WM. C REICH TON WOODWARD, 
 WASHINGTON, D. C.
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 SCHOOL OF LAW 
 LIBRARY
 
 ' 
 
 THE LAW OF CREMATION 
 
 AN OUTLINE OF 
 
 THE LAW RELATING TO CREMATION 
 ANCIENT AND MODERN 
 
 TOGETHER WITH THE 
 
 RULES AND REGULATIONS OF VARIOUS 
 
 CREMATION SOCIETIES AT HOME 
 
 AND ABROAD 
 
 AUBREY RICHARDSON 
 
 SOLICITOR 
 
 Witt. Creighton Woodwanl, 
 Washington, D. O. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 REEVES & TURNER 
 100 CHANCERY LANE, AND CAREY STREET 
 
 1893
 
 T
 
 PREFACE 
 
 SOME three years ago, at the Medical Society of 
 London, a discussion arose on a paper on the subject 
 of Cremation, read by my father, Dr. Benjamin Ward 
 IJichardson, F.K.S., whether a person could determine 
 for himself as to the mode of the disposal of his 
 remains after death, and whether or not such dis- 
 posal was entirely in the hands of his executors. 
 
 At the meeting great uncertainty and difference of 
 opinion prevailed, which led the author of the paper to 
 request me to ascertain if there was any method by 
 which a testator could ensure that his body after death 
 would be disposed of according to his own wishes. 
 
 The question thus opened widened under inquiry, 
 and I was led therefore to collect information from 
 various authoi'ities in Foreign Countries, all of whom
 
 iv PREFACE. 
 
 replied to me with a fulness and courtesy for which I 
 cannot be too grateful. The result left me in possession 
 of material which I have attempted to bring into brief 
 and convenient form, and which I trust may prove 
 useful to the legal profession and the public generally. 
 
 49A LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 
 January 1898.
 
 %aw of Cremation. 
 
 PAKT I. 
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 
 
 Ix his exhaustive work, " La Cremation et ses Bien- 
 faits," Monsieur Alexandre Bonneau points out that the 
 history of cremation may be divided into three epochs : 
 i. The Vedic period, during which the practice spread 
 among all the branches of the Aryan race ; 2. The 
 Brahmanic period, that was signalised by the erection 
 of pyres in all parts of India ; and 3. The Buddhistic 
 period, when the custom spread to all the peoples of the 
 Turanian race (i.e., the non- Aryan and non-Iranian 1 
 races), even to the shores of the Pacific Ocean and to 
 America. 
 
 The primitive Aryans saw that death deprived al. 
 living beings of bodily warmth, and so came to regard 
 heat as the principle of life ; they perceived, moreover, 
 that fire is the great purifier, and noted that, while it 
 
 1 One of the earliest great sub-races of the Aryan family that 
 settled in the region now known as Persia. 
 
 A
 
 2 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 had power to destroy some forms of matter, upon oth-r> 
 it could only work a transformation. These observa- 
 tions led them to place the bodies of their dead before 
 a fire, and to supplicate Agni the Life-Giver to re- 
 animate and purify them. At last they adopted the 
 practice of consigning them altogether to the flames, in 
 the belief that by that means alone could the body be 
 transformed into spirit. 
 
 Concerning the place of abode of the Aryan race 
 before its division into sub-races and dispersion through- 
 out many lands, Professor Max Miiller would still have 
 us believe that it was " somewhere in Asia ''; but the 
 view of the larger number of the scholars of the day 
 is, that the great plain of Northern Europe, stretching 
 from the Ural Mountains over Northern Germany and 
 the North of France as far as the Atlantic, formed the 
 cradlo of the Aryan family. That the custom of crema- 
 tion prevailed in that region in pre-historic times we 
 know from the evidence of dolmen and tumulus. 1 
 These ancient altars and tombs are scattered through- 
 out Europe and in parts of Asia and Northern Africa. 
 The accounts of Cassar, Diodorus of Sicily, and others 
 of the mortuary customs of Gaul and those practised by 
 the Druids, clearly prove that the ancient inhabitants 
 of France and Britain burned their dead ; while among 
 the Scandinavians the custom prevailed until the 
 ninth and among the Slavs until the eleventh century. 
 Tacitus gives a description of the crematory process in 
 vogue among the ancient Germans or Goths.- In 
 
 1 " The Origin of the Aryans," by Isaac Taylor, M.A. ' The 
 Contemporary Science Series." 
 3 "La Cremation et ses Bienfaits.''
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 3 
 
 course of time all the great nations of the globe came 
 to be in some way influenced by Aryan modes of 
 thought, and cremation was either wholly or partly 
 established in nearly all of them. Only Egypt, Persia, 
 and China resisted the introduction of the practice. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 The strong belief of the Egyptians in personal im- 
 mortality and their devout expectation of the eventual 
 return of each individual spirit to the " tenement of 
 clay" vacated at death, doubtless led them to ignore 
 the method of sepulture that was not only in vogue in 
 cotemporary European civilisations, but was practised 
 by the Ethiopians and Carthaginians. 1 
 
 Monsieur Bonneau, however, shrewdly surmises that 
 scarcity of wood may have had something to do with 
 the staunch adherence of the Egyptians to their inva- 
 riable custom of embalming. 
 
 PERSIA. 
 
