CREMATION AND ITS IMPORT- 
ANCE IN CHOLERA. 
BY ROBERT NEWMAN, M. D., NEW YORK. 
Honorary Member of Cremation Society, Berlin; 
Member Executive N. Y. Cremation Society; 
Member N. Y. Pathological Society; Executive 
Member American Electro-Therapeutic Asso- 
ciation. etc., etc. 
. REPRINT FROM THE 
New England Medical Monthly 
For April, 1893. 
Danbury, Conn. 
THE DANBURY MEDICAL PRINTING COMPANY. 
1893. CREMATION AND ITS IMPORT- 
ANCE IN CHOLERA. 
BY ROBERT NEWMAN, M. D., NEW YORK. 
Honorary Member of Cremation Society. Berlin; 
Member Executive N. Y. Cremation Society; 
Member N. Y. Pathological Society; Executive 
Member American Electro-Therapeutic Asso- 
ciation, etc., etc. 
REPRINT FROM THE 
New England Medical Monthly 
For April, 1893. 
Danbury, Conn. 
THE DANBURY MEDICAL PRINTING COMPANY. 
1893. CREMATION AND ITS IMPORT- 
ANCE IN CHOLERA. 
BY ROBERT NEWMAN, M. D., NEW YORK. 
Honorary Member of Cremation Society, Berlin; 
Member Executive N. Y. Cremation Society; 
Member N. Y. Pathological Society; Executive 
Member American Electro-Therapeutic Asso- 
ciation, etc., etc. 
FIRE is the best and surest germ- 
icide, and as such gains an im- 
portance during any epidemic. The 
United States of America have just 
escaped the introduction of cholera, 
and too much praise cannot be given 
to our energetic health officer of the 
port of New York, for his watchful- 
ness to keep the pestilence from our 
shores. However, it seems the dis- 
ease is lurking in Europe, becoming 
almost epidemic in Flamburg, and 
pessimists predict its appearance in 
New York during the spring of 1893. 
Renewed watchfulness is necessary, 
and preventive measures in different 
directions an imperative duty. These 
measures divide themselves in two 
parts. 4 
ist. Quarantine arrangement for 
the detention of suspects and the 
treatment of the sick. 
2nd. The prevention of conta- 
gion either through the sick, their 
excretions and baggage, or through 
the bacilli of the dead. 
To accomplish the second part 
nothing can be more effective than 
cremation, and it seems our health 
officers are aware of such a fact. 
From reports received through 
the newspapers, and statements by 
Dr. Bryant, the commissioner of 
health, it seems that bedding, cloth- 
ing, etc., of patients were burned, 
and Dr. Jenkins, the efficient health 
officer of the port of New York, had 
the corpses of the cholera dead cre- 
mated at Swinburne Island. 
This shows that our health author- 
ities have recognized the importance 
of cremation, as the surest and best 
germicide. 
Cremation is a very old way of 
disposing of the dead, and has of late 
been resurrected in a new and bet- 
ter form; but as a burial it has been 
only tolerated, not strictly legalized 
as a regular burial, while in some 5 
other countries it is not even per- 
mitted. 
While the friends of cremation 
multiply every day, it has some ad- 
versaries, who either oppose it open- 
ly or cover up their animosity by de- 
claring that cemeteries are not dan- 
gerous, hence cremation not neces- 
sary. 
From these reports we will inves- 
tigate some of the opinions pro and 
con. 
i. Arguments or opinions against 
■cremation divide themselves into (a) 
medical, (b) religious and (c) un- 
scientific reasons. 
(a) Medical men are mostly in 
favor of cremation, and the few op- 
ponents are mostly bureaucrats, at- 
tached to some department of a gov- 
ernment, who are inimical to incin- 
eration, according to laws, govern- 
ing such country. That these men 
bear a title like privy councilor to 
its (Gcheimer Medicinal Rath & 
Ritter, etc.) is a sufficient explana- 
tion of their arguments and opinions. 
And even such medical men scarce- 
ly dispute the superiority of crema- 
tion to earth burial, but they dodge 
the question in disputing the danger 6 
of cemeteries and thereby wish to 
show that cremation is not needed. 
According to an article in the 
Nezu York Medical Journal, Novem- 
ber 5th, 1892, Doctors Schoenfeld 
and Grandhomme made a report on 
cemeteries in Prussia. They did 
not discover in the earth surround- 
ing the coffiinsthe species of bacteria 
that had infected the animal there 
buried; but admit, that bacilli are 
capable of development for a year. 
If these gentlemen did not find 
bacilli, it does not prove their ab- 
sence, particularly if other investi- 
gators have found them. The com- 
mittee concludes that the unpleasant 
influence of cemeteries is only 
evinced in the demonstrated incon- 
veniences of odor and the accidents 
resulting from a descent into vaults, 
in which carbonic acid has accum- 
mulated. 
Dr. 1. H. Hamilton delivered a 
paper a few years ago before the 
Medical Jurisprudence Society of 
New York, intending to prove that 
there is no necessity for cremation, 
because he did not know that ceme- 
teries were dangerous. 7 
Dr. Reimann of Neumuenster in 
Holstein, wrote a few years ago, 
an article in the Illustrated Journal 
of Leipzig, doubting the dangers of 
cemeteries, and stating that two 
metres deep no worms exist, and are 
not found. 
There are many facts to contra- 
dict the conclusions of Dr. Reimann. 
It is stated in works by Orfila, E. 
Hofmann, Eulenberg, and others 
that round worms, pelodera strongy- 
loides (family nematodes) have been 
found in large masses in bodies and 
even in the brain substance of the 
dead. 
The most important article against 
cremation was delivered by Dr. 
Petri, while the title of it appeared 
in the innocent form of 
Are cemeteries dangeroils to the 
health? 
Dr. Petri in a paper at the Tenth 
International Congress in Berlin (J) 
tried to show that cemeteries are not 
dangerous if they are situated in a 
healthy location and dry soil. 
(1) Transactions Tenth International Medical 
Congress, Vol. V, page 126. 8 
This paper is considered in seven 
subdivisions, some apparently repe- 
titions of others. He states: 
i. Bacteria is inocuous long be- 
fore the body begins to decompose, 
and this is the case particularly in 
contagious diseases, as cholera, ty- 
phus and tuberculosis. He refers to 
investigations by Hofmann, Schotte- 
lius and Esmarch, showing that all 
microbes were dead in a short time 
and long before the expiration of 
one year. 
No particulars about how investi- 
gations were made are given. 
2. There is no reason to believe 
that other microbes may be danger- 
ous to the health in cemeteries, even 
if no investigations had taken place. 
No proofs are given, and it is 
granted that the investigations have 
not been made, or if made it was 
with no positive results. 
3. It is improbable, nay impossi- 
ble, that microbes can infect water 
or air, before they die. 
The writer concedes, that ground 
water may mix and infect, but he 
considers it very exceptional and 
only possible in such soil as that in 9 
which cemeteries should not exist. 
4. Infectious microbes not known 
cannot act differently than as de- 
scribed in No. 3, therefore no men- 
tion of it. 
5. Cadaver poisons or in infec- 
tions, (ptomaine, toxine, poisonous 
albumen, peptone, etc.) cannot take 
place in a well conducted cemetery, 
even if water or pumps are near. 
Water impregnated with poison is di- 
luted, or inocuous through chemical 
and physical organizations of the soil. 
He concedes that poisoning has 
occurred, but says such is the fault 
of the executive of the cemetery, or 
the cemetery ought not to be situ- 
ated in such a soil. 
6. Gases produced by decompo- 
sition of cadavers are innocent,never 
dangerous, if cemeteries are well 
conducted. 
7. Cemeteries are very healthy 
places-if they are kept well. 
In the discussion-. 
Dr. Gaertner (Jena) contradicts 
the statement of Dr. Petri and says 
Schottelius found tubercle bacilli in 
cadavers after three years. 
Dr. Litthauer (Schrimm) states 10 
that rain may infiltrate the cemetery 
and thereby cause danger. 
Dr. Petri's defence of cemeteries is 
very tame, and most conclusions are 
followed by "ifs" and "buts" which 
partly revoke his former statements. 
The principal point is that cemeter- 
ies ought not to be dangerous, if they 
are situated in a prescribed soil and 
kept in an ideal manner. Now the 
fact is, that the danger of many cem- 
eteries has been proven, that they 
are not kept in an ideal manner, and 
that many regions do not possess 
such a soil, as Dr. Petri describes as 
not dangerous. It is well known 
that a certain earth will petrify 
bodies, but this does not prove, that 
Dr. Petri will find such a soil every- 
where, on the contrary it is a fact, 
that petrifying soil is a very rare 
exception to the rule. 
All the medical statements, that 
cemeteries are not dangerous, and 
that microbes have not been found 
are of such a negative order, that it 
does not contradict the affirmative 
facts, which have been reported in 
many instances by reliable inform- 
ants. 11 
(b) Objections to cremation on religious 
grounds have been made dogmatic 
and on belief, notwithstanding that 
nothing can be found in the Bible,, 
which can in any way be turned 
against cremation. Many clergy- 
men of the highest standing are 
openly favoring cremation, as will 
be shown later. If the objections 
are made only on account of the be- 
lief of certain sects, arguments are 
useless and not in good taste. We 
are not missionaries anxious to con- 
vert the heathen, but respect every- 
body's faith. 
(c) Arguments or objections on un- 
scientijic ground. 
Frivolous objections have been 
made by some, based on ignor- 
ance, superstition, custom, and for 
mercenary reasons. Tradition and 
usage have made the human race a 
machine by force and habit. It op- 
poses everything new, no matter how 
good and beneficial, because it inter- 
feres with the daily routine. All 
such oppositions are kindled by ig- 
norance, bigotry, superstition, old 
laws and usages, anticipation of indi- 
vidual losses. Most people have no 
other reason, then that our grand- 12 
fathers did do it; consequently they 
follow the habit of their ancestors. 
However the very same persons 
travel now in Pullman vestibule cars, 
and do not think to walk or ride in a 
stage to Albany as their fore-fathers 
did. Education will do much, but in 
matters of reform and progress it is 
rather slow. 
The only plausible objection to 
cremation appears in the loss of evi- 
dence in poisoning cases. However, 
the laws of Massachussetts has pro- 
vided for any such emergency by the 
inquest of medical examiners, and 
more evidence is procured and crime 
detected than in New York, where 
undertakers can inject arsenic as an 
embalming fluid. 
