In beginning the consideration of the various processes of cremation, I ought to speak of the ancient pyre first; but since it was fully described in a previous chapter, I deem it best to dismiss it with this passing notice. I will remark, however, that were the introduction of cremation attempted with a view to the use of this barbarous mode, that is, if there were no alternative but to burn the dead in the old-fashioned way, I would not be the advocate of incineration; for the method of antiquity was not only obnoxious to the senses, but almost as dangerous to the living as burial in the earth.

It would take up too much space and would, moreover, be entirely useless to describe in detail the numerous European cremation apparatuses, of which those of Siemens, Brunetti, and Gorini are best known. The trouble with these furnaces is, that (1) the apparatus costs too much; (2) the process of cremation, when they are employed, is too expensive.

Therefore I will confine myself to a description of the cremation furnaces used in America.

The crematory at Washington, Pa., is a small, plain, brick building, containing but two rooms,—furnace and reception room. The retort is exactly similar to the ones used in making gas, and, indeed, the whole process is the same.

The Washington crematory is one story high, 30 feet long, 20 feet wide. The reception room is 20 feet square, including walls, and the furnace room 20 feet by 10 feet, including walls. Cremation is performed in a fire-clay cylinder or retort, called the incinerator, which is three feet in diameter by seven feet long, and the walls of which are from one to two inches thick. The retort is like those used in the manufacture of illuminating gas, but somewhat of a different shape. It is heated to a red heat by a furnace fire which is built underneath and kept burning for 20 or 30 hours before the cremation is to take place. The body is placed in an iron crib made in the shape of a coffin, with small, round rods, with feet three or four inches long to keep it up off the bottom of the retort. These feet are inserted into a flat strip of iron two inches wide and a quarter inch thick, turned up at the ends so that the crib with the body will slide into the retort easily. In addition to the ordinary burial garments, the body is covered with a cloth wet with a saturated solution of sulphate of alum (common alum), which even when burned, retains its form and prevents any part of the corpse from being seen until the bony skeleton begins to crumble down. The incinerator receives to itself the intense heat of the fire below, but does not admit the flames. The consequence is that the corpse, when introduced into the retort, is not, in a proper sense of the word, burned. It is reduced to ashes by the chemical application of intense heat. Gases are driven off or absorbed, and, being carried down into the fire from the incinerator and led back and forth 25 feet through its flames, are utterly consumed. Even the smoke of the fire is consumed, and nothing can be seen issuing from the chimney but the quiver of the heat. The process might be called, says an eye-witness of a cremation in this furnace, the spiritualization of the body, the etherealization or sublimation of its material parts. The time required to complete the operation is about two hours. A very small portion of the remains is ashes, but the mass is in the form of calcined bones in small fragments, very white, odorless, entirely deprived of all animal matter, and may be preserved any length of time without change.

There are four to seven pounds of these remains from various sized adult bodies, and can be placed for preservation in a marble or terra-cotta urn, into which a photograph of the deceased, with appropriate record, can be placed before introducing the remains. This urn can be placed in the columbarium of the crematory, kept among the cherished memorials of the family of the departed, or placed beside other remains previously buried in cemeteries or graveyards.

Dr. Le Moyne favored placing the remains of the dead in a one-gallon salt-mouthed druggist’s bottle, with a large ground stopper. After his death, however, the bottle-urn idea proved impracticable, therefore the ashes were generally placed in a sealed tin box.

