Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/653

* CREMATION OF THE DEAD. 561 CREMATION OF THE DEAD. signed by the late Mr. Henry Simon, former president of the Manchester Cremation Society. It consists of throe interior clianiliers, the two lower of which are surrounded by air-passages. The lower chamber contains a coke fire, and the upper one is for the reception of the body. The fire is lighted .several hours before the apparatus is to be used, and is supplied with air in the usiuil way, so that by the time the apparatus is to be used the air-passages are thoroughly heat- ed. Jlost of the direct air-supply is then cut off, and the partially consumed gas (carbonic oxide) reached, it passes noiselessly, bj' means of invisi- ble mechanical arrangements, through curtains into an intermediate chamber, and the curtain falls behind the collin as it enters the cremating chamber. The charge for cremating the bodies of residents within the city is one guinea; for non-residents it is three guineas. The cost of the crematorium was about $2500. Bibliography. A chapter on Cremation treat- ing the subject from tlie sanitary and economic standpoint is contained in Baker, Municipal En- ginecring and Sanifation (New York, 1901). Cbematiq.vs Perfokmed in Europe akd the Usited States (From Cobb's Quarter Century of Cremation in North Americ.i) cremations in the united states CITY 1876 to 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1391 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 Total 3 5 12 16 22 1 30 15 87 31 11 88 41 17 135 28 21 160 44 14 167 40 22 230 43 18 188 67 50 188 81 24 66 4 2 62 40 602 26 119 31 98 647 149 16 4 16 '25 1 10 176 Boston, Mass 1,056 484 Buffalo, N. Y 1 8 17 16 23 30 38 27 Cambridge, Mass 60 6 42 13 47 42 38 8 22 66 66 8 81 64 46 9 29 82 71 23 44 5 1 34 34 331 13 78 16 54 211 118 2 3 14 25 130 59 17 51 1 2 58 30 466 24 114 21 62 260 109 11 2 13 38 127 56 18 33 3 5 62 63 528 31 106 19 107 347 128 27 7 20 28 695 Cincinnati, 11 21 34 45 43 6 21 34 7 33 647 133 Detroit, Mich

3 10 14 24 418 13 36 14 13 7 6 S 1 12 3 17 1 29 3 41 5 37 2 38 1 37 1 37 21 ,330 14 85 14 69 102 86 99 456 llilu-aukee, AVis 178 New Yorlc, N. Y 9 77 67 83 106 160 187 186 232 243 296 4 88 13 89 68 95 3,903 112 Pasadena, Cal Pliiladelphia, Pa.... ............ 14 11 28 8 31 9 61 13 62 14 68 13 42 74 10 111 918 Pittsburgh Pa 14 9 215 San Francisco, Cal. 632 (Odd Fellows) 1,535 24 20 42 60 64 72 87 1,054 Saint Paul, Minn,.,. 66 Swinburne Isl,, N. Y. i 3 4 "io" CI 14 22 15 3 12 1 10 1 18 111 Trov, X. Y 146 116 Washington, Pa,.., •Waterville, N. Y 25 13 1 1 41 1 1 4 6 6 4 6 37

Totals, U. S.. 25 16 47 114 127 180 253 373 471 562 668 824 i.oir 1,101 1,390 1,693 1,996 2,414 13,281 CREMATIONS IN EUROPE COUNTRY 1876 to 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 Total Italy 319 113 164 180 168 220 282 258 221 262 246 4 189 253 131 63 41 228 15 216 267 172 49 40 220 18 187 266 209 34 44 219 21 200 312 201 61 64 242 14 210 374 250 70 69 241 18 231 423 341 73 99 265 28 248 511 807 72 95 262 28 301 039 451 70 136 4,110 146 France 49 128 46 40 21 121 111 54 38 32 134 165 99 57 39 159 221 107 52 39 2,245 146 69 76 3 95 10 110 13 13 95 28 23 4,261 Great Britain.. 2,482 721 Switzerland 719 Totals, Europe "0, ,S. & Europe 465 490 182 198 243 290 285 399 304 431 360 656 572 826 614 987 715 1,186 840 1,402 927 1,696 • 987 1,811 978 1,995 1,078 2,179 1,229 2,619 1,426 3,119 1,586 3,682 1,887 4,301 14.684 27,965 from the coke is allowed to mix in the second air-chqmber with the air heated by passing through the side air-passages. The incinerating chamber is thus filled with gas of an intensely oxidizing character in a state of incandescence. The degree of heat can be regulated in the most exact manner. There is no smoke and little visi- ble flame before the body is introduced, and if the coffin is made in accordance with the regula- tions laid down, there is no .smoke and no noise during the cremation. The process occupies about one hour, at the end of which there only remain the inorganic bases of the bones, in the form of silver-gray, pumice-like fragments. The cremating chamber is at no time visible to mourners. The coffin, when brought into the chapel, is placed on a catafalque. When the committal sentence in the religious service is Cobb, Quarter Century of Cremation in North America (Boston, 1901), includes a complete history and statistics of the movement in the United States, with brief supplementary matter and tal>lcs for Europe. The book also contains a very full bibliography of the subject. Relat- ing to the periodical literature on the subject, Mr. Cobb says: "During the period covered by this record there were published in the United States three magazines for the spread of knowl- edge concerning the subject. The Columbarium was issued from Philadelphia, The Urn from New York, and The Modern Crematist from Lan- caster, Pa. . . . After a brief and valiant struggle for existence they were compelled to quit the field, and there is not to-day printed in the English language a single journal devoted to the interests of cremation,"