The benediction over, the participants in the dedication ceremony dispersed. The incineration that took place on this occasion was entirely satisfactory.
The whole ceremony was solemn, and produced a profound impression upon the intelligent and thoughtful audience, among whom were many guests from other cities.
The rules of the Lancaster Cremation and Funeral Reform Association are very stringent and well calculated to meet all demands. All applicants for cremation of bodies must present a certificate of death, signed by the physician attending during the last illness, whose standing as a reputable practitioner must be attested by a magistrate or notary public. When brought from a distance, official board of health papers are also required. The rules request that the body should be dressed in a shroud of cotton or linen fabric; all metallic substances being avoided—hooks, buttons with metallic eyes, etc. The body should be enclosed in a plain wooden coffin; or, what is preferable, in a coffin made of sheet zinc. The cost of incineration is $25.
The condition, financial and otherwise, of the society is excellent. Mr. H. C. Brubaker started the subscription shortly after Dr. Gross’s demise, and succeeded in getting some 50 subscribers before organization. The society now numbers about 80 members, of the best thinking element in the community, male and female. So far, 51 cremations have taken place in the Lancaster furnace, every one of them to the entire satisfaction of all concerned.
Recently a second furnace was put in the Lancaster crematorium; and some important improvements were made by Dr. Davis in the process which was invented by him.
A single feature of the earlier incinerations seemed out of harmony with the character of the occasion—it was necessary to force the receptacle with the body into the retort by direct pressure. This was sought to be remedied by drawing it in by a wire cable; but the latter proving unreliable, the body, enclosed in the alum-saturated cloth, is now laid in a cradle consisting of a steel frame covered with asbestos and fire-clay, which is suspended from an extension arm, operated by a quick-thread screw extending lengthwise of the catafalque, by which the cradle is placed silently in the retort and the arm withdrawn. The incineration being completed, by reversing the process the cradle with the ashes is extracted intact and allowed to cool.
It is to be remembered that these Lancaster people had almost everything to learn. Dr. Le Moyne, of glorious memory, had devoted his labors to teaching the principle by precept and example; his method was necessarily primitive and crude. Lancaster added the required art, gave the principle an adequate process, and sent forth the body of truth suitably clothed. The record of their first cremation was published, with all sorts of comment, in every live paper of the land; and the impetus then given to the cause of reform, while it cannot be fully estimated, is plainly seen in the wonderful development of correct thought and sentiment on this subject which immediately followed.
In the list of persons cremated at Lancaster, the German element largely predominates; and practically the whole list is made up of residents in cities—showing that the centers of culture are also the nuclei of advanced thought on this question. Nor is this crematorium altogether without honor in its own country. One of the prominent members of the society (George Brubaker, Esq.) dying since its establishment, was incinerated; also Ex-Mayor Christian Kieffer, of Lancaster, and both parents of Mrs. H. C. Brubaker. The society is extremely fortunate in its personnel; from its president, a leading lawyer, its vice-presidents, in the front rank of medicine and divinity; its directors, active men in all walks of life, the high school principal, leading journalists, bankers, managers of large business enterprises, the medical profession largely represented in the rank and file of its 80 members—its position in the community is assured, and its radical doctrine finds the most solid of “backing.”
The cremation society of New Orleans, La., was organized and incorporated on the 14th of February, 1884. It was established mainly through the efforts of Dr. Felix Formento. It was founded to ascertain and demonstrate, by scientific research and investigation, the importance and necessity of incineration to society as the best method of disposing of the bodies of the dead; and in pursuance thereof to make known to the people the dangers to public health resulting from the mode of burial generally practiced all over the country, more particularly the special dangers to a city like New Orleans, from the peculiar method followed there; to demonstrate the advantage of cremation over all other modes of disposing of the dead, in a sanitary, social, and economical point of view; to remove all prejudices which there may be against the introduction of cremation in the Crescent City, and to prove that cremation can be practiced without in the least wounding religious sentiment or susceptibilities; to obtain information in regard to the different methods; to obtain, if necessary, proper legislative enactments on the subject of incineration, providing for the disposal of bodies, especially those whose death resulted from contagious or infectious diseases, and especially in small-pox hospitals and other public institutions; to procure necessary funds for the erection of a crematorium in the city of New Orleans, and for its management under proper sanitary regulations.
I regret to say that this society is no longer in existence. It went to the dogs on account of the apathy of the people of New Orleans. It started out with good prospects of success; a square of ground was even bought near the city, and it was thought that a furnace for the burning of the dead would be built without delay. But gradually the interest in cremation lessened in the Crescent City and, in consequence, the society went into liquidation.