That a person may be in trance 
when cremated it is not likely to hap- 
pen, but should such unfortunate 
mistakes be made it is better to be 
cremated than to be buried alive in a 
coffin. 
ii. Arguments and opinions in favor 
of Cremation. 
(a) Sanitary from medical men. 
It will be difficult to find even 
a small percentage of medical men, 
who as sanitarians,will oppose crema- 13 
tion. Some may be (luke warm) in 
preferring cremation in individual 
cases, but they scarcely will appear 
as enemies of cremation and go not 
further than to say that cemeteries 
are not necessarily dangerous. The 
highest authorities are foremost in 
the ranks of favoring cremation. 
Therefore to mention all medical 
men, who are in favor of cremation 
would be equal to publishing a med- 
ical register of the whole world. It 
will suffice our purpose to enumerate 
a few from well known authorities, 
some living in our midst, others 
abroad, who have written on the sub- 
ject or given a decided opinion. 
Dr. Freire, of Rio de Janeiro; Dr. 
de Plongion, Lima. 
Drs. Koch; F. Kuechenmeister, 
Schottelins, Esmarch, Reimers, Ru- 
dolph Virchow, Peter Trusen. 
Dr. M. De Criostoforis, Reclem, 
Tini, Bianchi, Santa. 
Dr. Levison, Kopenbagen; Dr. 
Wheelhouse, of Leeds; Carl Antolik, 
Arad Pasteur. 
Drs. John O.Marble, of Worchester; 
Dr. E. J. Bermingham, Dr. Gray, of 
Orange, N. J.; Wm. M. McLaury, P. 
C. Cole, Dr. Curtis, Chicago; Dr. 14 
Gross, J. W. Carhart, Geo. W. Bosk- 
owitz, Fred A. Jewitt, E. C. Sequin, 
Jas. H. Shorter, Ed. M. Sternberg, 
Bache M. E. Emmet, J. M. Sehley, 
N. E. Brill, Wm. A. Hammond, Jas. 
Lewis Howe, Clement Cleveland, Er- 
colani, Erichoon. 
Darvin, Sir. Spencer Wells, Sir. 
Henry Thompson, Parkes, Adolph 
Wahltuch, Sir. Henry Playfair. 
The Dangers of cemeteries are 
proven in abundance by position, 
facts and experiments, from which 
we will quote only a few to upset en- 
tirely the fallacies of Dr. Petri, who 
is the principal defender of ceme- 
teries. 
Dr. Domingo Freire, of Rio de 
Janeiro, has shown by experiments 
that the earth of cemeteries, where 
bodies of persons were buried who 
have died from yellow fever, was 
alive with organism matter, identical 
with those found in the vomiting 
and blood of patients who had died 
in the hospitals. He took the earth 
from the grave one year after the 
burial, one foot beneath the surface 
and found it swarming with yellow 
fever germs, p) 
(1) Domingo Freire Statistique des vaccinations 15 
Frofessor Bianchi,(3) showed that 
the Modena plague of 1878 was pro- 
duced by excavations of earth in 
which, 300 years previously, victims 
of the similar plague had been buried. 
Medical experts declared that the 
cholera epidemic of London, in 1854, 
was caused by upturned soil in which 
the victims of the plague of 1665; 
which it took the great fire to exter- 
minate, had been interred. In 1853 
-in the Fourth Municipal District 
of New Orleans, 452 people out of a 
1,000 died of Yellow fever, double 
that of any other section of the city. 
There were located vast cemeteries. 
John A. Marble, M. D., read a paper 
before the Massachusetts Medical 
Society in Boston, June 20th, 1885, in 
which he says: "By burying in the 
ground a body dead of any zymotic 
disease, we are planting for our de- 
scendants, seed, sure, sooner or later, 
to bring forth a horrible crop of pesti- 
lence and death! This can no longer 
be doubted, or the fact ignored, for 
it is uncontrovertibly established on 
the recurrent testimony of the high- 
onmoyen des cultures des microbe attenue de le 
fievre janne, pendant 1'epldemic de 1888,1889, Rio- 
Janeiro, 1890. 
(2) Henderson. Cremation. 16 
est authorities. The sudden death 
of the vandals who broke open the 
coffin of Francis I, in the time of the 
French Revolution, to rob it of its 
treasures, is another familiar instance 
in proof of the lethal effect of the 
gases generated by the corpses, and 
of their almost indefinite persistence. 
The terrible scourge in London, in 
1854, was believed to have had its 
origin in the upturning of the earth 
in which the plague stricken victims 
of the year 1665 had been buried; 
and the report of the London Board 
of Health for 1849 states that the 
cholera was specially prevalent and 
fatal in the vicinity of grave yards. 
Dr. Santa vouches for the fact that a 
severe epidemic of fever was caused, 
but a few years ago, by drinking 
water poisoned by grave yard soak- 
ings in the villages of Bellita and 
Rotandella, Italy. More recently 
even the Monumental Cemetery at 
Milan was proved to have been the 
cause of severe illness in its vicinity, 
the wells being the channels of in- 
fection. Sir Lyon Playfair and other 
sanitarians attribute the peculiar fe- 
ver in Rome to the decaying matter 
of remains of its millions of buried 17 
dead. When a boy I suffered a se- 
vere and nearly fatal attack of ty- 
phoid fever by drinking water from a 
well situated not fifty yards from 
graves in a church yard adjoining my 
father's garden. Another member of 
the family was similarly affected a 
year later. The fever occured when 
the well was low, and I have no doubt, 
in the light of our present knowledge 
of such dangers, that, repulsive as is 
the thought, I drank water filtered 
through the bones of my reverend an- 
cestors buried there, and that the 
poluted water caused that illness. 
To those who criticize the advocates 
of cremation for quoting ancient ex- 
amples only, of harm of graves, this 
instance will appear sufficiently re- 
cent and intimate." p) 
Schottelius read the result of his 
experiments at the meeting of the 
Society of Natural History in Heidel- 
berg, 1889. He found the bacillus 
tuberculosis 2% years after burial, in 
the lungs, and animals inoculated 
with this substance died of tubercu- 
losis. 
Dr. Gray, of Orange, N. J., with 
(1) John O. Marble, M. T). The Torch versus the 
Spade. Mass. Med. Soo. Vol. XIII, IV, 1885. 18 
whom the writer is personally ac- 
quainted, reports that in his place is a 
well so near the cemetery that the 
men, while digging a grave, being 
driven from their work by a sudden 
and violent thunder storm, as they re- 
turned to their work found the grave 
nearly filled with muddy water, and 
as they went to the nearest well for 
drinking-water they found the well- 
water also muddy, and on further ex- 
amination found a communication 
between the grave they were dig- 
ging and the well, which they proved 
by filling the grave with water and 
finding a corresponding rise of water 
in the well. This case and several 
others have been reported by Dr. W. 
M. McLaury in a paper read before 
the Society of Medical Jurisprudence 
in New York, Octobers, 1885. Avery 
able paper was also read by Dr. P. C. 
Cole before the North-Western Med- 
ical and Surgical Society in New 
York. 
In London two churches had to be 
closed in 1889, because the odor from 
vaults under the church endangered 
health. The cadaverous atmosphere 
of Westminster Abbey many have ex- 
perienced, and often sickness has fol- 19 
lowed sightseeing there. In New 
York epidemics have appeared in the 
vicinity of grave yards, w7hile other 
localities remained healthy. This has 
been observed particularly near Trin- 
ity Church and around Washington 
Square, which formerly was the 
Potter's Field, and for many years 
around this square infants all died be- 
fore they were one year old. 
The Academy of Medicine in Paris, 
reported that dangerous emanations 
from Pere la chaise, Montmartre and 
Montparnasce have caused diseases 
and death. 
Mr. T. Spencer Wells of London, 
has written several articles, and de- 
clared that graves in which persons 
are buried, having died of contagious 
diseases are always a danger for the 
living. 
Reports of Dr. Faryschar of Alex- 
andria, and Dr. Abbott, of Cairo, 
proved that the cause of the pest in 
Egypt was grave yards on the Del- 
ta: (i) 
Darwin in a paper read before the 
London Geological Society in 1837, 
showed a three inch high layer of 
worms, which were found in graves 
after 15 years burial. 
(1) British and Foreign Medical Review, 1845. 20 
Pasteur's vaccinated guinea pigs 
with virus from a sick cow, which had 
been buried two years, seven feet be- 
low the surface. The guinea pigs 
thus vaccinated died. 
Dr. Wheelhouse, of Leeds, traced 
an epidemic of scarlet fever directly 
to bodies in a cemetery which had 
been buried 30 years. 
Sir Henry Thompson as an advo- 
cate of cremation has written many 
valuable articles and says: "Nodead 
body can be left in the ground with- 
out poisoning the earth, the air and 
the water above and about it. With- 
in a few weeks the decomposing 
corpse is pervaded with bacteria or 
microbian organism, which together 
with the gases generated in the 
putrefactive process are struggling 
with each other with foul melee, each 
seeking to escape from its loathsome 
imprisonment." 
Dr. Parks, (]) "the authority in hy- 
giene," in his works states emphatic- 
ally, that the vicinity of cemeteries is 
unhealthy. 
In New York it has been observed 
that diseases were more frequent. 
(1) Parks,- Practical Hygiene. 21 
and during epidemics more violent in 
the vicinity of cemeteries. This could 
be observed in Trinity Place and in 
former years around Washington 
Square. While Sanitary Inspector 
in 1866 the writer made the same ob- 
servations, and noticed more diseases 
in tenement houses recently built in 
nth Street between 1st and 2d Ave- 
nue on ground areas, from which he 
saw the remains of the graves re- 
moved. The locality bred contag- 
ious diseases such as typhoid fever, 
diphtheria, etc. 
There is on hand an abundance of 
proof, that cemeteries are dangerous 
to the life and health of the living, 
more than it is possible to criticize in 
this work, and more than necessary 
to disprove the allegations of a few 
reporters like Dr. Petri. 
Recently more articles have ap- 
peared in the press, of which a few 
may be mentioned as follows: 
Aug. G. Cobb, Earth-Burial and 
Cremation-Urn, October, 1892. 
Prof. Carl Antolik, Arad. Necessity 
of Cremation, Aug. 24, 1892, before 
the Society of Hungarian Physicians. 
Adolph Wahltuch, M. D. The 
Dead and the Living, a paper read 22 
before the Medico-Legal Assoc., Man- 
chester, 1892. 