 Ostensibly, the cause of Persia's resistance lay in the 
 high reverence paid by the followers of Zoroaster to fire. 
 They would not pollute the Life- Giver by feeding it 
 with decomposing substances. The same pious awe of 
 the universal elements led them to refrain from burying 
 corpses in either earth or water. They had, however, 
 less regard for air. Their practice, originally, was to 
 
 1 See articls on Cremation in " Encyclopaedia Britannica '' ; also 
 Account of Death of Elissa (Dido), Foundress of Carthage, in 
 44 The History of the World," by Justin.
 
 I THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 leave their dead exposed on the bare earth and, later 
 en, in large paved enclosures, or on the summits of high 
 towers, built for the purpose, called " dakhma," where 
 they speedily became the prey of wild beasts and 
 vultures. If a corpse were promptly devoured, it was 
 esteemed a great honour, for it was inferred that a 
 person must have been very bad indeed if even the 
 beasts would not touch him after death. According to 
 Pierre Muret, Parthians, Medes, Iberians, and Caspians 
 had a great horror of the corruption of dead bodies, and 
 their being eaten by worms, and preferred to believ 
 that, when devoured by wild beasts, departed souls 
 enjoyed a partial life in their living sepulchres. It was 
 part of the Zoroastrian faith that, by a wise provision 
 of Nature, all ferocious beasts, wild dogs, and vultures, 
 had been specially endowed with the function of destroy- 
 ing human remains. The fundamental tenet that gave 
 rise to these ideas was that death was highly infectious. 
 It was believed that a corpse was a focus of contagion, 
 aud that it must therefore be so disposed of that death 
 might not be spread abroad. On this point the old 
 Indo-European customs were completely changed by 
 Mazdeism. 1 The Indo-Europeans, or Aryans, either 
 burnt their corpses or buried them. 2 Both customs 
 are held to be sacrilegious in the Zend-Avesta. 3 In the 
 
 1 The faith of the Magi, the " wise men of the East," the greatest 
 of whom was Zoroaster. 
 
 - See Introduction to the Zend-Avesta, by James Darmesteter, 
 chap. v. p. Ixxxix. vol. iv. of Max Miiller's " Sacred Books of the 
 East." 
 
 3 The Zend-Avesta is the sacred book of the Parsis, embodying 
 the teachings of Zoroaster and the Magi throughout many 
 centuries. S.-e Introduction to the Zend-Avesta, by James Dar- 
 mesteter, as above.
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 5 
 
 beginning, however, less obvious though more potent 
 reasons led the followers of Zoroaster to denounce the 
 practice of cremation. 
 
 Mazdeism, or Magism, was the professed faith and doc- 
 trine of the Magi, and had its origin in Media, though 
 when and how it arose the greatest scholars are unable to 
 say. 1 The teaching of Zoroaster and his followers did 
 much to consolidate it and reduce its theories to hard- 
 and-fast rules of conduct, and there is good reason to 
 believe that, quite as much as religious scruples, political 
 and territorial considerations led the compilers of the 
 Vendidad 2 to put a strict prohibition on cremation. 3 
 " A comparison/' writes Monsieur Bonneau, " of the text 
 of the Zend-Avesta and the Rig- Veda 4 shows that a deep 
 antagonism existed between the Eastern and Western 
 Aryans ; they not only disagreed in religious matters, but 
 were not of one mind in regard to more mundane questions. 
 In point of fact, Zoroaster found his followers among a 
 people much attached to ancient usage, whilst the Aryans 
 
 1 Introduction to the " Zend-Avesta,'' by James Darmestetcr, 
 chap. iii. p. 1. Compare ibid. Part III. p. xxx. and Part I. p. Ixxxix. 
 
 2 " The Vendidad" is a compilation of religious laws and mythi- 
 cal tales included in the first part of the "Zend-Avesta." Ibid. 
 chap. iii. p. xxx. 
 
 3 The Assyrians were cremationists, for their last king, Sar- 
 danapalus, having marched with a few undisciplined troops to 
 quell a revolt that his effeminacy had stirred up, and being 
 worsted, raised and set fire to a pile of wood, and threw himself and 
 his riches into the flames. His successor, Arbactus, Lieutenant of 
 Media, translated his kingdom to the Medes. See " History of the 
 World," Justin, Book I. chap. iii. See also Herodotus, Valerius 
 Maximus, and others for ancient Scythian method of disposing of 
 their dead kings. Their bodies were carried for a year throughout 
 t heir dominions, and eventually burned, 
 
 4 Ancient Sacred Hymns of the Brahmans of India.
 
 THE LAAV OF CREMATION. 
 
 of t he hlast were the earnest propagandists of the doctrine 
 of cremation, and had even introduced it into one of the 
 countries that Zoroaster desired to bring under his zone 
 of influence. Zoroaster feared lest the next move of 
 these missionaries should be the annexation of the soil, 
 and, in order to erect an impassable barrier against the 
 invaders, the Magi rigorously enforced all ancient and 
 local habits by attributing all innovations to the inter- 
 vention of the evil one, Angra Mainyu, and the original 
 customs of the inhabitants of the countries they sought 
 to keep under their dominion to the work of the supreme 
 and holy Ruler of All Ahura Mazda. 1 The laws of 
 the Magi, as set down in the Vendidad, fully bear out 
 this theory. 
 
