Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/651

* CREMATION OF THE DEAD. 559 CREMATION OF THE DEAD. While natural causes, undoubtedly, bad a great iulluenee in determining the method of dis- posal, especially in very early times, religious belief in the resurrection of the pliysical man has usually been the chief factor which has caused the spread of the custom of interment rather than the more sanitary method of dis-' posal by fire. The EgA'ptians, Jews, iloham- medans, and Christians all believe more or less fully in the physical resurrection of the body; and the question arises, whether cremation does not impair the prospect of a future life. With the spread of Christianity, burial was substituted for cremation, both in the heart of the Roman Empire and among the converted pagans on its outskirts. Crematicm was once common in England, and was but slowly supplanted by inhumation. The same is true of the Gallic and Clormanie races. It is said that Charlemagne, in his zeal for Christian burial, punished the act of cremation with the death penalty. Ci-emation is still prac- ticed in India and among some other Oriental nations. In Japan the Shinto sect practices burial and the Jlonto sect cremation. CRE^t.TIO^T IN THE XlXETEENTH CeNTUKT. In Great Britain the revival of the practice of cre- mation was discussed as early as 1658, when Sir Thomas Browne published his Hydriolaphia, or Urn Burial. In 1817 Dr. J. .lameson wrote a sketch on the Origin of Cremation. For many years during the early part of the century. Dr. Lord, Health Officer for Hempstead, continued to agitate the subject, but no practical results were achieved. In 1797 cremation was discussed by the French legislature under the Directory. But it was in Italy that the first jiractieal steps were taken toward reestablishing the practice of cremation. From 1852 on. the subject was agi- tated in the various national scientific congresses and through their eflorts the incineration of human dead was made legal by the introduction of a provision for that purpose in the National Sanitary Code. The process has since rapidly grown in favor in Italy, and, besides the private crematories, there are now municipally owned crematories in Rome, Milan, Florence, and Ven- ice. In Germany the subject was discussed at sci- entific meetings almost as early as in Italy, but greater legal difficulties were encountered here than in Italy. In 1874 the body of an English- woman was reduced to ashes in a Siemens fur- nace constrictcd at Dresden, and this was the first cremation scientifically performed; but the Government of Saxony, after two incinerations, forbade the practice. Soon after, legal right to construct a crematory was secured in the neigh- boring Duchy of Gotlia, and for twelve years this was the only place in Germany where incinera- tion could be practiced. During the closing dec- ade of the nineteenth century crematories were put in operation in Heidelberg, Hamburg, Jena, and Offenbach. In France, after much agitation, a law was passed in 1887, legalizing the practice. Soon, after the city of Paris erected a crematory where cremation is compulsory for certain classes, in- cluding all unclaimed hospital dead, the remains from dissecting tables, and dead bodies from .streets and sewers. In England. Sir Henry Thompson is Avidely kno'n as the leader of the present agitation in favor of cremation. In 1874 he organized the 'Cremation Society of London,' whose object is to introduce "some rapid i)rocess of disposal which cannot ofl'end the living and shall render the remains al)solutcly innocuius." .ccordiiigly a cn'mulory was erected at Woking, near London, and here the first incineration took place in Jlarch. 1885. Since that date several other crematories have been put in operation, including those at Jlanehester and Glasgow. In 1000 the city of Hull completed a crematory for general use, the first municipally owned crema- tory among English-speaking |)eople. Its ar- rangements will be found described later in this article. The first place in the United States where the sul)jcct of cremation was systematically agitated was the city of New York, in 1873, but it was not until 1881 that a crematory was built for the use of its population. In the meantime, a few cremations were made in private furnaces at Washington, Pa., and Salt Lake City. During the closing decade of the nineteenth century the movement grew rapidly in popularity, and the I'nitcd States now ranks first in the number of optional annual incinerations. At the close of this article are appended tables showing the loca- tion of crematories and annual number of incin- erations for the whole country. Arguments for and Against Cremation. Within the last few years the conviction has ra])idly spread that a more rapid and sanitary method of disposal must be substituted for burial, especially in the great centres of population. To find enough land for burial purposes is becoming a more and more difficult matter. It has been estimated that 24 aer^s are annually required for the burial of the dead of London. If 4000 corpses are crowded into an acre, it has been estimated by the same authority that, at the mortality rate of 20 per 1000, Xew York, with a population of 3.000,000, requires 17V2 acres annually to buiy its dead. A similar computa- tion of population, death-rate, and space re- quired for burial will show that, unless the cus- tom is changed, much of the available space in the vicinity of all large cities will eventually be required for burial purposes. The sanitary objections to burial are of still greater importance than the economic difficulties. Through pollution of the air and water the pres- ence of a crowded cemetei-y may become a menace to the health of the community. The develop- ment of the germ theory of di.sease has added to the realization of this general danger the specific fear that, in the case of those who die from com- municable diseases, the germs may be conveyed through the ground from a dead victim to a liv- ing host. To what extent this is possible is still a mooted question among bacteriologists. Elab- orate experiments, conducted by Pasteur, would seem to show that, in the ease of animals at least, disease germs are conveyed from a buried to a living animal. It is a well-kno%vn fact that the purifyina rganisms, for the most part, must work near the surface of the ground, where there is a plentiful supply of oxygen, and that ordinarily bodies are buried too deep and with too many impedimenta about them to be readily acted upon. In 1000 Sir Henry Thompson, in an address before the Cremation Society of Eng- land, advocated that while cremation remained optional for ordinary cases, it should be made obligatorv when death is due to such transmissi-