Our eminent surgeon, the late Dr. 
Gross, of Philadelphia, was a strong 
advocate of cremation and recom- 
mended it in some lectures. After 
his death his body was incinerated 
according to his wish. 
In Puella de Rugat in Spain, the vic- 
tims of cholera were buried during an 
epidemic in 1885. Five years later in 
1890 these graves were opened, and a 
new cholera epidemic followed, which 
seems to prove that the contagious 
bacilli were alive after five years be- 
ing buried. 
While the sanitary side has been fair- 
ly represented in the foregoing notes, 
some conclusions from a paper of Dr. 
J. W. Carhart, of Lampasas, Texas, 
in favor of cremation deserves a place 
here. The title is: The Influence of 
Grave yards on Public Health or the 
Sanitary Disposal of the Dead. (1) 
1. From whatever stand-point this 
subject is approachedit must be with 
care and gentleness, since the grave 
yard, though a constant menace to 
public health has a pseudo-sacredness 
(1) Times and Register, Nov. 21st, 1891. Philadel- 
phia. 23 
fostered by the profoundest senti- 
ments of our natures. 
2. The method of the disposal of 
the dead should be founded on rea- 
son and not on custom or sentiment. 
3. The interment of the dead in the 
earth was never enforced by a statute, 
Jewish or Christian, and was merely 
incidental to both dispensations. 
4. No law, human or divine, re- 
quires us to dispose of the dead in a 
manner prejudicial to the health and 
comfort of the living. 
5. Whilst it may be an open ques- 
tion as to the right of the State to de- 
cide as to the manner of the disposal 
of the dead, except in exceptional 
cases, it is clearly the province and 
duty of the State to prevent such dis- 
posal as will in any wise jeopardize 
the interests of the living. 
6. From all the facts at our com- 
mand, we are led to the conclusion 
that the grave yard should become a 
thing of the past, and that incinera- 
tion is the method most in accordance 
with science, sanitation, aesthetics, 
reason and religion. 
(b) Religious Opinions in Favor of 
Cremation. 
While it is well known and con- 24 
ceded that many of the clergy are op- 
posed to cremation and prevent pro- 
gress in this direction under the 
cloak of religion, we have the 
brightest stars in the theological 
firmament as advocates. There is 
nothing in the Bible, which may be 
cited which shows that cremation 
sins against the religious teaching of 
any creed. Among all denomina- 
tions we find theologians, even among 
Catholic priests and Hebrews, who are 
openly with all candor in favor of 
cremation. A clear dissertation if 
not the best on the subject, has been 
written by the Reverend Howard 
Henderson of Trinity Methodist 
Episcopal Church, Cincinnati, 1891, 
from which may be quoted as fol- 
lows: 
"Literalists object to incineration 
because of their material views of 
the resurrection. Will not 'the pale 
martyr in his shirt of fire,' whose 
ashes the winds have winnowed and 
wafted whithersoever they list, rise 
again ? Will not the sea give up its 
dead, though the fishes have feasted 
on the flesh, and waves wasted and 
worn the bones of the wrecked ? Will 
not the heathen come from the ashes 25 
of the Suttee ? He who could make 
men of dust, can raise them from 
ashes, from urn as well as grave. 
'That which thou sowest is not that 
body which shall be, but bare grain; 
but God giveth it a body as it hath 
pleased Him, and to every seed its 
own body. There is a natural body, 
and there is a spiritual body.' The 
vital germ of the resurrection body 
is no more destroyed by incandescent 
heat doing its office in fifty minutes, 
than it is by slow burning-putrefac- 
tion-in fifty years. Like the He- 
brew children cast into the furnace, 
heated seven times hotter than it was 
wont to be, yet coming out un- 
scratched, so, the presence and power 
of 'one like unto the Son of Man' is 
competent to bring from the dust of 
the crypt, from the ashes of the col- 
umbarium, a body like unto His own 
glorious body, upon which shall not be 
the smell of decay or fire. The 
body that pleaseth God should please 
us. It is his pleasure to 'change our 
vile bodies and fashion them like un- 
to the glorious body' of His Son, and 
to preserve our personal identity, 
'every seed its own.' 'I shall be sat- 
isfied when I awake with Thy 26 
[Christ's] likeness.' In the crema- 
tory the body is enveloped with a 
rosy light, and is at once reduced to 
its substantive elements. Put against 
this the rot and the worm, and can 
sentiment hesitate to choose the rapid 
from the slow burning ? The heat, 
employed in incineration, is really 
annihilated as heat, and converted 
into molecular motion, and thus the 
original particles may more certainly 
subsist, retaining substantive ident- 
ity, than when the body molders in 
the ground. We may thus resign 
from sight, and yet see by faith, that 
kindly power, which from the former 
kiln of nature 'made us of clay and 
formed us men,'and which is pledged 
to the overthrow of death and the 
grave." 
"Grieved love clips a lock of hair, 
bitterly knowing it can keep nothing 
else. Inurned ashes, kept as the 
Greeks keep their lares and penates, 
and as the Romans the effigies of 
their heroes, is far more appealing to 
the tender susceptibilities of our 
hearts than putting in a pit of putre- 
scence the corpse of our loved one. 
If, as Dr. Young says, 'religion is the 
proof of common sense,' let us cease 27 
to count the beads of our rosary, to 
chatter the litanny of prejudice, and 
address ourselves to the problems 
that philanthrophy and piety present 
to reason." 
"To make a dogma and create a 
conscience with reference to the mode 
of disposing of the dead is to pervert 
the province of Gospel authority. 
This is a question for Christian lib- 
erty and the decision of reason rather 
than of religion. The disciple of in- 
cineration is neither a heretic nor 
a ghoul. To favor cremation as a 
preferable method is not too pro- 
nounced against earth-burial." 
The Rev. Chas. R. Treat, Rector of 
the Church of the Archangel, New 
York, in his address delivered before 
the American Public Health Associa- 
tion at Brooklyn,October 23d,1889, de- 
clares against earth-burial, and finds 
no objection to cremation, even if he 
has a new idea to create a Campo 
Santo. 
Dr. J. Beck, a Catholic priest and 
professor of moral theology and dog- 
matic at the University Freiburg in 
Switzerland is favorably inclined to- 
ward cremation and discusses this 28 
question in the Swiss Church Jour- 
nal. (*) 
Pastor H. Paira, Milan, officiated 
at a cremation, his sermon and prayer 
was a worthy ovation, showing that 
the immortality of the soul is not en- 
dangered by cremation. (2) 
From opinions on cremation by the 
clergy we quote the following letters, 
the originals of which are in the pos- 
session of Mr. R. W. G. Welling, New 
York. 
Boston, Mass., Feb. ist, 1889. 
Dear Sir: I have no doubt that 
cremation will work its way into 
general favor, and I am glad to think 
so. I am glad to remember that in 
Old and New, not more than four- 
teen years ago, I published a well 
considered article urging the reform 
in burial. 
Rev. Edward Everett Hale, D. D. 
New York, Feb. 2nd, 1889. 
Dear Sir: Any objection to the 
practice of cremation must be found- 
ed either upon ignorance, supersti- 
tion or sentiment. The enlightened 
Christian conscience must approve 
(1) Die'Ostschweiz. No. 181, 1892, reported in Phoe- 
nix, September, 1892, page 114. 
(2) Flamme, November, 1892, page 1217. 29 
it. It is one of those great reforms 
which are possible only in an age of 
scientific progress, and which make 
their way in spite of bigotry and 
conservatism. 
When prejudice and fanaticism 
are overcome, the adoption of cre- 
mation will be almost universal. It 
is only a matter of time. 
Yours very truly, 
Rev. J. E. Raymond. 
269 W. 125th Street. 
New York, Jan. 30th, 1889. 
My Dear Sir: "Earth to earth, 
ashes to ashes, dust to dust." At 
least so much support from the 
Christian civilization of these times. 
To the average mind it does seem 
like a severe innovation, almost an 
outrage against the sacred, but it is 
possible to educate-educate even 
the obstinate. It is a question of 
buried or burnt. The disinfecting 
qualities of earth and fire. Availa- 
ble space for the one, greater econo- 
my of the other. I think cremation 
will win inside of another century. 
Respectfully, 
Rev. W. N. Searles. 
New York, Jan. 22, 1889. 
My Dear Sir: In reply to your in- 30 
quiry of the 21st, instant, I beg to 
say that I have no prejudice unfavor- 
able to cremation, and indeed, in 
view of the curiously inadequate and 
singularly unintelligent arguments, 
attacks and denunciations, which 
have been employed by those who 
are hostile to it, I have been rather 
disposed to sympathize with those 
who are seeking to introduce it. 
But the argument of most effect 
in its behalf is one which must be 
made by scientific men, and espe- 
cially by physicians. I wait to hear 
more explicitly and more fully from 
these, for when it can be shown that 
any such plan best conduces to tHe 
health and well-being of large com- 
munities, it will be likely to find 
general acceptance. 
Very truly yours, 
Rt. Rev. Henry C. Potter, Bishop 
of New York. 
Diocesan House,29 Lafayette Place. 
Sing Sing, N. Y., Feb. 6, 1889. 
Dear Sir: In response to yours of 
January 19th, I am glad to say that 
my sympathies are with all forms of 
funeral reform, and especially with 
the advocates of cremation. Wheth- 
er it ever be universally adopted or 31 
not, it is only just that the unreason- 
able and unreasoning prejudices 
against it should be done away, and 
way made easy for those who prefer 
cremation to burials. Agitation and 
discussion, the use of the press, plat- 
form and pulpit, will do much to dif- 
fuse sound views on this subject. 
As a clergyman I shall be glad to 
bring the matter at the proper time 
to the attention of those who listen 
to me. But I want more exact, mul- 
tiplied, conclusive medical testi- 
mony. The sanitary argument will 
most quickly explode old prejudices. 
Rev. Edward A. Lawrence. 
Ithaca, N. Y., Jan. 23d, 1889. 
Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your 
circular of January 22nd, and it de- 
mands from me the courtesy of a re- 
ply. I have not however, so strong 
convictions in reference to the mat- 
ter to which your circular alludes to 
justify any special zeal in the mat- 
ter. I have in a general way looked 
with favor upon cremation purely 
for sanitary reasons, but the difficul- 
ties in the way of getting cremation 
adopted in the villages and country 
are so great that it has seemed to be 32 
impossible to bring about any very 
general change. I may add, that it 
seems to me the question should be 
settled purely on sanitary grounds. 