 Vendidad. 2 Fargard I. 17 (63). "The thirteenth 
 of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura 
 Mazda, created, was the strong, holy Kakhra. 
 Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, 
 and he counter- created by his witchcraft a sin 
 for which there is no atonement, the burning of 
 corpses." 
 
 Fargard VIII. 73 (229). " O Maker of the material 
 world, thou Holy One ! If worshippers of 
 Mazda, walking, or running, or riding, or driving, 
 come upon a corpse-burning fire, whereon a 
 corpse is being cooked or roasted, what shall 
 they do?" 
 
 74 (233). " Ahura Mazda answered : They shall kill 
 the man that burns the corpse ; surely they shall 
 
 1 See Introduction to the Zend-Avesta, Part I. chap. v. 
 p. Ixxxix. &c. 
 - Vol. iv. of "The Sacred Books of the East. 1 '
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 7 
 
 kill him. They shall take off the caldron, they 
 shall take off the tripod." 
 
 75 ( 2 37)- "Then they shall kindle wood from that 
 fire ; either wood of those trees thut have the 
 seed of fire in them, or bundles of the very wood 
 that was prepared for that fire ; and they shall 
 separate and disperse it, that it may die out the 
 sooner." 
 
 Fargard VIII.-IX. Si (251). O Maker of the 
 Material World, thou Holy One ! If a man bring 
 a corpse-burning fire to the Baityo-gatu, what 
 shall be his reward when his soul has parted 
 with his body ? Ahura-Mazda answered : His 
 reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, 
 brought ten thousand firebrands to the Baity 6- 
 gatu." 
 
 The " Baityo-gatu " is the everlasting fire, always 
 kept alight where Parsis are settled. 1 It is called 
 the Bahran fire, and is continually fed with perfumes 
 and dry woods. Whichever side its flames are blown 
 by the wind, it kills thousands and thousands of fiends 
 as Bahran does in heaven. If the necessities of life 
 oblige Parsis to employ fire for profane uses, it must 
 only be for a time as an exile on the hearth or in the 
 oven of the potter. It must go thence to the Right 
 Place of the fire (Ddityo-ydtu) the altar of the Bahran 
 fire, there to be restored to the dignity and rights of its 
 nature. No gratuitous or wanton degradation must be 
 inflicted on it even blowing it with the breath is a 
 crime ; burning the dead is the most heinous of crimes ; 
 in the times of Strabo it was a capital crime (Strabo, 
 
 1 Introduction to the Zend-Avesta, vol. i. chap. v. pp. Ixxxix. &c.
 
 8 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 xv. 14), and the Avesta expresses the same when 
 putting it in the number of sins for which there is no 
 atonement : " Not less holy was the earth, or at least it 
 
 became so Burying the dead is like burning the 
 
 dead, a deed for which there is no atonement. It was 
 not always so in Persia : the burning of the dead had 
 been forbidden for years, while the burying was still 
 general." 
 
 Of all the Iranian peoples, the Medes were the ear- 
 liest to rise to a high state of civilisation and to give 
 to religion and worship a systematic and elaborate form. 
 And since the statement of Mr. James Darmesteter, that 
 a in religion, as in politics, the best organised power must 
 sooner or later get the upper hand," is borne out in the 
 histories of all creeds and countries, it is easily under- 
 stood that the long subjugation of Persia to Media, and 
 the subsequent conquest of the Medes by the Persians 
 under Cyrus, only led to the adoption by the Persians 
 of the religious system of the Magi. Mr. Darmesteter 
 tells us that "Cyrus is said to have introduced 
 the Magian priesthood into Persia (Xenophon, Cyross 
 VIII. i. 23), which agrees with the legend mentioned by 
 Nikolaus, that it was on the occasion of the miraculous 
 escape of Croesus that the Persians remembered the 
 old Xoy/a of Zoroaster, forbidding the dead to be burnt." 1 
 Cyrus, as is well known, condemned Croesus to perish 
 on the pyre : he would surely not have dared to do so 
 had the custom of burning the dead been given up in 
 his time. Cambyses, too, must have been guided by 
 some well-known usage when he caused the embalmed 
 remains of Pharaoh Arnasis and the Princes and 
 
 1 Introduction to the Zend-Avesta, Part 1. p. li.
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 9 
 
 Princesses of his family to be burned at Sa'is and Thebes, 
 though Pierre Muret would have us believe that his 
 command was wholly unprecedented. " Cambyses well- 
 nigh made his people to rise in rebellion against him 
 for having caused the body of Amasis, King of Egypt, to 
 be digged out of his Grave and afterwards Burnt with 
 great pomp and ceremony. They openly declared that 
 this was to give a very dangerous example to Posterity ; 
 since instead of being a Conservator (Strabo, 1.15 ^ic. 
 1. Tuscul. 1. i) of the laws of the land, which did not 
 allow either of Burials or Burning, he was the first that 
 brake them." 1 
 
 We have good evidence that Darius, son of Hystapes, 
 who succeeded to the throne of Cambyses, was even a 
 stronger advocate of cremation than his predecessor. 
 In a message sent by him to the Carthaginians,' 2 whose 
 suzerain, on the grounds that Carthage was a colony 
 of Tyre, he pretended to be, Darius forbade the Car- 
 thaginians thenceforward to sacrifice human victims 
 or to eat the flesh of dogs, and he ordered them to 
 burn instead of bury their dead. 
 
