ELECTRO-PLATING THE DEAD.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1590, 22 June 1887, Page 3

ELECTRO-PLATING THE DEAD.

The disposition of the body after death has been a BUbject of- interest from the earlioßt recorded era. The olasalo writings are filled with references to this matter ; and the various kinds of burial or its equival nt, and tho ceremonies- attendant upon the last rites, form no inconsiderable portion of both Greek and Latin literature. The ancient kinds of burial were ohteily four— burying, burning, embalming, and storing, the latter having referenoo to catacombs, vaults, and similar receptaolee.- All are t< o familiar to need more than a passing reference. The cußtom of the Jews eeems to have betn to bury the bodies of tha dead ; the Egyp tUns were the great maatera of the art of embalming; the Romans excavated great catacombs, *> hioh are ol e of the wonders of the Eternal City to-day ; while tho practice of burning bodies seem to have obtalued generally among most ancient nations m certrln oircumstancee Modern science, on sanitary grounds, has determined positively against the common practice of iuhumatlon. Wheiever the population is dense —aa it is m all great oitieB — it is seen at once that the custom of butying tho bodleß of deoeried persona la a certain and fruitful Bource of disease. Water and air are alike polluted and rendered dangeroua to life by the placing m the earth of the lifeless lumps ©f clay which will m time be resolved iDto their original element, but which, m the meantime, give forth noxious exhalations. For this reason the practice of int amoral burial has baen done away with and modern cemeteries are placed as far as possible from municipal centres. In lieu of Inhumation, the scientists of the present day have devised four methods — namely, oromatlon, cementation, coking, and tltc ro-plating. Oretuauou la only the clr.ilo -.funeral pyre, without any of its unpleasant md revolting attendants. The body la tedaoed to a handful of aahes by intense heat m a ; furnace bo arranged thatv nothing die- \ Bgreeable pasies off during' the prooesa. The process of coking is 'similar ;. but instead of being burned, the body is expoßed to a flamelno heat and reduced to a j nard, brittle substance instead of to rshos. Cementation does not deal dlrect'y with the body, but with it? environment. It consists ia hermetically sealing the coffin by placing A COat of the finest cement «(i around It. The advantages ©f a sr^cophagua are m this way secured without muoh cxponßa; But the latest method, and one which la grojr.'ng into popular favor, ia electro plating. It ia the application of a perfectly oven metallio coating to the surface of the body it. elf by the same proceaa aa that whioh produces an electrotype. The method is brltfly this:— The body is waihed with alcohol and sprinkled over with fine graphite powder, to ensure the perfeot conduction of electricity. It is then placed m a bath of metallio solution containing a piece of the metal to be used. To thla is attached the positive pole, of a strong battery; the negative pole is applied to the corpse, and a fine film off the metal at once begins to csver the- body perfectly and evenly. This may be kept up until tho oating attains any desired thiokneas To this process there would seem to ba no valid objection. Jn effect it transforms the corps into a beautiful Statue — form, features, and even expression being perfectly preserved. The body being hermetically sealed within ita metal inclosure, merely drlc3 up aud assumes the aspect of a mummy. This method obviates many objections which have been" urged against cremation, and at tho same time maets the wishes cf those whose sentiment, if nothing else, inclines them to favor the ordinary way of burial. The feeling of desecration of the human form divine, whloh Ita reduotion to a handful of ashes causes to v many people, h entirely done away with, as no rude hand ia laid upon, the once loved form. No ohaoge ib j brought about m appearance except that faoo.and figure are covered with a shining I veil, through which the fr.mUiar lineament. j appear with all their well-remembered characteristics and expressions — Oassell's Saturday Journal."