natural
list, cites numberless evidences of the
Scotch thrift of nature in its boundless
provision of bacteria. insects and chem.
ical forces for the purpose of returning
to the soil the bodies of anaimals built
therefrom. But man has elected to
make himself an exception to the rule.
While. on the one hand, there is no
advantage to the soil from our burial
CUSTOM, on the other an objection FREE
quently used against it is not valid.
Cemeteries are not sources of diseases.
Thu disease producing bacteria in bodies
dead from yellow fever, smallpox, diph-
theria, typhoid fever are speedily killed
by other bacteria and what is left of
these bodies is not infective. A ceme-
terry in the midst of a city is not a
source of harm. the opinion of Chicago's
justly .fatuous sanitarian of 1869, DR..
John H. Rauch. to the contrary not
withstanding. The only objection to the
presence of q cemetery within a city is
the space it occupies n the lack of
harmony in it's setting.
Intrinsica1ly. cremation is less dis
turbing to the sensibilities as a method
of destruction han is the slow process
of decay. even though we accept the
statement of Fabre that worms and in
sects play no part in the destruction Of
bodies buried deeply in the ground.
There is nothing to be said against
cremation except. that it may be used
to destroy evidence of crime and that,
being contrary to custom. it sometimes
disturbs sensibilities and makes ex-
plantations seem necessary.
Embalming is done by the injection of
a solution Of formaldehyde into the yes
sells and cavities. When well done it
causes the body to mummify. Resolu-
ton into the elements occurs with ex-
ceeding slowness. In fact, by properly
adjusting the strength of the formal
dehyde and by adding some preventative
essential oils. our embalmers can equal
the best work done by the embalmers Of
the days OF tho Pharaohs.