Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 11.djvu/786

766 and is to be buried within the grave of his mother. As soon as his executor (and personal friend) reached here, it was decided to proceed with the cremation, but, before it was done, his children at the East intervened, and the operation was delayed. One of his sons came here, and, after reading the will and talking with his (the doctor's) friends, to whom the doctor had so often expressed his views in favor of 'cremation,' decided that it ought to be done, and wrote to the other children for their consent, which they finally granted. In the mean time the body had been embalmed, and kept continually packed in ice.

"Dr. Hamilton, who had charge of the 'cremation,' consulted me as to the means of doing it. They had talked of taking the body to one of the reverberatory furnaces, as they wanted it done quickly—in fact, before his children would know of it. I thought a furnace could be built quickly and cheaply that would answer the purpose, and designed one, as per inclosed rough sketch.

"I will admit that many improvements could have been made on it; but, when you consider that in six hours from the time it was commenced a fire was built in it, I think you will say we did well. Time and expense were the obstacles I had to overcome. The interior of the furnace was six feet by two; the bottom was of boiler-iron,



three-eighths of an inch thick; the roof of fire-tiles, two feet long and one foot wide. This enabled us to cover without an arch. The door for the admission of the body was at the south end. You will notice two stacks; the extra one was made so that we could shut off the flames by means of a damper, enabling us to put the body in, and also to view the action without the flame approaching the door. You will see that the flame, when the furnace was at work, passed under the floor the whole length, and then returned over the body and up the stack at the south end of the furnace. In the operation we used the coal from 'Rock Springs,' on the Union Pacific Railroad.

"It was intended to 'cremate' immediately on the completion of the furnace, but Dr. Hamilton had doubts as to the working of the furnace; so he placed in it a quarter of beef, and found it to produce the desired result on this in one hour and five minutes; and, while this was going on, word came to stop it all.

"Finally, all was arranged on the 31st of July; the body, then weighing 126 pounds, was placed on a sheet of iron one-eighth of an inch thick, turned up at the sides and end, and introduced into the furnace, which was at a full-red heat, at 6.20 The dampers were opened, and the flame allowed to pass directly over the body. For some time quite a boiling took place, and lasted until most of the moisture had been driven off; in about an hour nearly all the flesh was consumed and the heat was raised. At the end of two and a half hours all action was at an end, but five minutes more was allowed, when the fires were drawn and air admitted to the furnace. In about half an hour the plate was drawn, and the bones gathered up; they were perfectly white and friable, so much so that they could be easily crushed in the hand. After this we rubbed the bones in an iron mortar, and passed them all through a flour-sieve, making in bulk about one quart, and in weight about four pounds. From the time the body was put into the furnace until the ashes were ready for the urn was four hours and forty minutes.

"From the construction of the