 It is indeed certain that Darius could not have been 
 a Zoroastrian according to the later faith of the Vendi- 
 dad. The cuneiform inscriptions of his reign bear 
 internal evidence that they were written by one who 
 did not possess the more developed form of Mazdeisni. 
 " But allowing," writes Professor Max Miiller, 3 " that 
 it is not quite fair to reason from such scanty texts, we 
 
 1 Chap. iv. p. 49, " Rites of Funeral, &c." 
 - "The History of the World," Justin. 
 
 :! Introduction to Part III. of the Zend-Avesta, voL xxxi. p. xxxi. 
 of "Sacred Books."
 
 10 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 are met by the positive fact that an important inscrip- 
 tion is written on a tomb ; and as the burial of the dead 
 was one of the most flagrant violations of the Zara- 
 thustrian or Zoroastrian ceremonial law, it is not con- 
 ceivable that Darius could have been a Zarathustrian 
 according to the later faith. ... It is not possible that 
 he could have been an isolated schismatic as to such a 
 particular. If he composed the inscriptions as the 
 monarch of another religion than that of the later 
 A vesta, it would seem to prove, either that ho was an 
 adherent to a cruder or half-effaced form of Gilthic 
 Zarathustrianism, which had found its way during the 
 long period of its existence westward before the later 
 Zarathustrianism arose in the Western settlements, or 
 else that it, the religion of the Inscriptions, simply 
 originated where we find it, from an original and wide- 
 spread Mazda-worship, which had not yet forbidden the 
 burial of the dead." In a foot-note Mr. Max Miiller 
 adds : " And perhaps it had also not forbidden cremation. 
 Geiger (see the ' Civilisation of the Eastern Iranians in 
 Ancient Times') conjectures that the dakhtna were 
 originally places for cremation. If this is a correct 
 surmise, both burial and cremation may have been 
 permitted at the Gathic period, being forbidden long 
 after. At least the original Mazda-worship did not 
 recoil from cremation ; otherwise, the story of the 
 attempt to burn the Lydian Croesus could not have 
 arisen. The earlier Persians had no abhorrence of 
 either burial or burning. Only the developed Zarathus- 
 trian Magism of the Medes obeyed the Vendidad." 
 
 Yet even at that early day Magism was becoming a 
 power in the land. The same Darius who enjoined the
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 11 
 
 cremation of royal mummies, and wrote inscriptions 
 upon tombs, tried, in the second half of his long reign 
 to enter into an arrangement with the religious authori- 
 ties for the promotion of a spirit of unity throughout 
 his domains. 1 He accepted Mazdeism, after having 
 induced the Magi to ordain certain important reforms. 
 Magism thus became the State religion, and the ex- 
 posure of corpses the obligatory funeral rite throughout 
 Persia. 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 Later on in the world's history, China became partially 
 influenced by Buddhism, and adopted the custom of 
 cremation in common with many other Aryan habits. 2 
 But the Chinese are a conservative people, and the 
 ancient usage of burial has ever been more generally 
 favoured than what is to them the comparatively 
 modern practice of incineration. 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 In no other country of the world has the ancient 
 Aryan practice of incineration of the dead, with its ever- 
 increasing multiplicity of rites and ceremonies, been so 
 persistently adhered to throughout the centuries as in 
 India. There the custom has been followed with un- 
 broken continuity from prehistoric periods until the 
 present day. As a natural consequence, it has become 
 inextricably allied to the fundamental laws of Hindu 
 social and family life. It is a frequently disputed 
 question, whether the laws and usages of Hindu society 
 
 1 " La Cremation et ses Bienfaits," by A. Bonneau. 
 - Ibid.
 
 12 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 are founded solely on the elaborate codes of the Rig- 
 Yeda and the laws of Manu, or whether different 
 authorities obtain in different parts of India. The 
 earlier European exponents of native law assumed that 
 rvi-ry rigid Brahmanic doctrine was acknowledged and 
 accepted as incontrovertible law throughout the length 
 and breadth of Hindustan. They believed that the 
 whole of Indian law was formulated by sages of old, 
 and imposed upon the people of that vast country in 
 the same way that British Acts of Parliament have 
 lately forced new regulations upon them. 
 
 Later writers, and especially those who have person- 
 ally studied the ways and manners of Hindus, and have 
 noted the many differences in extant native customs, 
 have been led to think that ancient and local usages, 
 extending back to a period anterior even to the penetra- 
 tion into India of the Aryan race, form the bases of all 
 Hindu law. Mr. John D. Mayne l writes : " My view is 
 that Hindu law is based upon immemorial custom, 
 which existed prior to and independent of Brahmanism. 
 That when the Aryans penetrated into India, they 
 found there a number of usages, either the same as or not 
 wholly unlike their own. . . . That when Brahmanism 
 arose, and the Brahman writers turned their attention 
 to law, they at first simply stated facts as they found 
 them, without attaching to them any religious influence. 
 That the religious element subsequently grew up and 
 entwined itself with the legal conceptions, and then 
 distorted them in three ways : Fu-xl, by attributing a 
 pious purpose to acts of a purely secular nature ; 
 secondly, by clogging those acts with rules and restric- 
 
 1 " A Treatise on Hindu Law and Usage," by John D. Mayac.
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 13 
 
 tions suitable to the assumed pious purpose ; and 
 thirdly, by gradually altering the customs themselves 
 so as to further the special objects of religion or policy 
 favoured by Brahminism." 
 
