CREMATION

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 473, 6 March 1933, Page 2

CREMATION

A PUBLIC DUtY PRACTICE OF EARTH BURIAL NOW CONSIDEKED INSANITARY AN ANCIENT CUSTOM (Frederick Stubbs, F.R.G.S.) (Copy right) "O bury me not in the cold, dark earth, Under the smothering sod, But let me go through the cleansing fire. In a pure bright flame to God." I want to be burned. No, not just yet; not at all events while I am living, but after I have died. When the breath has left the body it is a duty to be burned, though we may not 'then be in a position to enforee it — a duty not merely for our own sakes but for the sake of others. - There is little new to be said on the subject of cremation, the subject has been pursued through all its phases, scientifically, sanitarily, theologically, sentimentally, legally. Nev■ehtherless, I think it may interest the reader to have the subject put before him once more in brief, compendious fashion, and that this object is not unnecessary is shown by the fact that even after the flood of argument poured forth by men of science, doctors, clergymen, journalists, lawyers, fond relatives of the deceased, etc., there is still a larg'e number of people unconvinced. Earth Burial Earth burial, or the simple enclosing of the body in earth, or stone, or cavern, was probably the most ancient way of disposing of the body. I myself have seeri a cave furnished thus, the skeletons still visible. This custom seems to have prevailed for ages, though it is probably that the burning of the body was practised concurrently. The Egyptians, as it is well-known, embalmed their dead believing that the welfare, if not the very existence of the spirit Was bound up with the preservation of the body, and many of my readers will have seen mummies in Cairo, in the British Museum, etc. They are not beautiful to look at, and never inspired me with the slightest desire to be embalnted. Some are believed to exert a malignant influenee upon the beholder, and many uncanny stories are told. For the practice of embalming, the soil and climate of Egypt were exceptionally favourable. The custom also existed to some extent among the Christains and does so still in the case of great personages. In Rome and other parts of Italy I have seen mummified monks in: their ecclesiastical dress. The Jews !>also occasionally embalmed, but the common way of disposing of the dead was by burying in a sepulchre, uncoffined, the body simply being clad in a wind sheet. The Catacombs In the Catacombs, which consist of excavated passages, the bodies of Christains of the Early Centuries were placed in recesses on either side, arranged in tiers and closed in by slabs bearing insCriptions relating to the family and f aith of the deceased. In the largest of these catacombs which I visited, these passages are said to extend for 554 miles and to have had 5,000,000 persons buried in them. (One authority says 6,000,000, but I admit I did not count them myself). Some.of the greatest buildings in the worlds have been tombs. The Pyramids were the tombs of the Pharoahs: (By the way, if any of my readers contemplate climbing them, my advice is, don't) : the huge Castle of St. Angelo in Rome, in which the Popes formerly lived, was the tomb of the Emperor Hadrian. Strange Customs In the old Pagen times, and in some non-Christian countries still, the needs of the departed were provided for by burying cloths, weapons, ornaments, implements, etc., with the body, and placing food upon the grave. Possibly the presenti'day custom of putting fresh flowers upon the grave is a survival of that ; custom, though of course we don't believe that the deceased enjoys their perfume. Even the deeeased's horses and slaves were sometimes buried for his use in the spirit-world. In I England the barbarous custom prevailed of burying suicides at the crossroads with a wooden stake through the body — quite horrid treatment! I i am sure I should not like it at all : it I was bad enough to have a Chinese bayonet at my stomach, as I once had. ! A; most uncomfortable sensation! Such were some of the methods in which the poor corpse was disposed of in days gone by. Cremation Some of the most intelligent and advanced peoples of the world, however, adopted the method of disposing of the dead which is advoeated in this article. The earliest Aryan tribes of India, from which we are descended, practised it, as did also Greeks, Romans, Slavs, Celts, Germans. In India, it is still the usual method of disposing of the dead and on one occasion I witnessed it myself. A return to this early practice of the most civilised peoples is now being insisted upon in Europe — chiefly for sanitary reasons. Crematoria have been established in Franee, Germany, Italy England, as well as in Canada, the U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, in fact, in all. civilised countries. For certain classes it has been made compulsory, and in non- Catholic countries I think the practice will in a few years become universal. Conclusive evidence has shown that exhalations from Graveyards contaminate the air, whilst the drainage may carry the seeds of disease into the wells and drains. Even in Westminster Abbey no further burials may take plaee unless the body has first ■been crehiated. Aldgate Pump When I was a boy, there was an ancient pump at Aldgate, London whose waters were so delicious that men got their living by handing clear, refreshiug fluid to passers-by. I myself seldom passed without a drink. But bye and bye it was discovered that the attractive sparkle and taste of the water was due to gasses absorbed from a disused graveyard close by, and the pump. was promptly closed by the authorities. I don't know, but I think it is probable that hundreds of lrves Were lost by the neighbourhood of th'at graveyard. It may be taken as certain that the

frightful epidemics of bygone centuries were largely due to such causes. Plague broke out in an English village through the disturbance of remains after they had been buried 170 years. Earth burial does not destroy, but liberates and distrbutes germs of disease. Objections There is no really sound objection to the practice of cremation. It is the scientific and sanitary method of dodng what Nature eventually and inevitably does, but far more rapidly, more cleanly, more eeonomically, esthetically, with more consideration for the health and comf ort of the living. It also prevents the burial of still living persons, which has very occasionally taken place. Opposition has unfortunately come chiefly from the Ghureh. The Pope denouneed Cremation, and good Catholics were taught that their bodies could be cremated only at the risk of everlasting burning. The Anglican Church also contains many opponents of cremation on the ground that it might prevent the resurrection of the body, but the objection will not bear a moments thought. No educated man believes now that the 'identity of the individual is dependent on the identical particles of his material framework being preserved. If this were so, we would be different individuals every three or four years, 'for all the atoms of which the body is eomposed disappear - and are replaced within some such period. We are the same persons to-day only in the sense that a river is the same. Again, .what ab out the thousands of Martyrs who were burned, or the still larger number of ordinary people who have been devoured by savage beasts sharks, etc.? Is there therefore no resurrection, no possible future life for them? Happily, such arguments have little weight with non-Catholic bodies, and some of the mpst eminent Prelates and Minister and Membefs of the Church have been cremated without protest. Most of us believe that it is not the body, but the spirit of man that survives. We need not worry about the body so long as it does not become a nuisance to the living,