The furnace erected at Lancaster, Pa., is on a new system, which was devised by Dr. M. L. Davis. The cost of the crematorium was about $5000. The building is beautifully located upon a bluff overlooking the Conestoga River. The grounds occupy two and one-half acres. The crematory is of gothic architecture, 48 × 32 feet, and contains four rooms,—the audience room or chapel, toilet, reception, and furnace room. The chapel is used for religious services, the toilet room for the accommodation of relatives and friends accompanying the body, the reception room to receive the body and prepare it for incineration; all of the apparatus is located in the furnace room, except the retort doors, which face the auditorium. The firing is done in the rear of the furnace, where all tools and miscellaneous articles are kept. The floor of the auditorium is made of Portland cement; the other parts of the building are floored with brick. The audience room is furnished with chairs and a table for the use of ministers or the officers of societies having charge of the ceremonies at cremation; the walls are decorated with pictures and urns of various designs. The waiting or toilet room is provided with chairs, lounges, toilet-stand, etc., for the comfort of the waiting friends. The grounds consist of a plot of two acres, one-half of which is level—here the building is located; the other is a hillside of solid limestone rock—here the society intends erecting columbaria at an early day. The grounds around the building are beautified by roadways, walks, trees, shrubbery, etc.

The furnace invented by Dr. Davis is made of firebricks and tiles. The outside dimensions are 10 ft. 6 in. long, by 6 ft. 6 in. wide, with 9-in. walls of brick. The furnace rests on a foundation 10 ft. 6 in. by 7 ft. 6 in. and 2 ft. 6 in. deep, of good building stone, with mortar of sharp sand and quicklime or equally suitable material, finished level with the floor of the building. At the rear end the center is occupied by the fire chamber (F) 18 in. wide, 48 in. long, 3 ft. 9 in. high to arch, lined with fire-brick 9 inches thick and roofed with an arched fire-clay tile 4 in. thick, covered by 3-in. shield tile. The iron doors (fire and ash) are furnished with frames, the fire-door is protected by a lining of asbestos and fire-clay; the grate-rest is 1 ft. 3 in. from the floor; beneath the grate are two iron pipes (1½ in.) at the sides, to carry heated air to supply oxygen to the flues (at O); a third iron pipe (? in.) passing to the rear of the fire chamber and up through its back wall to the retort (at P); a fourth pipe (3-in. diameter) leading from the top of the rear end of the retort (at M) down through the rear wall and opening in the ash chamber under the grate-bars (at N), to carry off the surplus gases not consumed in the retort. The air-supply pipes are required to keep up rapid combustion by replacing the oxygen already used, and so to equalize the heat at both ends of the retort. The air-pipes leading into the retort so assists the disintegration of the body in the same way, supplying additional oxygen and making oxidation more rapid. The retort is 9 ft. 9 in. long, 3 ft. wide, and 2 ft. high in the clear; it is floored with 3-in. fire-clay tile in sections; the sides are of 3-in tile, also in sections; the roof is of the same material arched in sections. The retort is made in sections rather than in one single piece, in order to make allowance at the several joints for the great expansion and contraction incident to a heat of 2000 to 2500 degrees, thus avoiding the annoyance and expense of cracks and patching. The retort is supported by the arched roof of the fire chamber and its covering of shield tile, and back of the fire chamber by fire-clay pillars, and at the sides by projections of the tile partitions between the flues. Six pairs of flues surround the retort, 15 and 13½ inches wide respectively, and 3 in. deep, separated by tile partitions 3 in. thick. The gases from the fire chamber enter the first pair through curved openings (QQ) and pass up through AA down through BB (receiving additional oxygen at O), and up again through CC, and through the escape-flue S, into the chimney. The outside facing of the flues is 3-in. tile. Between the outside facing of the flues and the 9-in. brick wall is a space of 3 inches which is packed with asbestos to prevent radiation of heat and allow for lateral expansion and contraction of the outer casing of the flues, giving it much longer life. Above the fire space on the top of the retort, which is 4 inches deep, is an arch of 9-in. fire-brick, above which ashes and sand are filled in to the depth of 6 inches above the top of the arch, and floored over with red brick. The retort door is lined with asbestos and fire-clay; it is made of steel plate, closing against a flanged iron frame, and held to its place by a spider, upon which is screwed down an arm swinging with the door and fastening to the frame; the frame is held to its place by two horizontal bars, walled in at the ends. This arrangement secures a tight joint when the door is closed; the stay-bars hold the frame, the bar holds the door to the frame and gives the fulcrum for pressure on the spider, while swinging with the door it is out of the way when not in use. The whole structure is protected by three buckstays of T iron on each side, securely joined by ¾-inch iron rods, furnished with nuts to allow tightening or loosening when necessary. The fire-brick escape-flue connects with the chimney; the dimensions are 16 × 14 inches in the clear; the chimney rests on sills of T iron, supported by brick pillars, and is lined with fire-brick for 6 feet above the retort, and is carried up to a total height of 30 feet.

