BURNING THE DEAD.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 150, 21 March 1874, Page 3

BURNING THE DEAD.

I think I said something in a former letter about the process of incremation which just now is attracting a good deal of notice, and is being pushed under the noses of the public by its supporters. Sir Henry Thompson has been writing extensively in favor of the plan. He maintains that by burying our dead we are not only wasting good material, but are sowing the seeds of disease and death for future generations. He seems to look chiefly at the question in an economical point of view, and argues that if we were to reduce our friends to ashes they could be utilised by the tillers of the soil in the production of crops for the maintenance of the living. By burying them he allows that they are so utilised ; but then he very truly adds the process of decomt position is so slow that it is not until generations have passed away that the benefit is felt in the increased productiveness of the land. This is indeed ” utilitarian view, even in a utilitarian age. In reply to the argument that to burn all dead bodies immediately after death would afford increased facilities for murderers, Sir Henry Thompson replies that he would have the stomach and intestines of all corpses removed, bottled, labelled and stored in Governmenoffice established for the purpose, so that they would be ready for analization at any moment. A new Government billet! .Regis'.rar of stomachs I Delightful situation! There are arguments, good arguments to be used in favor of incremation; but Sir Henry’s way of putting the matter is to say the least of it repulsive.