 Mr. Mayne's view in regard to the laws of marriage, 
 inheritance, partition and adoption is perhaps the right 
 one. But Monsieur Bonneau, in his erudite and philo- 
 sophical work before referred to (" La Cremation et ses 
 Bienfaits "), clearly shows that the custom of burning 
 instead of burying the dead was introduced into India by 
 the Aryan peoples, and obtained its popularity through 
 the influence of Aryan modes of thought. Wherever the 
 Aryans, to whom in prehistoric times fell the task of 
 sowing among the barbaric nations of the globe the 
 seeds of civilisation, established their patriarchal com- 
 munities, they, as custodians of the elements of spiritual 
 religion, promoted cremation in that place. In India, 
 where they distinguished themselves from the aboriginal 
 populations by the title of " twice-born " since they con- 
 sidered they were first born of their natural parents, and 
 then acquired regeneration from the due performance of 
 prescribed religious duties they regarded the burning 
 of the dead as the third birth, whereby the spirit was 
 set free from its fleshly prison and started upon its 
 heavenly career. We read in the " Encyclopaedia Britan- 
 nica " that on the occasion of a cremation the friends of 
 the deceased stood round the pyre as around a natal 
 bed, and commanded his eye to go to the sun, his breath 
 to the wind, his limbs to the earth the water and 
 plants whence they had been derived. But " as for his 
 unborn part, do thou Lord (Agni) quicken it with 
 thy heat ; let thy flame and thy brightness quicken
 
 14 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 it ; convey it to the world of the righteous." .... The 
 doctrine of transmigration was unknown. The circle 
 round the funeral pyre sang with an assurance that 
 their friends went to a state of blessedness and reunion 
 with the loved ones who had gone before." Another 
 account of this ceremony is to be found in the chapter 
 on Death, Funeral Rites, and Ancestor-worship in 
 *' Religious Thought and Life in India," by Monier 
 Williams, M.A., C.I.E. : l "When a man died, his 
 immediate family, headed by the eldest sou or other 
 near relative, formed a procession to a properly 
 prepared place in the Smasfma, or ' burning ground,' 
 carrying the sacred tires and sacrificial implements. 
 The younger walked first, the elder behind the men 
 separated from the women bearing the corpse (the 
 hair and nails of which had been clipped), and leading 
 the sacrificial animal, either a cow or a black she-goat. 
 The remaining relatives followed, with their garments 
 hanging down and their hair dishevelled the elder in 
 front, the younger behind. When they reached the 
 funeral ground, the son or brother, or other near relative, 
 appointed to perform the ceremony, taking a branch of 
 the Sumi-tree, sprinkled holy water on the spot excavated 
 and prepared for the pile, and repeated Rig-Veda x. 14, 
 9 : ' Depart (ye evil spirits), slink away from here ; the 
 fathers (his departed ancestors) have made for him 
 this place of rest.' 
 
 "Then the sacred fires were deposited around the 
 margin of the excavated place, and a heap of firewood 
 was piled up inside the sacrificial ground (antar-vedi). 
 Next, a layer of Kusa grass was spread over the pile 
 
 ' P. 299.
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 15 
 
 along with the black skin of the goat. Then the 
 clipped hair and the dead body were placed upon it. 
 with the feet towards one of the fires and the head 
 towards the other. Next, the widow was made to lie 
 down on the funeral pile north of the body, along with 
 the bow of her deceased husband, but was not allowed to 
 remain there long. Soon the leader of the funeral called 
 upon her to rise, repeating Rig-Veda x. 1 8, 8 : ' Rise up, 
 O woman, come back to the world of the living ; thou art 
 lying by a dead man ; come back ; come back. Thou hast 
 sufficiently fulfilled the duty of a wife to the husband 
 who formerly wooed thee and took thee by the hand.' 
 
 " Next, he (the leader) took the bow Then he 
 
 placed the various sacrificial implements and portions of 
 the sacrificial animal in the two hands and in different 
 parts of the body of the corpse. This being done, he 
 kindled the three sacred fires. While the body was burn- 
 ing, portions of hymns of the Rig- Veda were repeated. 
 
 " When a dead body was thus burnt the spirit, invested 
 with its incombustible, subtle frame, was supposed to rise 
 along with the smoke to heaven. On the tenth day the 
 bones and ashes of the deceased were gathered together 
 and placed in a plain, undecorated funeral vase. This 
 particular act which in modern times is generally 
 performed on the fourth day, was called Asthisaficaya 
 (bone-collection). A hole was excavated, and the vessel 
 placed in it, while Rig- Veda x. 18-10 was repeated: 
 ' Return to thy mother Earth, the widely extended, the 
 Broad, the Auspicious ; may she be to thee like a young 
 maiden, soft as wool ; may she protect thee from the 
 embrace of the Goddess of Corruption.' Then earth was 
 scattered over the excavation, with repetition of the
 
 1C THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 tw fifth verse of the same hymn. Lastly, a cover was 
 placed over the vase, and the hole was filled up with 
 earth, while the thirteenth verse was repeated : ' I raise 
 up the earth around thee, for a support, placing this 
 cover on thee without causing injury. May the Fathers 
 guard this funeral monument for thee: may Yama 
 establish a habitation for thee there ! ' ' 
 
 In process of time some additions to the ancient 
 ceremonial have been made, but none of them are strik- 
 ing, except that of cracking the skull of the deceased 
 when the body is half burnt. The idea is that the soul 
 may not have been able to escape through the aperture 
 at the top of the head, and that the cracking of the skull 
 may open a crevice and facilitate the exit. The neces- 
 sary blow is dealt with a piece of sacred wood. 
 
