The cremation society of Brussels was founded on the 28th of February, 1882, and numbers now over 600 members.
The cremation society of Holland, which boasts a very complete organization, extends over the entire kingdom by means of branch societies. It was founded on the 28th of December, 1874, and incorporated by the royal decree of Sept. 1, 1875. Over 1500 members belong to it. The branch societies are located at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Nijwegen, Delft, Leyden, Shiedam, Zutphen, Dortrecht, and Harlem. Since 1876 a small periodical is published quarterly by the society of Holland, containing occasional communications concerning cremation, and detailing the proceedings of the society. The funds of the association are in good condition, being mostly invested in government stock.
The first cinerary furnace built in the German Empire was erected at Dresden, Saxony, and put in use in 1874, when bodies were cremated on the 9th of October and 6th of November; the wife of Sir Charles Dilke was one of them. No incineration occurred in this apparatus since that time, owing to a refusal of the Saxon government to permit the same.
On the 6th and 7th of June, 1876, an international cremation congress, which was attended by representatives from almost all countries of the globe, was held at Dresden, and did much to promote the interests of incineration in Germany. Many important resolutions were adopted, among others that of forming an international committee to establish a journal for the propagation of cremation. On June 7, the delegates witnessed the cineration of several animals in a Siemens apparatus, which completely reduced the animals experimented upon in one hour and one-half.
INTERIOR OF WASHINGTON CREMATORY.
The accompanying wood-cut represents that part of the crematory at Washington, Pa., in which the incineration takes place. The numbers refer respectively to (1) the incinerator, closed; (2) the fire-box, open; (3) the ash-pit; and (4) coal-bin. The room, as will be seen, is needlessly plain, and might with slightly increased expense in building be made more attractive. An ornamental front concealing the brick-work and the coal-bin would serve greatly to improve its appearance. With a slightly different arrangement the fire-box and ash-pit might be kept continually out of sight. If the incinerator were turned end for end and made to open from the opposite side, nothing would be seen by the friends of the deceased but its open door and rosy light, which are most attractive to the eye.
Cremation is now most extensively practiced in Gotha, in the new crematory established by the municipal council of that city, which was opened to the public on the 17th of November, 1878.
The first cremation at Gotha came off on the afternoon of the 10th of December, 1878, when Mr. Stier, a civil engineer whose embalmed body had awaited the completion of the crematorium for some time, was consigned to the furnace. Since the establishment of the crematory, over 500 persons have been incinerated at Gotha, many of whom were from foreign lands,—Russia, England, France, America, etc.
Berlin is the center of the reform in Germany. The Berlin cremation society has an enormous membership, and counts among its members many persons of distinction. Altogether the society numbers 534 members, 45 of them being physicians.
Italy may be considered the pioneer of cremation in modern times; for there, for the first time, incineration was practiced in a systematic and improved manner, and in no land have the cremationists been so active and energetic in advocating the reform as in this.