I have given so minute a description of this apparatus because it is an invention of which not only Dr. M. L. Davis, but his countrymen with him, may feel justly proud. It is the first cremation furnace that possesses the two cardinal requirements of a good incinerator; namely, cheapness and usefulness. The price of this apparatus is from $1200 to $1500; the European furnaces cost $3000 and more. The Davis furnace, moreover, uses less fuel than the European apparatus, whereby the expense of cremation is much decreased. Ordinarily, coke and hard or “steamboat” coal is used in this furnace, although (and this is an additional advantage) gas, oil, or any other heating material may be used. The quantity required varies somewhat, but the average amount necessary to heat the furnace and incinerate a body is 250 pounds of coke and 250 pounds of coal, or about one-fourth ton of fuel. The time occupied for complete incineration varies according to the condition of the body, but ranges from 45 minutes to one hour and a half. The furnace can be heated in six hours, but usually more time is occupied in heating, as there is less liability of injury to the furnace by rapid expansion.

When the Davis furnace is used, the process is as follows: The catafalque, bearing the crib which is covered with a cloth 15 feet long, wet with alum water, is placed by the side of the casket containing the body, the lid of which is removed and strips of muslin are passed under it. The ends of the bands are attached to an elevator, and the body is gently raised up and placed upon the alum-sheet-covered crib, the free end being covered over, thus entirely enveloping it. This procedure is necessary to prevent the clothing in which the corpse is dressed from igniting. All being in readiness, the catafalque, on noiseless casters, is placed in front of the retort. A cable is then attached to the crib, the retort door is opened, a signal is given, and the catafalque with its burden gently approaches the open retort; when near, it stops, and noiselessly the corpse is moved into the retort, impelled, as it were, by an unseen agency. When it is in the proper position, a signal is given, the machinery in the rear and out of sight stops, the door is closed air-tight, and the mechanical process gives way to the chemical.

When the retort is opened, the cold air rushing in, the cold body, crib, and alum-sheet chill for a few moments the inner surface of the retort; in a few moments the retort regains its heat; a fine mist commences to arise from the body, which gradually becomes thicker and more dense, until the inside of the retort has the appearance of dense white mist. The idea of fine snow or fog is suggested. This appearance remains until the soft tissues are reduced to ashes. Then the interior of the retort gradually becomes more clear. The alum-sheet will be seen to be in the same position as when put in; perhaps slightly sunken. A blue flame will be seen arising through the sheet; about six inches above the body it becomes extinguished. This continues until the bony structure is completely cremated, when all is white as snow, and nothing can be seen inside the retort, the ashes having fallen through the crib and the alum-cloth collapsed. The oxygen by the intense heat has been made to unite with the carbonaceous elements of the body, and the resulting carbonic acid gas, ammonia, and water are driven off through the retort walls into and through the flues to the air without, where they mingle with the elements of nature. In the retort are the ashes, consisting of pure oxide of lime.

It is plain from the above that the corpse does not come in contact with the flames, that is, the fire, in this apparatus. There is no burning. The body is simply oxidized, and the union of the oxygen and the organic matter composing the body is so complete that what nature has so perfectly formed in life appears to gently, quietly melt away in death, and becomes resolved into its original elements.

The record of the Davis furnace has been so far entirely satisfactory. The Lancaster crematorium contains two of these furnaces. This crematory has no smokestack; that is, the chimney reaches but several inches above the roof of the building.