It is difficult for me to understand 
how any other reason can fairly be 
brought into consideration; other 
reasons seem to me to be founded 
on prejudice. 
Rev. C. K. Adams, LL. D., Presi- 
dent Cornell University. 
New York, Jan. 30th, 1889. 
My Dear Sir: You ask my opin- 
ion, as a Christian minister, in re- 
gard to cremation as a mode of 
burial. I see no possible religious 
objection to it. I see, from a sani- 
tary point of view, much in favor of 
it. But I recognize, from the stand- 
point of the emotions, much which 
will have to be overcome before cre- 
mation can come into vogue. For 
myself I should have no objection-to 
the cremation of my body after 
death. But I fear the cremation of 
a dear friend would be at present a 
shock for which I am not prepared. 
I have thought it best to write my 
sentiments fully-usage and the 
growing conviction of earnest con- 33 
sideration must prepare the way for 
cremation as a general practice. 
Very truly yours, 
Rev. C. C. Tiffany, D. D., Rector 
of Zion Church. 
37 East 39th Street. 
New York, Feb. 23, 1889. 
Dear Sir: Though not acquainted 
with the methods of the U. S. Cre- 
mation Society, I believe cremation 
in some method to be the only wise 
solution of the vast problem of dis- 
posing of the dead. 
On the sanitary reasons, which are 
of course the most important, I have 
no technical authority to speak. But 
I believe that merely on grounds of 
feeling, the considerations of decent 
respect due to the remains of the 
dead are. increasingly in favor of 
cremation. The grave, the tomb, 
are necessarily revolting to any im- 
agination that looks beyond the sur- 
face. Indeed, the irrational horrors 
with which human fancy invests 
death, largely derive their imagery 
from the practice of interment, which 
brings us to the "cold grave,'' "to 
mingle with the clay," or in the 
"dark and gloomy tomb," makes us 
"food for worms." 34 
Cremation, on the contrary, can 
suggest none but pure and elevated 
conceptions. I find large numbers 
of persons, especially young people, 
who express a desire for this reform. 
Any religious objection to the 
practice cannot be serious. The 
Church honors many saints and mar- 
tyrs whose bodies were consumed by 
fire; in the burial service, as if by 
some prophetic instinct, we still read 
■"ashes to ashes;" and the "storied 
urn" retains itself among the most 
orthodox symbols of Christian bur- 
ial. 
I indulge the fancy that the prac- 
tice of incineration will revive the 
ancient custom of gathering the 
memorials of the dead in places of 
public worship. The cenotaph, or 
the memorial window, now so com- 
mon, do not gratify the natural sen- 
timents as do the veritable relics of 
the departed. In the modern prac- 
rice the imagination is not satisfied, 
and turns away from the empty in- 
scription in the church to the actual 
grave where the dead lie. West- 
minster Abbey, without the "sacred 
dust" itself, would hardly be hal- 
lowed ground. But the "ashes of 35 
our fathers in the temples of our 
Gods," is all that the feelings claim. 
I can imagine the church of the fu- 
ture gathering about its alters the 
urns of its sainted dead, with the 
same solemnity and beauty as of 
old. 
Remain, sir, very truly yours, 
Rev. Theodore C. Williams. 
Park Avenue Hotel. 
P. S. As a scriptural motto for 
your society you might select this: 
"Now, this I say, brethren, that flesh 
and blood cannot inherit the king- 
dom of God; neither doth corrup- 
tion inherit incorruption. For this 
corruption must put on incorruption, 
and this mortal must put on immor- 
tality." Or this: 
"We know that if our earthly house 
of this tabernacle be dissolved, we 
have a house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens." 
New York. Jan. 30th, 1889. 
Dear Sir: I know of no serious ob- 
jection to the practice. I do not sup- 
pose there can be any sanitary objec- 
tion; and I suppose whatever form of 
legal objection there once was has 
been removed. I could officiate at a 
funeral service, knowing that the 36 
body was to be cremated, with as 
much religious feeling and as great 
a sense of propriety, as if I knew 
that the body was to be buried in the 
usual form. I confess that the sen- 
timental objection has some weight 
with me. If persons outside of my 
immediate family circle choose to be 
cremated, I have no objections; but 
I confess that I should much regret 
seeing the body of one who stands 
closely related to me in family or 
church life, cremated. This is a 
simple statement of my thought; it 
may be of no value to you, but as 
you have asked it I give it to you 
precisely as the case stands. 
Very truly yours. 
R. S. MacArthur, D. D., Calvary 
Baptist Church, New York. 
New York, Feb. 14th, 1889. 
My Dear Sir: I am aware of no 
argument against cremation that 
deserves consideration, and I regard 
that method of disposing of the bod- 
ies of the dead as intelligent reason 
and unperverted taste. 
Very truly yours, 
William Hayes Ward, D. D., LL. 
D., Editor of "77z^ Independent." 37 
Boston, Mass., Feb. 16th, 1889. 
My Dear Sir: I believe that there 
are no true objections to the practice 
of cremation, and a good many ex- 
cellent reasons why it should become 
common. Yours truly, 
Right Rev. Phillip Brooks, D. D., 
233 Claremont St. 
Washington, D. C., Feb. 16th, 1889. 
Dear Sir: Cremation has always 
had a certain attraction to me. My 
father used to say to me, when I was 
a boy, that, except for the feelings of 
others, he would prefer that his re- 
mains should be so disposed of. He 
had a horror of physical blemishes 
during life, and as a natural result, 
shrunk from the idea of the decom- 
position of the body after death. The 
sentimental objection has, therefore, 
never had any hold on me. The 
sanitary necessities of civilized life 
renders this reform inevitable-an 
affair of time only. Cremation must 
be adopted by all civilized communi- 
ties as a preventive to disease, and 
the day when this shall be the adopt- 
ed method of disposing of the re- 
mains of our dead, is not far distant. 
Yours sincerely, Chas. A. Bacon, 
M. D., (Formerly of New York). 38 
Garden City, L. I., Jan. 29th, 1889. 
My Dear Sir: Yours of Jan. 19th,. 
is at hand. I am glad of an oppor- 
tunity of expressing my interest in 
the work of the Cremation Society. 
For many years I have thoroughly 
believed in cremation on a variety of 
grounds. Having tried to make my 
life one of usefulness to my fellows, 
I object to the possibility of injuring 
any one after I am dead. The thought 
that, what I cannot take away with 
me to a higher form of life is to be 
left as a means of poisoning life, is 
abhorrent to me. I prefer that my 
body shall be so disposed of as to put 
this out of the question. The relig- 
ious objection has always been non- 
sensical to my mind. 
Believing thoroughly in a life to 
come, I have not the slighest notion 
of that higher life being conditioned 
in any possible way by the way in 
which we get into it. Nothing but the 
stupid prejudice of a blind orthodoxy 
could allow any notion of this kind 
to have weight. In so far as it does 
have weight, it ought to be exposed 
and ridiculed. I have also, for years, 
had the most intense horror of think- 
ing any one dear to me undergoing 39 
the noxious process of decomposition, 
as we have made sure that it shall be 
made noxious by our whole mode of 
interment. I want those I love to 
pass from this life to a higher life 
without any such abhorrent decom- 
position of the form once dear to 
me. On every hand cremation has 
commended itself to my judgment, 
and I am sure that it is destined to 
prevail in the future. I expect to be 
disposed of thus myself, and do not 
know of any expression of opinion 
which I could offer that would have 
more weight than this. 
Yours truly, 
Rev. R. Heber Newton, D. D. 
Atlanta, G., Feb. 28th, 1889. 
Dear Sir: I vote with emphasis 
for cremation. It is clear to my mind 
that it is the method of the future 
for disposing of the flesh when the 
spirit has no longer any use for it. 
There are no valid arguments against 
cremation. Burial in the earth is 
now entrenched only in sentiment 
and custom. It will be a pleasure to 
me to do all in my power to break 
that sentiment down. Cremation is 
a "new departure," which is really 
an "old return," with improvements 40 
in the light of science, which is the 
order of nature and the order of God. 
"Dust to dust" is the divine decree 
for the lower nature, when the higher 
nature has escaped into freedom 
from the confinement of its tempor- 
ary home. 'Tis a question of pro- 
cess only, with wise regard for the 
living. Some superstitions may still 
invest the subject, but superstitions 
have "got to go." Progress is un- 
friendly to them, and progress is 
God's way. An enlightened imagina- 
tion turns away with disgust from 
the retarded processes of burning in 
the grave, and welcomes the changes 
when the body is kissed by the trans- 
figuring power of the air in the cre- 
matory, rosy with intense heat. 
There are many points of view from 
which to regard the subject, and 
from all cremation wins the judg- 
ment. 
Very sincerely yours, 
Rev. A. T. Clarke. 
New York, Feb. 14th, 1889. 
Dear Sir: The chief objection it 
seems to me, that at present can be 
urged against cremation, is that the 
process is costly. You may quote 41 
me as heartily favoring the objects 
of your company. 
Rev. D. S. Rainsford, D. D., Rector 
of St. George's Church. 
209 E. 16th Street, 
Brooklyn, N. Y., Jan. 21st, 1889. 
My Dear Sir: I do not think I can 
do better than refer you to an article 
in the Fortin (No. 3, if I remember 
rightly), for my very favorable 
opinion at any time. 
Yours very truly, 
Rev. John W. Chadwick. 
New York, Jan. 22, 1889. 
Gentlemen: I have not made up 
my mind about cremation, and imag- 
ine I shall not preach against it, so 
far as my thought turns now. 
Yours, 
Rev. Robert Collyer, D. D., 
New York, Jan. 21st, 1889. 
Dear Sir: In reply to your favor 
of the 19th inst., I have to say that 
my views on the subject of crema- 
tion are entirely in accordance with 
your own. I believe that this meth- 
od of disposing of the remains of 
those who were dear to us in life, is 
more reverent, more in harmony 
with refined feeling, besides being 
obviously superior on grounds of 42 
public health, to the usual practice of 
earth-burial. I trust that, thanks to 
your efforts and those of your coad- 
jutors, cremation will be received 
with increasing favor by all enlight- 
ened persons in the community. 
Respectfully yours, 
Dr. Felix Adler. 
New York, March 4, 1889. 
