THALLATAPHY.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1232, 27 November 1874, Page 4

THALLATAPHY.

An American scientific journal referring to the problem of the disposition of the dead, says ordinary inhumation is objectional on sanitary grounds, and the pagan plan of cremation too infernal to be popular, and suggests a third method which certainly has the merit of escaping the disadvantages of the other two. "We mean burial in the deep sea, which for the want of a better word, we will call thallataphy. Let a steamer for the purpose—a floating hearse—transport the dead at least a hundred miles from land, and commit them to, the depths." The coffin, whether of metal or wood, should be perforated with small holes and weighted. Is anyone shocked ? "We doubt if he can tell why. Banish the idea of sharks ; they belong to the coast. The deep sea fauna is made up of low and harmless forms of life—spongee, rhizopods, diminutive molluscs, and the like. The dead would never pollute anything of which the living partake. Do you prefer to commit the relics of your departed friends to their ' kindred elements ?' It is far more appropriate to lay them in the bosom of the ocean than to inter them in the land—dust with dust; for the average man consists of 88 lbs of water to G6 of solid matter. Nor need anyone be troubled about the resurrection ; for we are assured that ' the sea shall give up its dead.' We say then, especially to the great maritime cities like New York and Boston, London and Liverpool, away with patent furnaces and crowded cemeteries, and find rest in the unlimited burial place which nature has provided."