On Nov. 23, 1885, Prof. T. R. Baker, Ph.D., of the Millersville State Normal School, collected 30 jars of gases from the escape-flue of the Lancaster crematorium, with a view of analyzing them, to ascertain the nature of the products of combustion of the human body during incineration. Many persons have contended that poisonous gases are given off, thereby polluting the air; and it was with a view of clearing up this phase of the subject that the experiment was undertaken. The apparatus used to collect the gases consisted of an iron gas-pipe, five feet being bent two feet from one end at right angles. The long end was passed down the escape-flue from the furnace. To the other end was attached a glass tube, which ran to a U-tube surrounded with ice, to condense vapors. The gas was collected in a jar. Fifteen jars were thus collected before the body was introduced into the retort, and 15 at various stages of the incineration. The body was that of a man who had died from dropsy. Below will be found Dr. Baker’s report.

Dear Sir: I have completed the examination of the gaseous products recently obtained from the chimney of the Lancaster crematorium, and will now report the results of my investigation. The escaping products were tested at the crematorium for water and for gases readily soluble in water, and several bottles of these products were collected before the body was put in the retort, as well as during the cremation.

Water, etc., were tested for by passing several gallons of the escaping products through the U condensation tubes, surrounded by ice, and then through distilled water. The estimated amount of water in the products escaping before the body was put in the retort was .0011 of a cubic inch to the gallon, while during the cremation it was .0044 of a cubic inch to a gallon.

The water through which the gases were passed, both that used before the body was put in the retort and that used during the cremation, had a distinct acid reaction, quickly reddening blue litmus paper. I could not, however, detect any difference in the degree of acidity of the waters, and their reaction did not indicate that the gases which had passed through them were more acid than the gaseous products passing off from ordinary coal fires. The waters were found to contain traces of the mineral acids generally found in very small quantities in the products of the combustion of mineral coal. They gave no reaction for salts of ammonia, nor for sulphuretted hydrogen.

The gases collected for laboratory examination were tested especially for carbonic acid (CO₂), illuminating gas, oxygen (O), carbonic oxide (CO), and nitrogen (N).

The method of examination employed was that generally followed in gas analysis, namely, the absorption of the gases by liquid reagents. Carbonic acid was absorbed by potassium hydrate; illuminants by bromine; oxygen by phosphorus; and carbonic oxide by cuprous chloride dissolved in hydrochloric acid.

The estimated amounts of the gases enumerated above are as follows, the values indicating the parts of a cubic inch to the gallon; the estimated water being also included in the table:—

It will be seen by a comparison of these results that the gaseous products of ordinary coal combustion are modified to only an inconsiderable extent by matter passing through the walls of the cremation retort. Illuminating gas is a variable mixture of hydrogen, marsh gas, olefiant gas, and other gases, and is entirely harmless when produced in the small quantities indicated in the table, and so thoroughly distributed through the air. That so much free oxygen passes off with the escaping products is an indication of the thoroughness of the combustion, and the complete oxidation of the oxidizable products.

In conclusion, I would say that not any of the many and various tests, either at the crematorium or in my laboratory, of the products under consideration, indicated the presence of anything that would pollute the air. The burning of the body produces no material difference in the gases escaping from the chimney. The volume of the chimney products did not seem to be increased by the burning of the body, and the products had precisely the same odor during cremation that they had before the body was put in the retort.

I might add that I also made a test of the temperature of the products issuing from the chimney, and found it to be about 300° F. This is surprisingly low, considering the high temperature of the retort (2500° to 2800° F.), and indicates a most excellently designed furnace, utilizing as it does so large a percentage of the heat. About one-fourth of the heat of boiler furnaces goes up the chimney.