Dear Sir: In reply to your com- 
munication of recent date I beg to 
say that I am in sympathy with the 
object which you have in view, and 
look with favor upon cremation as a 
substitute for interment. The ob- 
jections to it are in my judgment 
wholly sentimental, and must in time 
give way to more rational considera- 
tions. Very respectfully yours. 
Rev. David H. Greer, St. Barthol- 
omey's Rectory, 
342 Madison Avenue. 
Warwick, N. Y., Jan. 21st, 1889. 
Dear Sir: I was once opposed to 
cremation, but after a long examina- 
tion, based on the reports of Euro- 
pean and American scientific asso- 
ciations, the expediency and neces- 
sity of cremation were demonstrated 
to me to my entire satisfaction. I 
need not present an abstract of these 43 
convincing reasons, as your pamphlet 
and circulars no doubt give them in 
full. A caption of my own views 
might be stated as follows: 
i. Cremation reduces the body at 
once to pure and unrevolting dust. 
2. Burial requires many years for 
a like result, and is repulsive and 
poisonous in its work through that 
long period of time. 
3. It has long been noted that 
villages with cemeteries on higher 
land, even at considerable distance,, 
has been the starting centres of fear- 
ful epidemics. When the cemeteries 
were removed several miles, the epi- 
demics ceased their visitations. 
4. Science shows that everything 
in a grave in due time comes to 
the surface. The gases and dusts 
are blown about by the winds and 
enter anew into all growing forms 
of vegetation and life, and re-enter 
into fresh combination with the wait- 
ing soils; it may be far away. After 
long periods of time anything com- 
mitted to a grave will not be found 
there. When any one has learned 
this demonstrable fact, most of the 
objections against cremation vanish. 
5. The body is but a temporary 44 
garment of which we have many 
changes during an average lifetime. 
When the body is left it is left for- 
ever. The eagle hatched never seeks 
a return to the old egg-shell. God 
gives the shell-a place and function. 
Its work done, return is impossible, 
«ven if desired. In regard to crema- 
tion, the true plan is for each one to 
examine carefully and fully all the 
facts and factors involved in the 
problem. Where this is the case, 
cremation is rapidly growing in pop- 
ular favor. This brief statement 
may suggest why I greatly prefer 
the cremation of the human body to 
its burial. Very truly, 
Rev. G. W. Timlow, D. D. 
Jersey City, Jan. 29th, 1889. 
Dear Sir: I believe in cremation 
with all my heart, and consider it 
the only proper method of disposing 
of the dead. The arguments in its 
favor are overwhelming, and those 
who read up upon this subject are 
almost always converted to the new 
idea. I am glad to see that prejudice 
and blind conservatism are rapidly 
giving way to nineteenth century 
common sense. I prophesy that in- 
side of twenty-five years, cremation 45 
will become nigh universal in this 
country. Advancing civilization de- 
mands it and will have it. My own 
sister was cremated at Fresh Pond, 
and my father Rev. Henry M. Scud- 
der, D. D., for so many years pastor 
of the CentralCongregational Church, 
N. Y., has left orders to the effect 
that, upon his decease, his body shall 
be brought to this country from 
Japan, where he is now residing, and 
cremated in the State of New York. 
It is also my desire and command 
that when I die my body shall be dis- 
posed of in a similar manner. I pre- 
fer a "fiery chariot" to being eaten 
up by worms. 
Yours sincerely, 
Rev. John L. Scudder, Pastor First 
Congregational Church, Jersey City. 
Washington, D. C., Jan. 21st, 1889. 
Dear Sir: In response to your re- 
quest for an expression of my opinion 
respecting cremation, I beg to say 
that my objection to that process 
springs, I am satisfied, from false 
sentiment and inveterate prejudice, 
as I have long entertained a pri- 
vate wish for my own body to be 
disposed of in Indian fashion, on a 
plat-form in a tree. But from an 46 
impersonal, intellectual and scien- 
tific standpoint, I entirely approve 
of cremation as a sanitary measure 
and matter of public hygiene, for 
reasons already too familiar to you 
to require that I should traverse 
them. Very truly yours. 
Elliott Coues, LL. D., 
(c) Unscientific and other Opinions 
in Favor of Cremation. 
While we find among the masses 
many opponents to cremation, con- 
verts and adherents among the better 
classes increase from day to day. To 
give the names only of those who 
have spoken in favor of cremation 
would almost fill a library, and the 
list cannot be given here for want of 
space, less their opinions and letters. 
Suffice to say approbations have 
come in from the best class, repre- 
senting intelligence and standing in 
our community. Among opinions on 
cremation collected 1889 by the New 
York Cremation Society we find 
among others the following names, 
well known in large circles: 
Laura C. Holloway, Brooklyn; Mar- 
shall P. Wilder, N. Y.; Lucy Stone, 
Boston; James M. Varnum, N. Y.; 
Mrs. J. C. Croly (Jennie June), N. Y.; 47 
Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake, N. Y.; 
Louis Liebman, Brooklyn; Rose 
Elizabeth Cleveland; HenryM.Taber, 
N. Y.; Edgar Fawcett, N. Y.; Luther 
R. Marsh, N. Y.; Edith M. Thomas, N. 
Y.; Moncure D. Conway, N. Y.; D. 
H. Cochran, of the Collegiate and 
Polytechnic Institute, Brooklyn; Mrs. 
Lippincott (Grace Greenwood), N. 
Y.; Chas. A. Dana, Editor of the Sun, 
N. Y.; Thomas Wentworth Higgin- 
son, Cambridge, Mass.; Hon. Abram 
S. Hewitt, N. Y.; Robert P. Potter, 
Editor of the Press, N. Y.; Professor 
F. W. Taussig; Theodore T. Oving- 
ton, Brooklyn; Hon. Chas. F. Allen, 
Commissioner of Agriculture; J. A. 
Irwin; M. A. Cantab, M. D., Dub., N. 
Y.; Chas. F. Wingate, Sanitary En- 
gineer, N. Y.; C. M. vom Baur, Ex- 
President Arion Society, N. Y.; Hon. 
Chas. W. Horner; Alice De La Plon- 
geon, Brooklyn; Andrew Carnegie; 
Hon. Geo. Hoadly, Ex-Governor of 
Ohio; Cassius Marcellus Clay, White- 
hall, Ky.; Minnie Palmer, N. Y.; 
Elizabeth T. Peabody, Jamaica Plain, 
N. Y.; Samuel L. M. Barlow, N. Y.; 
Annie Wolf (Em 'Ly), Philadelphia; 
Thos. W. Knox, N. Y.; Josiah Quincy, 
Quincy, Mass.; Kate Field; Geo. E. 48 
Waring, Jr., Newport, R. I.; Richard 
Katzenmeyer, President Arion So- 
ciety; Clara Erskine, Clement Wat- 
ers, Boston; Olive Thorne Miller, 
Brooklyn; Charles Francis Adams, 
Boston; Gen. Horatio C. King, N. Y.; 
Mrs. Ella Wheeler Wilcox; J. H. 
Johnston, N. Y.; Prof. Chas. Eliot 
Norton, Harvard University, Cam- 
bridge, Mass.; George William Cur- 
tis. The following few letters are 
introduced as containing valid argu- 
ments: 
2i West 26th Street. 
Tarpon Springs, Fla., Feb. 5, 1889. 
Dear Sir: It gives me pleasure to 
comply with your request to state 
some of the vital reasons for my be- 
lief in cremation. I believe in cre- 
mation. 
First. Because it is the only safe 
method, from sanitary causes, of dis- 
posing of the dead. 
Second. I believe in it, because it 
is the only way to prevent the ever 
occurring and dangerous encroach- 
ment of the living upon the territory 
assigned to the dead. This is seen in 
the older American cities, and is 
everywhere to be observed in the Old 
World. 49 
Third. Considered from motives of 
sentiment, the old methods of slow 
decay, by burial, are revolting as 
compared with the speedy and clean 
process of disposing of the useless 
tenement by fire. 
Whoever has seen the slain upon 
the battle-field gathered like dead 
wood and buried hastily in shallow 
trenches; or who has looked into one 
of the three hundred and sixty-five 
pits that are opened in turn, one each 
day, to receive the pauper dead of 
Naples; or who has seen the Potter's 
Fields of Germany or the ghastly ar- 
rangement of the dry bones of the 
millions in the catacombs of Paris; or 
who has seen the dogs of Constanti- 
nople make prey upon the human 
bones in its cemeteries ? I say, that 
he who has witnessed all of this must 
earnestly hope and desire to have all 
that was corruptible in him made in- 
corruptible by the purifying process 
of fire. If the heart craves senti- 
ment, there is ample scope for its ex- 
ercise in cremation, the ashes maybe 
gathered in urns or worn as armlets; 
but, what is better still, they may be 
scattered where roses bloom and the 
violet diffuses its sweet perfume. 50 
Yours, in hearty sympathy with the 
good work that furthers cremation. 
Mary J. Safford. 
New York, Feb. 14th, 1889. 
Dear Sir: You ask my opinion of 
■cremation. I think the opposition to 
it has largely originated in an ignor- 
ant prejudice. The objections raised 
against it have certainly lost much of 
their force in public estimation. San- 
itary considerations are strongly in 
its favor, and as concerns sentimental 
feelings, it seems to me there is much 
to recommend a total and immediate 
destruction of the body after death. 
Yours respectfully, 
W. W. Astor. 
New York, Feb., 1889, 
Sir: Sentimentality is the most ob- 
stinate of enemies to all moral re- 
forms. It devitalizes many of the 
highest forces of civilization. We 
solemnly consign our loving dead to 
slow decay and the gnawing of loath- 
some worms while pronouncing a 
meaningless or hypocritical heredi- 
tary benediction, "ashes to ashes," as 
if this purified and harmless condi- 
tion was to be theirs at once. Did 
not God translate his well-beloved 
prophet and servant, Elijah, fire be- 51 
ing His chosen element of honor ? 
There were no mocking utterances in 
that grandly beautified ceremony of 
purification, and yet God's followers 
evade this example. 
Most truly, 
Mrs. C. S. Longstreet. 
The Strathmore, B'way, Cor. 52nd 
St. 
New York. 
My Dear Sir: Success attend your 
worthy efforts, and right speedily. 