 In the Institutes of Vishnu, 1 a collection of ancient 
 aphorisms on the sacred laws of India, 2 we read that 
 " Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Yaisyas, and Sudras, are the 
 four castes, that the first three of these are called twice- 
 born, and that for them the whole number of ceremonies 
 which begin with the impregnation and end with the 
 ceremony of burning the dead body, have to be per- 
 formed with (the recitation of) Mantras. 3 In xix. 6 
 of the Institutes we read that " those that have carried 
 out a dead relative and burnt his corpse shall walk 
 round the pile from left to right, and then plunge into 
 water, dressed in their clothes." This rule is preceded 
 and followed by many others minutely prescribing the 
 
 1 Translated by Julius Jolly: vol. vii. of "The Sacred Books of 
 the East." 
 
 - Introduction, p. ix. 
 3 II. i, 2, 3.
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 17 
 
 methods of purification to be adopted by those who 
 assist at the burning of a dead body. 
 
 The book of Manu l strictly commands that the 
 cremation of corpses shall take place without the gates 
 of cities, in places specially provided for the purpose. 
 All four castes have the privilege of cremation, but a 
 Brahma (member of the highest or priestly caste) must 
 be carried out by the eastern gate. 
 
 Book of Manu, v. 91 : " A student does not break his 
 vow by carrying out (to the place of cremation) his 
 own dead teacher (dkdrya), sub-teacher (upddliydya)? 
 father, mother, or Guru." 
 
 " 92. Let him carry out a dead Sudra (slave and ab- 
 original caste) by the southern gate of the town, but 
 (the corpses of) twice-born men, as is proper, by the 
 western, northern, or eastern (gates). 
 
 I.e., a Vaisya (husbandman) by the western gate, 
 a Kshatriya (warrior caste) by the northern, and a Brah- 
 mana (priestly) by the eastern." 
 
 Virtuous wives were also allowed the honour of crema- 
 tion. 
 
 Book of Manu, v. 167 : "A twice-born man, versed in 
 the sacred law, shall burn a wife of equal caste, who 
 conducts herself thus, and dies before him with (the 
 sacred fires used for) the Agnihotra, and with the 
 sacrificial implements. 
 
 " 1 68. Having thus at the funeral given the sacred 
 fire to his wife who dies before him, he may marry 
 again, and again kindle (the fires)." 
 
 Only to very young children such as had not cut 
 
 1 Vol. xxv. of " Sacred Books of the East," edited by Max 
 Miiller.
 
 18 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 their teeth or were not old enough to have been in- 
 itiated into the State religion was the honour of cre- 
 mation denied. 1 
 
 Laws of Manu, v. 68 : "A child that has died before 
 the completion of its second year, the relatives shall 
 carry out (of the village) decked (with flowers and bury 
 it) in pure ground, without collecting the bones after- 
 wards. 
 
 " 69. Such (a child) shall not be burnt with fire and 
 no libations of water shall be offered it ; leaving it like 
 a (log of) wood in the forest, (the relatives) shall 
 remain impure during three days only." 
 
 In regard to Suttee (or Sati) i.e., the immolation of a 
 woman on the funeral pyre of her husband the early 
 teachings of the Sages are by no means clear. 2 " That 
 woman," says Angiras, 3 " who on the death of her hus- 
 band ascends the same burning pile with him, is exalted 
 to heaven as equal in virtue to Arundhati, and expiates 
 the sins of three generations on both sides of her hus- 
 band's family." The sum of the doctrines of Angiras 
 is, that " no other effectual duty is known for virtuous 
 women, at any time after the death of their lords, 
 except casting themselves into the same fire. Vyasa, 
 the reputed author of the Puranas, adopted the same 
 doctrine, and declared that with the widow it rested to 
 redeem by self-sacrifice her husband from torment, 
 and that her reward would be to share his felicity " as 
 long as fourteen Indras reign." The Laws of Manu, 
 
 1 "Asiatic Researches," vol. vii. p. 242. 
 
 - " Lectures on Hindu Law," Herbert Cowell, Barrister-at-Law 
 and Tagore Law Professor. See also Colebrooke's " Digest," Book IV. 
 chap. iii. 
 