The process of cremation invented by Joseph Venini, of Milan, Italy, is used in the crematorium of Buffalo, N. Y. The process consists of two parts: first, the generation of gas; and second, the cremation proper. The apparatus is constructed with a gas generator (A), which is a simple fire-pot about four feet in a vertical measurement and two laterally, and is located in the basement of the crematory. The air for combustion is admitted through a grate in the bottom, and is not sufficient to allow of the combustion of the entire mass of small wood which is heaped on the fire. The result is that the fire at the bottom distils the wood at the top, and the gases of distillation and combustion of wood are carried to the back end of the incinerating chamber (B), which is on the main floor. Here these gases are met by air heated in a chamber (C) outside of the furnace, where the two are ignited by a fire (D) which is kept burning just under their point of union. The Bunsen flame (E) thus produced is thrown quite across the incinerating chamber; thence it is carried back beneath the retort by the flue (F) into the basement to a chimney, which is about 40 feet high, and so to the open air. A certain amount of gas is also burned in the flue (F) beneath the incinerating retort and also at the bottom of the chimney. It will be seen from this description the Bunsen burners play directly upon the subject, and by their heat liberate the gases of the body, which gases, being burned in the retort, are carried into the flue beneath; here another Bunsen flame (H) ignites such combustible material as has not been consumed in the retort, and at the foot of the chimney the third Bunsen burner, which is not represented in the illustration, finishes the combustion. To heat the apparatus requires an hour and a quarter, and when the temperature is 2500° to 3000° F., the body is placed in the furnace, and in about an hour is cremated. The amount of fuel used is little more than half a cord of wood, or its equivalent.

The furnace which will be used at the Cincinnati crematorium is on a novel system devised by Mr. M. R. Conway. After the fire is lighted, steam is generated by means of pipes situated in the flues; this steam passes up through the center wall of the furnace and is distributed over the incandescent coke. In its passage it gathers air enough to supply the required oxygen. It also brings with it the gases generated from the body being incinerated, and all these gases are regenerated into an intense heat in the combustion chamber; making a perfectly odorless furnace.

I quote from a pamphlet written by an “eye-witness” of cremation, who had before looked upon it with repugnance, but who on witnessing it became a most earnest advocate:—

“A furnace fire is built and kept burning for 20 or 30 hours before the cremation is to take place. Immediately above the fire is placed in a horizontal position a cylinder of clay called the incinerator, three feet in diameter by seven feet long. This fire-clay incinerator, the walls of which are from one to two inches thick, receives to itself the intense heat of the fire below, but does not admit the flames. The consequence is that the body, when placed in the incinerator, is not, in a proper sense of the word, burned. It is reduced to ashes by the chemical application of intense heat. Gases are driven off or absorbed, and being carried down into the fire from the incinerator and led back and forth 25 feet through its flames, are utterly consumed. Even the smoke of the fire is consumed, and nothing can be seen issuing from the chimney but the quiver of the heat. The process might be called, as we have said, the spiritualization of the body, the etherealization or sublimation of its material parts.

“When the incinerator has been raised to a white heat, it is ready for the reception of the remains. As the cover is removed from its mouth, the in-rushing air cools it from a white to a red heat, and the whole inner surface is filled with a beautiful rosy light which is fascinating to the eye. It looks like the blush of dawn upon the sky, or like the exquisite tints which sometimes flicker along the aurora borealis. There is nothing repulsive about it, and nothing, as has been said, to suggest the idea of fire except the intense heat.

“The body, being decently clad for burial and tenderly laid in the crib provided for the purpose, is wholly covered with a clean, white sheet which has been dipped in a solution of alum. The effect of this is to entirely prevent smoke or fumes or flame, which would otherwise arise from putting anything inflammable into the midst of such a heat; but, under its protection, even the extraordinary heat of the incinerator does not produce upon the body the appearance of scorching or smoking or anything of the sort. There is no such impression as that of burning made upon the eye. The sheet, saturated with alum, retains its original position over the crib, and conceals the entire form until nothing but the bones are left; and when the eye first rests upon the remains after they are left in the rosy light of the cylinder, it sees nothing but these bones gently crumbling away into dust under the mystic touch of an invisible agent, whose only appearance to the eye is like the tremor of the northern lights in the sky; or, more exactly, the radiation of heat from the earth beneath the summer’s sun.