We want protection for the living, 
and the best way to secure it is to 
cremate not only our dead and de- 
caying, cast-off garments of clay, but 
everything that infests the air and 
soil and water with the germs of 
sickness, disease and death. We, the 
ladies of the "Health Protection As- 
sociation," are doing good work in 
agitating the subject of cremating the 
garbage, and can report some good 
results already. Come to our aid, and 
we shall be glad to cast our influences 
with you! My sister and myself 
were long ago converted to a faith in 
cremation. One has such a horror of 
rotting slowly back to the elements 
of one's material being ! Who does 
not prefer the sweeter, cleverer, 52 
swifter process of "rosy heat?" A 
few years ago the upper Delaware 
was flooded with the melting snows 
of spring, and the turbid, swollen 
stream overflowed its banks and 
washed out a number of graves in the 
country burying-ground. When the 
floods had abated, dead bodies and 
skeletons were found strewed along 
the banks and dangling from trees, 
which had been partly inundated. 
The sight was most shocking to the 
friends of the deceased and demoral- 
izing to every passer-by, but making 
a most impressive object lesson in 
favor of cremation. We, who were 
witnesses of this event, are haunted 
even to this day by the horrible sight. 
Most cordially yours, 
Julia Thomas. 
Conservatory of Elocution and 
Physical Culture. 
Winfield Junction, March i, 1889. 
Sir: Surrounded as I am in my 
township by 1,250,000 bodies of slow- 
ly decomposing humanity; knowing 
as I do the bad results sanitarily, 
with the fact that one little township, 
(Newtown) has almost the highest 
death rate in the state, and also hav- 
ing opportunity to observe the meth- 53 
od by which your company proposes 
to solve this "very important ques- 
tion," the disposal of the bodies of 
the departed; for all these reasons I 
say that cremating the bodies of our 
dead ones is the only humane 
method of disposing of the same. 
Emanuel Brandon, Member of the 
Board of Health, Newtown, L. I. 
New York, Jan. 30, 1889. 
Dear Sir: In reply to your note, 
I can state very truly, that I am 
heartily in sympathy with the cre- 
mation society, considering such dis- 
position of human remains as the 
wisest, cleanest, most healthful and 
economical method of disposing of 
what is of no longer of any use, and 
must in time become a positive 
source of injury. If grave yards con- 
tinue to be filled, the cities of the 
dead will in time become more pop- 
ulous than the cities of the living, 
and will threaten the existence of 
populous communities. Justice to 
the living, and the sentiments we 
cherish for the dead, seem to me the 
best satisfied by the quick diffusion 
of the shell they no longer inhabit, 
and the possession of that in-urned 
residuum, which like a lock of hair, 54 
or the remnant of a robe they have 
worn, we may keep and guard. 
Mrs. J. C. Croly, (Jennie June.) 
148 E. 46th St. 
Many more names can be added 
like Paul Hohlfeld, Henry Simon, 
Siemens, Carl Blind and the late 
Earl of Beaconsfield, but there are 
so many in our immediate circle that 
many will be surprised at the strong 
phalanx in favor of cremation. 
The arguments in favor may be re- 
capitulated as: 
(a) Sanitary reasons as mention- 
ed, make cremation a necessity. 
(b) Religious-. The fact is, crema- 
tion does not interfere with any dog- 
ma, or any creed in religion nor does 
the Bible object to it. 
(c) Unscientific and other reasons. 
1. Laws and medical inquests be- 
fore cremation will detect crime bet- 
ter, than the usages in earth burial. 
2. Should a person in a trance 
be buried in earth "alive," it is most 
terrible, while by cremation no suf- 
fering can occur. 
3. In olden times cremation was 
practiced, hence if our ancestors did, 
it cannot be decried as anew custom. 
4. Cremation is cleaner. 55 
5. Cremation is more economical. 
6. It prevents sickness occurring 
from visits to grave yards in inclem- 
ent weather. 
7. The constant care of graves 
and tombstones are expensive, which 
is prevented by cremation. 
8. Ashes can be preserved as a 
relic forever, while a decomposed 
body is disgusting. 
9. The dead occupy ground area, 
which is needed for the living, and 
for their comfort. 
III. Progress of Cremation: 
The incineration of the dead was 
a legal burial among the ancients, 
and was known particularly in 
Greece and Rome. The Iliad de- 
scribes the funeral of Patroclus and 
Hector. It has been practiced in 
countries all over the world at dif- 
ferent periods. The writer when a 
boy found several urns with ashes 
in Saamland, which is on the Baltic 
near Pillau, in East Prussia. These 
were the graves of the Hunes, an 
old Teutonic Tribe. Such spots 
could be recognized by a peculiar 
elevation of the ground on hills, and 
on digging, an urn was found of a 56 
simple pottery production contain- 
ing the ashes. 
It seems that the earth burial was 
established in the fourth century. 
The re-introduction of cremation in 
its present form is very recent, and 
the agitation began less than twenty 
years ago by Professor Brunetti at 
the International Exhibition in Vi- 
enna in 1873. Cremation societies 
were organized, mild agitations 
made, and only for the last ten years 
the matter has taken root and 
branched out all over the world, so 
that at the present time it is acknowl- 
edged as the best method for the 
disposal of the dead by the un- 
prejudiced intelligent, and a neces- 
sity by every sanitarian and scien- 
tist. 
The present modus operandi of 
cremation is much improved and 
differs widely from the burning of 
bodies in olden times. At present 
the body is placed in a heated retord, 
no fire burns the body, and only heat 
of about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, 
makes the body incandescent, the 
liquids are evaporated and leaves 
nothing else of the body than about 57 
four pounds of ashes in the form of 
a gray powder. There is nothing- 
unpleasant, it is in every aspect an 
aesthetic process. The ashes may be 
kept in privacy, at home or in a Col- 
umbarium, or even buried, accord- 
ing to the desire of the relatives. 
Such ashes may be placed in urns of 
terra-cotta, marble, etc., in any de- 
sign and with an inscription desired. 
Some designs are hereby shown. 
The progress of cremation has 
been steady, the societies and their 
members increased, crematories 
erected, and incinerations kept up 
by a larger number every year. 
In the United States are 32 lively 
cremation societies, particularly in 
the following places: Chicago, Den- 
ver, Des Moines, Jersey City, 
Milwaukee, Sacramento, Savannah, 
Springfield, Ill., Washington, D. C., 
Worcester, Mass., Omaha, Baltimore, 
Md., Boston, Mass., Buffalo, N. Y., 
Cincinnati, O., Davenport, Iowa, De- 
troit, Mich., Lancaster, Pa., LaCrosse, 
Wis., Los Angeles, Cal., Louisville, 
Ky., New York, Newark, N. J., New 
Orleans, La., Oil City, Pa., Philadel- 
phia, Pa., Pittsburg, Pa., San Anto- 
nio, Texas, San Francisco, Cal., St. 58 
Louis, Mo., Troy, N. Y., Washing- 
ton, Pa. 
The following statistics, showing 
the steady increase of incinerations 
in the crematories of the United 
States has been taken from The Urn, 
December, 1892. There are 15 cre- 
matories in the United States in 
which from 1884 till 1892, 2017 incin- 
erations have taken place as follows: 
TABLE OF CREMATIONS IN THE UNITED 
STATES, l88l TO 1892. 
T 
J 
CREMATORY. 
£ 
1 
§ 
$ 
g» 
8 
§ 
cc 
< 
h 
O 
rH 
r-I 
T-4 
T-< 
rH 
b 
New York 
(5) 
82 
61 
86 
108 
152 
176 
203 
868 
St. Louis 
24 
20 
42 
60 
60 
206 
Philadelphia 
14 
28 
31 
51 
59 
183 
Cincinnati 
11 
21 
34 
45 
43 
28 
182 
Buffalo 
9 
17 
16 
23 
30 
37 
24 
156 
Los Angeles 
7 
5 
12 
17 
29 
39 
109 
Detroit 
7 
9 
17 
20 
23 
25 
101 
Pittsburg 
14 
9 
11 
8 
9 
13 
12 
76 
Lancaster, Pa. 
Washington, Pa. 
40* 
40 
Baltimore 
3 
5 
12 
15* 
35 
Troy, N. Y. 
4 
10 
12 
26 
Davenport, la. 
15* 
15 
Swineburne Island 
New York Harbor 
9 
11* 
20 
Waterville, N. Y. 
0 
40 
5 
100 
112 
186 
253 
355 
463 
503 
2017 
♦Close estimate for want of exact figures. 
In San Antonio, Texas, the cre- 
matory set on fire by an incendiary 59 
last summer, is in the process of re- 
building. 
In Troy, N. Y., "The Gardner 
Earl Crematory" is a memorial erect- 
ed by Mr. and Mrs. William Earl, 
for their only son Gardner, and is 
supported by them independent of 
cremation. 
In other places crematories are 
in the state of erection, as San Fran- 
cisco, La Crosse, Wis., Boston, etc. 
The secretary of the New York 
Crematory, which is in Fresh Pond, 
Long Island, reports that the increase 
in business has been steady and sat- 
isfactory, from 82 cremations in 
1885-86 to 203 in 1892, as per table; 
$28,000 stock, all sold, is divided 
among 200 shareholders. The mar- 
ble columbarium, an addition to the 
original crematory is being com- 
pleted. 
The following birthplaces were 
given for 870 bodies cremated at 
Fresh Pond: 
Germany 437, United States 283,. 
England 33, Austria 21, Switzerland 
20, France 18, Ireland 9, Italy 7, Hun- 
gary 9, Denmark 6, Russia 2, Scot- 
land 4, Belgium 3, Holland 3, India 
4, Cuba 3, Australia 2, West Indies 60 
i, Asia Minor x, Canada 2, on Medi- 
terranean 1, unknown 1. 
They are classified: Men 552, boys 
46, women 245, girls 27. 
During the last year two friends of 
the writer were incinerated at Fresh 
Pond, both physicians. Dr. Jose 
Miguel Parraga, a member of the 
council of the Cremation Society, 
and Dr. Chas. De La Vergne, a ris- 
ing medical man of Brooklyn, with 
whom the writer has spent many 
pleasant hours. He died as a hero 
of diphtheria, contracted in attend- 
ing his niece. 
A new journal, the organ of cre- 
mation in New York, "The Urn" is 
prosperous. It is published by our 
energetic friend, Louis Lange, 57 
Willett St. 
