The cremation of the dead / considered from an aesthetic, sanitary, religious, historical, medico-legal, and economical standpoint

by Hugo Erichsen

The Cremation Society of England was founded on the 13th of January, 1874, and no sooner was it established than letters of encouragement poured in from all parts of Great Britain, and there was a great influx of new members and subscribers to its declaration. Every cremationist must feel proud to know that among those who, under Sir Henry Thompson’s able presidency, founded the society, were such men of distinction as the late Shirley Brooks and Anthony Trollope, the well-known novelist. The English Cremation Society was founded for the propagation of the tenets of incineration, not for trading purposes, as may have been supposed by some incredulous, ill-disposed, or ignorant minds.

THE CREMATORIUM AT GOTHA.

In 1878, the society purchased an acre of ground in a secluded part of St. John, Woking, in Surrey, especially adapted by position for the purpose, and erected thereon a building, with an apparatus of the most approved kind, for effecting cremation of the dead. After some deliberation, the system of Professor Gorini, of Lodi, in Italy, was adopted, since it was considered the best for the site, inasmuch as no supply of gas is required to insure combustion, but only coal or wood. It is to be regretted, that owing to a lack of funds, only the furnace could be built, which standing alone in spacious fields, must present rather a dreary aspect; must, I take it, appear far too realistic. It is to be hoped that the society will, by means of large bequests or sufficient contributions from the public, be placed in a position to roof over the furnace, and to erect a chapel or a hall in front of it, so as to accommodate the friends and mourners. The apparatus was next tested by an experiment, which consisted of the burning of a portion of the carcass of a horse weighing 140 pounds, that was consumed in two hours, at a cost of a very small quantity of fuel. The ashes resulting from the combustion were perfectly white, and weighed a little under six pounds; not the slightest odor could be detected in the closest neighborhood of the furnace, or even with the doors of the crematory chamber open; and there was, moreover, no escape of smoke from the chimney. The success of the system was established, and the possibility of cremation without offence completely demonstrated.

Since that time the place has been maintained in perfect order, but has not been used, owing to a doubt raised soon after the date referred to, as to the legality of adopting the process in England. A deputation of the cremation society waited upon the Home Secretary on the 20th of March, 1879, with a view of representing to the government their own wishes in respect to the crematory at Woking. The Home Secretary admitted that the proposed practice was unaffected by existing law, but he had been advised that inasmuch as the registration of deaths in her Majesty’s country had always been associated with burial, he was constrained to conclude that cremation must first be approved by Parliament, and that if persisted in, he saw no other course open than to legislate against it. He further advised the council to introduce a short bill into the House of Lords, and not to rely upon the opinions of Queen’s counsel which had been obtained by them affirming that it might be practiced. Thus the so-called Cameron bill originated. It is strange that England, so far advanced in political freedom, should yet be so deficient in intellectual liberty. Among the English there are doubtless as many unbiased investigators as among any other nation, but both the representatives of the people and the government present the deplorable picture of solicitous embarrassment, and maintain an obstinate conservatism when any question involving religion or ecclesiastical rites comes up before them; any act that is not seconded by the Church of England is rejected through non-support; any abuse which the Established Church desires to retain cannot be removed. That this holds true is evinced by the repeated failure of the bill permitting a widower to marry his sister-in-law, notwithstanding that even the royal family desire to contract such a marriage. Finally the bill was accepted by the House of Commons, but has been since stubbornly rejected by the House of Lords.

Dr. Cameron’s cremation bill—providing legal sanction for the adoption of cremation in Great Britain—was submitted to the House of Commons some time in 1884—I do not remember the exact date. This bill, which asked but for permissive incineration, a privilege that is readily granted in all civilized countries of the globe, was rejected on the second reading by a vote of 149 to 79. It is a solace to know that the minority included the scientific men, men of such world-wide fame as Sir Lyon Playfair, Sir John Lubbock, and many others. Mr. Gladstone, zealous in his endeavors to serve the Church, brought the influence of the Government to bear against the bill, pleading in excuse that it was contrary to public opinion. Every well-balanced mind must conceive instantly that the Premier might have reserved the expression of the public will and opinion for Parliament, but that he wished to oblige the Church of England. That Englishmen regard cremation from the same standpoint as other people is proven by the 79 favorable votes that were cast.

Mr. W. Eassie delivered excellent addresses on cremation before the first congress of the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, held in 1877, at Leamington, and before the congress at Manchester, in 1879, when he exhibited the model of the Polli-Clericetti apparatus. In March, 1879, the question of cremation was also presented to the House of Lords, but without practical results.

In August, 1880, Sir T. Spencer Wells, late president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and Surgeon to the Queen’s Household, read a masterly paper on incineration, entitled “Cremation or Burial,” at the meeting of the British Medical Association, at Cambridge. At its conclusion a memorial was drawn up, addressed to the Home Secretary, and praying that permission be granted for the practice of cremation. The address was as follows:—

“We, the undersigned members of the British Medical Association, assembled at Cambridge, disapprove the present custom of burying the dead, and desire to substitute some mode which shall rapidly resolve the body into its component elements by a process which cannot offend the living, and may render the remains absolutely innocuous. Until some better mode is devised we desire to promote that usually known as cremation. As the process can now be carried out without anything approaching to nuisance, and as it is not illegal, we trust the government will not oppose the practice, when convinced that proper regulations are observed and ampler guarantees of death having occurred from natural causes are obtained than are now required for burial.”

This memorial was signed by Sir T. Spencer Wells and many other prominent physicians and surgeons, altogether by over one hundred members of the association.