“You have laid a white-robed form within the rosy cylinder, and have turned away to think with gratitude that all is well. You have let your imagination dwell lovingly upon the pleasing sentiment that whatever may be left—beside the calcined bones, most pure and clean—has gone to mingle with the upper air and dwell with sunshine, birds, and flowers. The darkness and the dampness of the earth have been escaped, and so have the perils of grave-snatching, the indecencies of a possible dissecting-room, and the nameless horrors of putrefaction. You have pleasant memories to cherish of the ‘last sad hour,’ which, instead of ‘breathless darkness’ and the ‘narrow house’ and the dreadful thud of falling earth upon the coffin, presents to mind a lovely bed of rosy light, and a peaceful form clad in virgin purity resting within its soft embrace. If a lily had been laid upon a bed of pinks or roses, in the summer, and you had seen its fragrance and its beauty all exhale amid the shimmering beams or radiated heat beneath the touch of some invisible and gentle agency, you would have had a not dissimilar experience. And this is neither painful to the eye, nor distressing to the sensibilities, nor ungrateful to the memory.”

The following beautiful description of a cremation of the future is from the Modern Age for January, 1884, a journal which, alas! was discontinued for lack of support:—

“It is not a disagreeable journey on which we now propose to take our readers. It is to witness the final disposition of a friend’s remains in the ideal crematory of the future—science having already perfected the mechanical appliances necessary in conducting it in the way we describe. Our friend has died, and through the usual announcements we learn that the last rites will be performed in the columbarium at a given hour. Repairing thither at the appointed time, we first pass through a grove of stately trees, the soothing murmur of whose rustling leaves brings peace and quiet into the hearts of those who mourn and gather to pay the last tribute. Within the grove stands a massive building of gray masonry whose architecture shows no striving after ornamental effect, and whose solid proportions give a sense of eternal permanency. A few small windows in a simple frieze which crowns its walls do not destroy this effect, and their plain stained glass clashes in nowise with the harmony of color between the sky, the trees, and the gray stone of the temple of rest. About the Doric pillars of its portico green vines twine fondly as if they, too, would do their share in robbing death of all its hideousness. To this place loving hands have borne the body of our friend. No coffin lends its horror to the journey from this earthly home to here, where eternal sleep awaits him. A flower-strewn bier gives poetic carriage for this short and final journey. Entering the broad portal, the soft, deep notes of an organ charm the ear. The eye takes in a most imposing sight. The entire interior of the building is one impressive room, with walls, floor, ceiling, all of white and spotless marble. The view is not a dazzling one, for the light is subdued and comes in varied color through the windows at the top. On either side of the chamber stand a few memorial statues,—real works of art,—each one of them keeping alive the memory of some one who in his life was either good or great. Many of the marble slabs in the sides and floor of the temple bear in plain, sunken letters, a name and two dates. Behind or beneath them are niches containing urns where rest the pure white ashes of the beloved dead. On a simple dais in the middle of the room lays the body of our beloved friend. The hour has come, and about it are gathered those who knew and loved him while he lived. The scene, the surroundings, the subdued music of the organ, the absence of everything to jar upon the taste or senses, brings on a mood of solemn contemplation. No thought of physical corruption jars upon our memories of the dead. The opening words of the speaker are said, a hidden choir harmoniously chants of hope and life, and now the end has come. With the words ‘ashes to ashes’ a white pall is thrown over the dais, and we have looked upon our friend for the last time. The dais noiselessly sinks from sight, a short hour is spent in listening to a funeral oration, or in contemplation, until the dais, still covered with the pall, rises from below. The pall removed, we see upon the dais an urn—provided beforehand, and containing the ashes of our friend. This is now sealed into one of the niches, and the ceremony is over. This is not pure imagination. Modern invention has now robbed incineration of all its objectionable features. Never till of late years could the world well and simply solve the problem of what to do with its dead. The whole process is carried on as we have pictured, and without a single revolting feature in any part of it.”