In Europe the principal cremation 
societies are in Berlin, Copenhagen, 
Genoa, Hamburg, London, Milan, 
Paris, Rome, Stockholm, The Hague, 
Vienna, Zuerich, Bale, Heidelberg, 
Dresden, Gotha, Offenburg, Man- 
chester, Livorno, Frankfurt, La 
Chauxdefond, Carlsruhe, Darmstadt, 
Ober-Ingelheim, Chemnitz, Stutt- 
gart, Mannheim, Munich, Baden- 61 
Baden,Leipzig,Offenbach, Wiesbaden 
Crematories are mostly in Italy, 
where Dr. de Christoforis in Milan, 
and others have espoused the cause 
of cremation most energetically, and 
has been sustained by the laws of 
Italy and the aid of his friend Pre- 
mier Crispi. In 19 crematories in 
Italy, have been 952 bodies inciner- 
ated from 1876 till 1887, of which 
number 518 were cremated in Milan. 
Paris has had only 147 incinerations 
during the year 1892. 
In Germany are 19 societies; there 
the progress is slow on account of 
the red tape process of the govern- 
ment bureaus, and they have done 
much to retard the development of 
cremation. Under such draw backs 
too much praise cannot be given to 
Aiderman E. Matterne, who, as pres- 
ident of the Berlin cremation society, 
has energetically and systematically 
worked and gradually gained many 
achievements. The society was 
founded March 24, 1874. The col- 
umbarium was ready and inaugu- 
rated November 23rd, 1890. In 1892 
the society has increased to 1400 
members, and the government at 62 
last has given the permission to build 
a. crematory. 
The crematory of Gotha was be- 
fore 1892, almost the solitary institu- 
tion of Germany, because the Grand 
Dukes of Coburg Gotha, always 
known as the most liberal and intel- 
ligent of Germany's crowned heads, 
had legalized and protected crema- 
tion. In Gotha in 1892, during the 
year, 167 incinerations took place, 
and 1149 totals since 1878. 
During 1892, two more cremato- 
ries were added in Germany. In 
Heidelberg 55 incinerations have 
taken place during 1892. 
The third crematory, in Hamburg, 
was ready in August, 1891, but the 
Hamburg Senate was tardy with the 
permission to allow its use. At last 
it came 1 and the first cremation in 
Hamburg, (Ohlsdorf), took place 
November, 19, 1892, the body of a re- 
tired merchant, I. E. D. Dukwitz, 
with impressive ceremonies, floral 
decorations, sacred music, a sermon 
by Pastor Cropp, and accompanied 
by members of the Anschar society, 
who appeared in their Spanish uni- 
forms. The crematory has the 63 
Schneider system by Engineer Rich- 
ard Schneider in Dresden. 
The fourth crematory has been 
built in Offenburg, a. m. 
The Japan cremation is a religious 
rite of the Buddhists, and during an 
-epidemic compulsory. In Tioka are 
six crematories. 
Apparatus for Cremation.-In Eu- 
rope Siemens princip is favorably 
known and is used in Gotha. 
Klingenstierna (Stockholm) sys- 
tem is among other places, intro- 
duced in Stockholm, Heidelberg, and 
Offenbach. 
Feist system was originally built 
in Forbach by a veterinary surgeon, 
George Feist, is not complicated. 
Burry system is in Zurich. 
System Rey consists of a simple 
portable crematory, suitable for the 
army and hospitals. 
The Venini process is used in Buf- 
falo. 
The latest system is introduced in 
Hamburg by Richard Schneider of 
Dresden, who will also build the 
crematories in Berlin and San Fran- 
cisco. 
In Italy are used the following 64 
systems: Gorini, Venini, Rey, Guzzi, 
Ravizza, Spasciani-Mesmer. 
In Boston a new disinfecting ap- 
paratus has been built for the Boston 
quarantine station. 
IV. Cremation and its Importance 
During Cholera. 
There is a difference of opinion in 
almost every movement, and while 
cremation has some adversaries, yet 
the thoughtful sanitarian will with 
very few exceptions recommend 
cremation as the best means of pre- 
venting the spread of contagious dis- 
eases, and as having many other ad- 
vantages over burial in the earth. 
While reasons and facts will convince 
any unprejudiced mind, the opinion 
of an acknowledged expert and scien- 
tist will be more apt to turn the 
scales with the masses, particularly 
those who are not inclined to read, 
study and think for themselves. A 
lettex* in favor of cremation as a sani- 
tary measure, and as a prevention of 
contagious diseases comes just to 
hand from the highest authority in 
Hygiene and Pathology, Professor 
Rudolph Virchow in Berlin. The 
copy has been sent to the writer from 
his friend Aiderman E. Matterne, in 65 
Berlin, the President of the Berlin 
Cremation Society. 
Dr. Virchow writes as follows: 
Berlin, December 6th, 1892. 
To the Cremation Society, Berlin: 
Your esteemed favor of October 
has been duly received, in which 
your trustees ask me to give a med- 
ical expert opinion of the value of 
cremation, particularly of such dead 
persons, as have died of cholera or 
other contagious diseases. In an- 
swer, I confirm fully my opinion 
stated in the Prussian Diet. {German 
Landtag,') i88r, that cremation is use- 
ful as a sanitary and also a national 
economical measure. 
During epidemics cremation is a 
necessity. My experience is that 
heat, even below the point of incinera- 
tion, has prevented contagion, and is 
a good destroyer of microbes, while 
total cremation has given the great- 
est security. 
Cremation should be introduced 
particularly in large cities, as graves 
in cemeteries, located near dwell- 
ings, may endanger the living in the 
neighborhood. 
Sig. (Rudolph Virchow). 66 
How is Cholera Propagated? 
Cholera may be at home in the 
Orient, and from there it is at cer- 
tain times brought towards the West 
by the natural ways of travel. In 
Europe or America there is, as a rule, 
no cholera, but it may come as an 
epidemic by the natural ways of 
travel and commerce, either by 
travellers and emigrants, or by bag- 
gage and merchandise, and, if once 
introduced, spreads with great rapid- 
ity through excretions, clothing, 
bedding of the patients and their 
dead bodies. If cholera is carried 
into a country or city by a few indi- 
viduals, the contagion is propagated 
with such a rapidity, that the best 
medical treatment may not arrest 
the disease, and the undertakers and 
their assistant tending the earth- 
burial help to multiply the sick. 
Pestilence is soon established to such 
a degree, that the authorities are 
helpless. Several other factors have 
been observed through which the 
disease is spread. 
Cholera may be carried by insects 
and flies, who have been in contact 
with cholera patients or their dead. 67 
Gatti, Grassi, Koch p) and Simmonds 
are authorities, who have made bac- 
teriological experiments. They kept 
flies, which had been seen sitting on 
cholera corpses, at the laboratory and 
after some time found the comma- 
bacilli in them and cultures with this 
proved still more the presence of 
the same. While such insects may 
propagate cholera within a certain 
distance, such contagion carrier will 
be very rare, and it will not bring a 
pestilence across the ocean. 
Water: in different ways may be 
dangerous. It is well known, that 
anybody who drank water from the 
Elbe during the last epidemic in 
Hamburg, was a subject and was 
kept under observation. Biernacki,(2) 
found in the well, in Lubin, a suberb 
of Hamburg, cholera-bacilli. The 
well was near a single house, in 
which in a few days 12 persons were 
seized with cholera. All these had 
been drinking from that well. His 
experiments were made very care- 
fully, and he found the specific bacilli 
in large numbers two days after the 
beginning of his examinations. 
(1) Eulenburg-Beal Encyhlopeedie et ges. Heith. 
iv. p. 234, 
(2) Deutsche Med. Wochenschft. No. 42, 1892. 68 
Prof. C. Fraenkel of Madgeburg, 
found comma-bacilli, in the Rhine- 
Ruhr Canal, where a boat had been 
anchored, whose owner had died of 
cholera, and where his excretions 
had been emptied. Water in the 
hold of a vessel is also dangerous. 
In the hold of a boat on the Elbe, 
Lubarsch found bacilli, on the same 
boat a child had died of cholera 
eight days previous. 
Earth: in graves through burials 
may cause a new epidemic. Sanitary 
Commissioner Dr. Doering, in Berlin, 
has shown that cholera bacilli are 
living in graves and may be liberated 
by water and thereby create the dis- 
ease. That graves are dangerous in 
this way can be proved by an inci- 
dent in New York. During the 
cholera epidemic in 1866, some emi- 
grants were buried in Wards Island, 
and nearly at the same time a new 
epidemic appeared in the city oppo- 
site the Island in 93rd St., near 3rd 
Avenue. Similar instances have been 
observed and have been mentioned 
before. 
As a Recapitulation, cholera is prop- 
agated by immigrants, mechandise,. 69 
clothing, excretions, water, earth, 
corpses, and insects. 
How is Cholera to be Prevented? 
-The best prevention is to keep 
cholera and bacilli out of the country, 
but if it comes, to keep and treat it 
in quarantine. 
If quarantine is the best factor 
to prevent an epidemic and to de- 
stroy any contagious carrier, it would 
be well, then, to follow Virchow's ad- 
vice: heat vel cremation! The ex- 
periment is not new, has been done 
and always with success. The fol- 
lowing letter will prove how heat, 
can in an imperfect manner end an 
epidemic of cholera: 
Brooklyn, N. Y. Feb. 5th, 1889. 
Dear Sir. I am most decidedly in 
favor of burning the dead, and can- 
not comprehend why so many object 
to it. The terrible diseases that from 
time to time cast communities of 
human beings into an abyss of grief, 
would lose their hold in a short time 
if the victims were promptly con- 
signed to the purifying action of the 
flames. What possible good can there 
be in burning clothes and furniture, 
if the infected flesh be allowed to 
remain in existence? 70 
In 1868 there was a dreaded epi- 
demic of yellow fever in Lima, Peru;, 
as many as three hundred patients 
dying each day. From the beginning 
Dr. Ie Piongeon, then practising in 
that city, urged the cremation of the 
dead. It was impossible to bring 
the public mind to contemplate such 
a course. Finally an arrangement 
was made to keep large fires on the 
trenches filled with corpses, public 
attention not being drawn to the fact. 
At once the plague abated, and soon 
died out. 
Sir Spencer Wells recommends 
cremation in cholera in communica- 
tion to the Times, and in other arti- 
cles. He says, that graves sooner 
or later will renew cholera epidemics 
through the earth, water or air. 
Dr. Koch in observing cholera in 
Toulon and Marseilles some years 
ago, ordered the incineration of cloth- 
ing and bedding of persons who suc- 
cumbed to cholera. 
