Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1892 — Cremation in America. [ARTICLE]

Cremation in America.

. The advocates of cremation have in. their favor some strong arguments. They say the mandate that “dust shall return to dust” is irrevocable, and its fulfilment is inevitable; that we can in no way prevent it; we may obstruct or we may assist, and reason dictates the latter course. Since the longer the process is delayed the greater is the danger to the health of the living, cremation is a beneficent institution. Its growth in Europe has been surprising, and in Italy there are large numbers of crematories, and in this country the prejudice against the movement is decreasing. It is only eleven years since the formation of the New York Cremation Society, the first institution of the kind in the United States, and not until the year 1885 was the first operative crematory inaugurated, yet there are now in various parts of the States nearly a score of these incinerators in more or less continuous service. The number of cremations which have been conducted each year in one of these temples in Buffalo gives a fair idea of the progress which the sentiment in favor of this method is making. During 1886 eight bodies were incinerated, and in each successive year to the end of 1891 the numbers were respectively, 17, 16, 23, 30 and 37. In this temple everything possible has been done to mitigate the sadnes3 cf the last ritual. The temple is built of dark-brown sandstone, and its square tower and deep slanting rool are covered with ivy and surrounded by sloping lawns. The chancel and nave are artistically carved and decorated and the windows are of richstained glass. The incineration takes place privately after'the funeral service, and the ashes are delivered to the undertaker to be disposed of as the family may direct, or they may be left at the crematory. A society formed after the organization of the pioneer society has reduced to ashes since the year 1885 upward of 750 bodies. The process as carried out at one of their principal temples is as follows: The furnace is of fire brick throughout and separated into two distinct but similar comparments. The body is placed in a chamber directly above that in which the fuel is consumed. The bottoms of the retorts are solid, but the sides and ends are pierced with holes, through which the heated air of the furnace has direct access to the body, while the. flames are not permitted to approach it. The heat of the retort soon liberates everything volatile in the body and these emanations are conducted through another highly heated chamber, and thus rendered odorless and absolutely innocuous before they pass through the chimney which forms their means of egress to the air The time taken-up in reducing a body to ashes depends somewhat upon the size and condition of the person when alive. In this furnace it is about two hours; in many others it is a little over an hour. The fuel used is coal, and in five or six hours from the starting of the fires a temperature of from 2,000 degrees to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit can be obtained.