Apparatus, cost of best modern, 113 — inoffensiveness of the modern, 106, 112, 114 Ashes, depositing in churches, 16, 124 — — in urns, 119 — interment of, 16, 36, 123 — time necessary for reduction to, 115 — weight of, 115 Burials, crowded, 41, 67 — dangers of, 6, 18, 53 — depths of, 46 — in caves, 5, 29 — in vaults, 47, 59 — near habitations, 44, 54 Burial-grounds, inundations of, 48, 63, 65 — — draining of, 48 — — old, 50 Burial laws, 41 Cattle, burial of, 63 Cemeteries, 43, 47 — conveyance to distant, 80 Churchyards, closing of, 50, 80 Churchyard vapours, 54, 58, 60 Coffins, 52 Columbaria, 16, 75, 124 Common graves during epidemics, 6 Cost of modern system of cremation, 114 — — old systems, 91, 100 Cremation and burial practised together, 5, 9, 11, 70 — — medical science, 23 — amongst ancient peoples, 4, 11, 19, 35 — during epidemics, 6 — half-and-half schemes of, 40, 64, 76 — in America, 83 — in Austria, 79 — in battlefields, 18 — in Belgium, 78 — in England, 85 — in France, 75 — in Germany, LONDON: PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET FOOTNOTES:'Do we not shun, and that most wisely, the presence of those afflicted with infectious diseases so long as they remain amongst us; and yet, no sooner are they removed by death, than we are content, with tender sympathy indeed, and most loving care it is true (but with how much wisdom?), to lay them in the ground that they may slowly dissipate their terribly infectious gases through the soil, and saturating that, may thereby recharge the rains of heaven, as they filter through it, with all their virulence and terrible power of reproduction in the systems of the living. I am not the thorough and entire believer in the disinfecting and depurating power of the soil that I once was; for terrible examples of its failure have, in my judgment, come under my notice. 'Sir Henry Thompson has lately sounded a note of alarm on this subject; and though, for the present, it may fall upon ears unheeding or unsympathetic, I yet venture to think that, in time to come, his warning will be enforced by stern necessity, and that some better method of disposing of our dead will take the place of the burial so honoured and revered by us.' The conditions of membership are:— I.—Adhesion by signature to the above declaration. II.—The payment of an annual subscription of one guinea, or a single payment of ten guineas. In order to carry out the above objects it has been resolved to raise funds for the purpose of carrying into operation the practice of cremation through the agency of cemetery companies, parochial and municipal authorities, or other public bodies.
'O Earth! to thee we commend our brother: of thee he was formed, by thee he was sustained, and unto thee he now returns. 'O Fire! thou hadst a claim on our brother during life: he subsisted by thy influence in nature: to thee we commit his body, thou emblem of purity; may his spirit be purified on entering a new state of existence. 'O Air! while the breath of life continued, our brother respired by thee: his last breath is now departed, to thee we yield him. 'O Water! thou didst contribute to the life of our brother: thou wert one of his sustaining elements: his remains are now dispersed, receive thy share of him who has now taken an everlasting flight.' The minimum cost of a complete establishment for cremation upon the foregoing model, i.e., for the furnace and gas-producer as given in Plate II., but not including a mortuary building, would be as under:—
Transcriber's note:Minor typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. Plate VI "E. F. C. Prentos" is unclear. |