Fr. Kuehenmeister recommended 
the cremation of all who have died 
of cholera, as the only safe method 
to destroy the comma-bacilli; of the 
same opinions are Dr. Blaschko, (') 
and Dr. Th. Herzberg in Berlin. 
(1) Deutsche Medicinal Zeitung No. 60-1862. 71 
In the first part of this article many 
authorities and factshave been men- 
tioned, which all prove that crema- 
tion is the best germicide to destroy 
the carriers of cholera. With great 
pleasure have we noticed, that the 
health authorities of this state and 
city have recognized that fact, and 
have ordered the burning of clothing 
and bedding and the cremation of 
cholera dead in Swinburne Island 
during the last summer, when New 
York and the whole United States 
was in great danger. 
Neglect of such prevention has 
often been followed by disease and 
death-only one instance as an illus- 
tration. In Gonesse, near Paris, a 
nurse was ordered to burn the cloth- 
ing of the cholera deceased. Instead 
of obeying his orders, he took the 
clothing to his home, which was fol- 
lowed by the sickness and death of 
himself and his whole family. 
The care, hard work and watchful- 
ness of our health officer of the port 
of New York, under adverse circum- 
stances prevented the cholera from 
entering New York and America 
during last summer, and there is no 
doubt that it will be kept out of 72 
America during the next year. With 
the former experience and better pre- 
cautionary measures, Dr. Jenkins will 
be even more prepared to keep the 
pestilence out of America. 
If suspects arrive, they must be 
kept in quarantine under observation 
a reasonable time, which can be done 
without going to extremes. If chol- 
era cases appear, they must be treat- 
ed, and the ships and people disin- 
fected; as also all excretions thor- 
oughly disinfected. Dr. A. S. Ash- 
meed, in Science gives four rules, to 
prevent cholera, as follows: 
I. Let the drinking water be prop- 
erly isolated; that is keep the cholera 
germs from the drinking water. 
II. Let the faeces and other dis- 
charges be disinfected with quick- 
lime or common whitewash. This is 
by the way, what Prof. Koch recom- 
mended to the Central Sanitary 
Board of Japan. 
III. Let the clothing be disinfect- 
ed with dry heat, 212 degrees Faren- 
heit, and afterwards with steam. 
IV. Finally, let the cholera corpse 
be cremated instead of buried. 
It may be added, that it is neces- 
sary to disinfect thoroughly the 73 
rooms, furniture or ships wherein 
persons were sick with cholera-and 
sterilize drinking water and milk. A 
strict observation of all possible car- 
riers of contagion must be main- 
tained. 
Vaccination has been practiced as 
a prevention of cholera. The ex- 
periments so far do not warrant a 
decision of its success. 
In cases of danger the introduction 
of crematories either stationary or 
portable is necessary. 
It will be seen how important cre- 
mation is in the prevention of cholera. 
A German scientist proposes to dis- 
infect the Elbe and other rivers and 
also sewers by electricity. His argu- 
ment is that an electric current will 
chemically change the water and 
destroy cholera-bacilli. This may 
be possible, but at present is only a 
theory. 
It has been proven, that cholera 
can be kept from entering America, 
by proper means at the quarantine 
station, The question now arises, is 
it better to continue a plan which 
has been successful and will be suc- 
cessful again, or is it wise to suspend 
immigration, exposing thereby the 74 
whole Canada border line, a con- 
venient way of introduction of chol- 
era, and at the same time ruining 
our commerce and the Steamship 
Companies, as well as depriving the 
country of the capital and labor of 
desirable emigrants. Our Salons at 
Washington will decide. How, nous 
verrons!-This brings us to consider. 
V. The Legal Aspect of Cremation. 
-Cremation is treated very different- 
ly by the governments in Europe 
and America. Common sense would 
expect, the law permit it anywhere. 
Facts however show, that what is 
lawful in one state is forbidden and 
even a crime in other communities. 
The different states of the United 
States of America are sovereign and 
each have laws of their own, for 
their Government, but yet under the 
constitution of the United States, 
certain powers are vested in the 
National Government through which 
it often happens that the federal and 
state authorities are in conflict to 
somebody's detriment. What an ab- 
surdity is it, that a marriage in Ho- 
boken is perfectly legal, while a judi- 
cial decision in New York prohibits 
such a marriage act. 75 
It is also very questionable if our 
ports are better guarded against pes- 
tilence when the federal and state 
authorities act each independently, 
instead of under one authority and 
system. The proceedings and spech- 
es about bills for immigration and 
quarantine at present (January 1893) 
in congress are not intended to create 
confidence for harmonious action. 
It would be a blessing if America 
had one law for all states about cre- 
mation, cholera and quarantine. At 
present cremation in America, with 
very few exceptions, is not legalized 
but only tolerated; and any bill un- 
der the disguise of an innocent title 
may prohibit cremation. The danger 
is, that any fanatic may introduce 
such a bill to a state legislature at 
any time and the passage would be 
no wonder, even if it struck against 
individual liberty. 
Progressive science and sanitation 
may demand, but the advocates of 
cremation do not wish to impose or 
force it on the unwilling. To favor 
cremation as a preferable method is 
not to pronounce against earth-burial. 
Let every one decide for himself, ac- 
cording to his conscience and personal 76 
wishes, but the cremationists have a 
right to demand, that cremation 
should be recognized so as to make 
it a legal burial. At present the 
Board of Health in New York does 
not give a permit for "cremation at 
Fresh Pond," but simply writes a 
permit for burial in Mount Olivet. It 
is necessary to have a law passed re- 
garding cremation. The state of 
Massachusetts has such a law in 
operation since 1885 which is very 
good, and as such is given here a 
place for perusal and as worthy of 
imitation. 
The Massachusetts Law Regarding 
Cremation. 
An Act authorizing the formation 
of corporations for the purpose of 
cremating the bodies of the dead. 
Be it enacted, etc., as follows: 
Sec. 1. Any five or more persons 
may associate themselves together in 
the manner prescribed by chapter 
one hundred and six of the Public 
Statutes, with a capital of not less 
than six thousand, or more than fifty 
thousand dollars, for the purpose of 
providing the necessary appliances 
and facilities for the proper disposal 77 
by incineration of the bodies of the 
dead; and corporations so established 
shall have the same powers and 
privileges and be subject to the same 
duties, liabilities and restrictions as 
other corporations established under 
said chapter, except as hereinafter 
provided. The par value of shares 
in the capital stock of corporations 
organized under the provisions of 
this act shall be either ten or fifty 
dollars. 
Sec. 2. Every such corporation may 
acquire by gift, devise or purchase, 
and hold in fee simple so much real 
estate not exceeding in value fifty 
thousand dollars, as may be neces- 
sary for carrying out the objects con- 
nected with and appropriate to the 
purposes of said corporation, and sit- 
uated in such place as the state board 
of health, lunacy and charity may de- 
termine to be suitable for said ob- 
jects and purposes. 
No building shall be erected, oc- 
cupied or used by such corporation 
until the location and plans thereof, 
with all details of construction, have 
been submitted to and approved by 78 
said board or some person designated 
by it to examine them. 
Sec. 3. Every such corporation may 
make by-laws and regulations con- 
sistent with law and subject to the 
approval of said state board, for the 
reception and cremation of bodies of 
deceased persons, and for the dispo- 
sition of the ashes remaining there- 
from, and shall carry on all its busi- 
ness in accordance with such regula- 
tions as such board shall from time 
to time establish and furnish in writ- 
ing to the clerk of the corporation, 
and for each violation of said regula- 
tions it shall forfeit not less than five 
hundred dollars. 
Sec. 4. No body of a deceased per- 
son shall be cremated within forty- 
eight hours after decease, unless 
death was occasioned by contagious 
or infectious disease; and no body 
shall be received or cremated by said 
corporation until its officers have re- 
ceived the certificate or burial permit 
required by law before burial, to- 
gether with a certificate from the 
medical examiner of the district with- 
in which the death occurred, that he 
has viewed the body and made per- 
sonal inquiry into the cause and man- 79 
ner of death, and is of the opinion 
that no further examination nor ju- 
dicial inquiry concerning the same is 
necessary. For such view, inquiry 
and certificate he shall receive the 
fees prescribed by section nine of 
chapter twenty-six of the Public 
Statutes for a view without an au- 
topsy by examiners in counties other 
than Suffolk County. Medical ex- 
aminers within their respective dis- 
tricts shall make such view and in- 
quiry upon application therefor and 
payment or tender of said fees. 
Sec. 5. This act shall take effect up- 
on its passage. 
Approved, May 26, 1885. 
With such simple and good laws in 
favor it is humorous to relate, that in 
the State of Massachusetts exists 
"no" crematory. It is gratifying to 
find that in the United States of 
America, cremation has not been 
hindered legally anywhere, but has 
been practiced in 17 crematories with 
success and dignity, and several cre- 
matories are at present in the course 
of erection. It is hoped that crema- 
tion soon will be legalized as it de- 
serves to be. 80 
In Europe matters about cremation 
are far different. The only coun- 
tries in which cremation is legalized 
and protected by the state are France 
and Italy, and there are many cre- 
matories in full blast almost every 
day. In Paris cremation increases 
every year. In Holland, the erection 
of crematories is permitted, but their 
use is not allowed. More curious is 
the situation in Germany. In Gotha 
the cremations are protected by the 
liberal ruler of the country, while 
there are no laws about it in Ger- 
many. In Heidelberg cremations 
are tolerated. In Hamburg the Sen- 
ate gave the permission to build the 
crematory, but would not allow it to 
be used. Only in November, 1892, 
such a permission was granted. In 
Prussia, particularly in Berlin, cre- 
mation was forbidden, and any per- 
mission for it refused. The dead to 
be cremated, had to be sent to Gotha, 
paying a high rate for transportation 
by rail. All petitions of societies, 
one from 15,000 citizens, another even 
from the liberal common council of 
Berlin were politely refused, or simp- 
ly not granted, by the Department of 
the Interior. At last in 1892, apermis- 81 
sion was given to build a crematory in 
Berlin and the common council has 
ordered an apparatus from Schneider 
in Dresden. 
To comment on these situations, 
the writer does not feel inclined, as 
he does not wish to have any pro- 
jected visit to Berlin prolonged by an 
invitation there from the Police De- 
partment for the Department of the 
Interior. 
In the State of New York our san- 
itary authorities are, up to date of ad- 
vanced science, all in favor of crema- 
tion , but your petitioner clamors to 
the legislature, whose members are 
not all sanitarians. 
"Legalize Cremation!'''