Chapter I: Front Matter

A MODERN CINERARY URN. (Frontispiece.) ]

THE
CREMATION OF THE DEAD
CONSIDERED
FROM AN ÆSTHETIC, SANITARY, RELIGIOUS, HISTORICAL, MEDICO-LEGAL, AND
ECONOMICAL STANDPOINT

BY

HUGO ERICHSEN, M.D.

LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF KINGSTON,
CANADA; MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE OF ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST
INTERNATIONAL CREMATION CONGRESS; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE CREMATION
SOCIETIES OF NEW YORK AND BERLIN; FOREIGN ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF THE
HYGIENIC SOCIETY OF FRANCE; HONORARY MEMBER OF THE CREMATION SOCIETY OF
MILAN, ITALY; ETC.

With an Introductory Note

BY

SIR T. SPENCER WELLS, BART., F.R.S.

LATE PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND; SURGEON TO
THE QUEEN’S HOUSEHOLD; ETC.

ILLUSTRATED

_Delenda est inhumatio!_

DETROIT
D. O. HAYNES & COMPANY
1887

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“Why should we seek to clothe death with unnecessary terror, and
spread horror round the tomb of those we love? The grave should be
surrounded with everything that might ensure tenderness and
veneration.”

—WASHINGTON IRVING.

“Die Leichenverbrennung verdient die Achtung, welche ihr um ihres
hohen Werthes willen im klassischen Alterthum gezollt wurde, auch
heute noch, da sie die einzige Art der Todtenbestattung ist, die
vor den schrecklichen Folgen der Verwesungsduenste sichert und das
bei der Leichenbeerdigung so oft vorgekommene Wiedererwachen im
Grabe verhuetet.”

—J. P. TRUSEN.

“Si nous sommes une statue
Sculptée à l’image de Dieu;
Quand cette image est abattue,
Jetons-en les débris au feu!

Toi, forme immortelle, remonte
Dans la flamme, aux sources du Beau,
Sans que ton argile ait la honte
Et les miséres du tombeau!”

—THÉOPHILE GAUTIER.

_Copyright, 1887_,
BY HUGO ERICHSEN.

J. S. CUSHING & CO., PRINTERS, BOSTON.

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TO

WILLIAM EASSIE, C.E., F.L.S.,

Honorary Secretary of the Cremation Society of England,

and

DR. PROSPER DE PIETRA-SANTA,

of Paris,

THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED

as a mark of high esteem, and in recognition of their untiring labor in
behalf of that greatest of all sanitary reforms, cremation, by their
sincere admirer,

THE AUTHOR.

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