 3 Laws of Manu, i. 34 and 35.
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 19 
 
 however, nowhere insist upon the practice. Vrihaspati, 
 who considered a wife to be half the body of her husband, 
 declared that, whether she ascended the funeral pile 
 after him or survived for his benefit, she was a faithful 
 wife and violated no duty by refusing to burn. He 
 endeavoured also to set limits to the practice by for- 
 bidding the mother of an infant child, or one about to 
 give birth to a child, to ascend the funeral pile. The 
 practice of Sati is based upon the principle of the entire 
 subjection of the wife, which runs through all Hindu 
 law. custom, and feeling. It was probably due, in the 
 first instance, to the horror of re-marriage, which dates 
 from the time of the code of Manu. 1 
 
 In a The Law relating to the Hindu Widows " 2 we 
 are informed that the obligation to burn was enjoined 
 upon every female except mothers of infant children, 
 pregnant women, young girls, and women who are ac- 
 tually unclean after childbirth or from other cause 
 (Vrihat Naradiya Puran, quoted in the Digest, Bk. IV. 
 chap. iii. sec. i. v. cxxvii.) This exception was ad- 
 mitted in consideration of other lives being at stake, or 
 on account of the extreme youth of the person who was 
 to suffer, for, among the commentators, Ilaghunandana, 
 in particular, observes: "That if 'the infant can be 
 nurtured by any other person, then the mother is en- 
 titled to follow her deceased husband.'' It was further 
 held that all the wives of a man are entitled to die with 
 or after him, and the cremation of the husband may be 
 postponed by one day a serious departure from the 
 
 1 " Lectures on Hindu Law," by Herbert Cowell. 
 
 2 By Trailokyanath-Mitra, M.A., D.L., Law Lecturer of Presidency 
 College, and Tagore Law Professor.
 
 20 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 strict injunction on the subject to allow the absent wife 
 to come and die with her husband ; and facilities were 
 so far afforded for the purpose, that if, on account of 
 any uncleanness, a woman is prevented from dying 
 with her husband, she will be entitled to all the benefit 
 of Sahamarana (literally '///''/<// n'ith /"/' ftttt&nuQ, if she 
 followed her husband within one month after the im- 
 purity had ceased. The antiquity of this custom is 
 beyond question. Professor Wilson says : " That it is of 
 long standing, is not to be disputed, and the pundits of 
 India maintain that it was observed in Vedic times and 
 has a direct Vedic origin." Mr. Colebrooke, in his Essay 1 
 upon the " Duties of a Sdti, or Faithful Widow," was of 
 opinion that the custom was enjoined by a text of the 
 Rig- Veda, of which he gave the following translation : 
 Let these women, not to be widowed, good wives 
 adorned with collyrium, holding clarified butter, con- 
 sign themselves to the fire. Immortal, not childless 
 nor husbandless, excellent ; let them pass into the 
 fire whose original element is water." In 1854, in his 
 paper on " The supposed Vaidic authority for the 
 Burning of Hindu Widows," which was printed in 
 vol. xvi. of the " Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society," 
 Professor Wilson maintained ' : that the text of the Rig- 
 Veda, cited as authority for the burning of widows, 
 enjoins the very contrary, and directs them to remain 
 in the world. Professor Wilson has given a literal 
 translation of the whole sukta or hymn, in which this 
 passage occurs. The verse, of which we have already 
 cited Mr. Colebrooke's translation, is thus rendered by 
 Professor Wilson : 
 
 1 "Asiatic Researches," vol. iv. p. 213.
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 21 
 
 " May these women who are not widows, who have 
 good husbands, who are mothers, enter with unguents 
 and clarified butter, without tears, without sorrow ; let 
 them first go up into the dwelling." 
 
 " The question," says Trailokyanath-Mitra, 1 " ulti- 
 mately settles itself into one of disputed reading ; and 
 is one of considerable difficulty. Whether the passage 
 contains any injunctions for the widow to burn may 
 be doubtful, but it is almost certain that the practice 
 was known in Yedic times, for, if Professor Wilson 
 be right in asserting that the Rig- Veda text contains 
 a prohibition against the practice, it is clear that the 
 custom must have been known or observed at the 
 Yedic era." 
 
 The subject of Sahamarana is discussed by Rag- 
 hunandana in his " Sudditattwa." It forms the first 
 chapter of that treatise ; all the provisions of the law 
 bearing upon this topic are collected there. The chapter 
 opens with a discussion as to whether Sahamarana is 
 lawful. For this purpose, the author first quotes the 
 text of Angira, already quoted, and then cites the 
 following passages from the Mahabharata : 
 
 " Those who have slighted their former lords through 
 an evil disposition, or have remained at all times averse 
 from their husbands, if they follow their lords at the 
 proper times in such a mode, are all purified from lust, 
 wrath, fear and avarice." 
 
 He also quotes a well-known passage from the 
 Braharna Parana : 
 
 " If her lord die in another country, let the faithful 
 
 1 " The Law relating to the Hindu Widow."
 
 22 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 wife place his sandals on her breast, and, pure, enter the 
 lire." 
 
 On these authorities, Raghunandana comes to the con- 
 clusion " that the wives of Brahmins and others desirous 
 of enjoying the rewards of their own acts, and of their 
 husbands' acts, are entitled to sahamarana and 
 litririnix, except women who are pregnant and those 
 who have infant children/' The eighth verse of the Rig- 
 Yeda is a great bone of contention with the supporters 
 and antagonists of the theory that Sfiti is enjoined in the 
 Rig- Veda. Some assert it to have been recited to test the 
 resolution of the widow, while others take it to be a strict 
 injunction that widows are not to burn. It runs thus : 
 
 " Rise up, woman, come to the world of living beings ; 
 thou sleepest nigh unto the lifeless. Come : thou hast 
 been associated with maternity, through the husband 
 by whom thy hand was formerly taken." 
 
