I am sensible of the many defects of this book, but I trust that it will be found to furnish some useful information which cannot well be obtained elsewhere, besides proving an assistance to those who are desirous of studying the question more fully.

I desire to express my indebtedness to crematists in all parts of the world for the valuable assistance I received from them in the preparation of this volume.

For all who like cleanliness, for all who love true sentiment, for all friends of economy, for all who venerate their dead, and for all who are not afraid of reform the following pages were written.

It only remains to express the thanks due the following gentlemen for permission to use illustrations without which this book would have been decidedly incomplete: Messrs. Dodd, Mead & Co., Cyrus K. Remington, Augustus Cobb, Albert Meininger, and Dr. M. L. Davis.

H. E.

Detroit, Feb. 28, 1887.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
PAGE
The History of Cremation[1]
CHAPTER II.
The Evils of Burial; the Sanitary Aspect of Incineration[66]
CHAPTER III.
Cremation in Times of War[129]
CHAPTER IV.
The Processes of Modern Cremation[140]
CHAPTER V.
The Medico-legal Aspect of Incineration.—The Objections to Cremation[157]
CHAPTER VI.
Burial Alive.—Cremation from an Æsthetic and Religious Point of View[180]
CHAPTER VII.
The Economy of Cremating the Dead.—The Present State of the Cremation Question[224]

INTRODUCTION.