 The view that this verse was pronounced as a test of 
 the endurance of the woman already mounted on the 
 funeral pile, is taken by Radhakant Deb of Calcutta in 
 his " Rejoinder to Professor Wilson.'' He says : " The 
 necessity of giving option appears the more strong when 
 we find it declared that the Sdti who retires from the 
 funeral pile after the conclusion of the rites commits 
 a highly sinful act." 
 
 Another Hindu authority, Raga, 1 is of opinion that 
 explicit authority for the burning of widows is found 
 in two verses of the " Aukhya Sakha " of the " Tailtiriya 
 " Sanhita " quoted in the eighty-fourth anuvaka of the 
 Narayaniya Upanishad : 
 
 1 Letter in vol. xvii. of the "Journal of the Royal Asiatic 
 Society."
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 23 
 
 (1) <: 0h, Agni, of all vratas thou art the Vratapati, 
 
 I will observe the vow (vrata) of following the 
 husband. Do thou enable me to accomplish 
 it/' 
 
 (2) " Here (in this rite) to thee, oh Agni, I offer salu- 
 
 tation to join the heavenly mansion. I enter 
 into thee ; (wherefore) oh Jatavedah (source of 
 the Vedas), this day, satisfied with the clarified 
 butter (offered by me), inspire me with the 
 courage (for sahagamana) and take me to my 
 lord." 
 
 Thus we see that for long ages Sati has been enjoined 
 by Vedic law as something more than a wifely duty. 
 It is esteemed a privilege for a virtuous woman to share 
 with her husband the third birth, and to gain with him, 
 through a veritable Baptism of Fire, freedom from all 
 earthly limitations and perfect purification of body 
 and spirit. 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 In " Sepulture, its History and Methods, &c.," Mr, 
 Stephen Wickes avers that the more ancient custom of 
 the Greeks Avas burial. "It is supposed," he writes, 
 " that their subsequent usage of burning was intro- 
 duced at the siege of Troy, 1 when the great slaughter 
 and the example of the Phrygians determined them to 
 consume the bodies of the slain as the readiest mode of 
 disposing of them." ' 2 It must be remembered, however, 
 that there were no records before Homer : the custom of 
 cremation might have been, and probably was, common 
 
 1 Pope's "Homer's Iliad," Books VII. XXII. and XXIV. 
 
 2 Comp. P. Muret's " Rites of Funeral."
 
 24 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 in Greece prior to the great siege. After Homer the 
 manners of the Greeks -softened ; they ceased to offer 
 human victims, but the rite of cremation survived. 
 Both burial and burning were practised, but the latter 
 was considered the more worthy. In time, when the 
 custom came to be attended with overmuch luxury and 
 pomp, the Spartans dropped it, as not simple enough ; 
 and the Laws of Lycurgus permitted burial within the 
 walls of towns. 1 In the Grasco-ltoman world, children 
 who had not yet got their teeth were excluded from 
 cremation. These prohibitions, whether Greek, Roman, 
 or Hindu, have their origin in the religious sentiments 
 of the Aryan peoples, and they anticipate our later 
 Christian law enjoining the burial of unbaptised infants 
 in unconsecrated ground. 
 
 ROME. 
 
 In regard to the Romans, Pierre Muret writes : 
 " Their history acquaints us (Herodot. Dion. Herod.) 
 that the former Burials lasted from Romulus (who was 
 the founder of their city) to the tyrannous Dictatorship 
 of Sylla (Liv. 1. 12), who, having caused the Bones of 
 his Enemy Marius to be digged out of his grave, and 
 fearing that the like affront might be done to him after 
 his Death, he, by an express Law made for that pur- 
 pose, and many pompous Ceremonies, engaged their 
 People to burn their Dead to Ashes, which were after- 
 wards gathered and shut up in Urnes.- This law was 
 observed until the Empire of the Antonins, who, being 
 
 1 " Rites of Funeral," chap. ii. p. 18. 
 - Related by Pliny.
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 25 
 
 Philosophers and Virtuous Princes, could not endure 
 that this kind of cruelty should be any longer exercised 
 upon Humane Bodies, and therefore did abolish the use 
 of Wood piles, and restor'd the former way of Burying." 
 
 Whatever may have been the precise cause of the 
 introduction of cremation into Rome, it undeniably 
 became the general custom, and gave rise to a con- 
 siderable amount of legislation. 
 
 Among the Romans, every citizen of the Empire was 
 entitled to be buried iu a sepulchre i.e., the fact of his 
 burial consecrated his place of interment, and made it a 
 grave in perpetuity for his remains. In this sepulchre 
 it was absolutely necessary that a portion of the body 
 of the man to whom it was dedicated should repose. 
 No man, however, was permitted to have more than 
 one sepulchre ; so if various parts of a body happened to 
 be interred in different places, only one of those places 
 could be reserved as a perpetual tomb. In the case of 
 a life lost at sea, a cenotaph erected to the memory of 
 the deceased might be regarded as a sepulchre. 1 
 
 When the practice of burning the dead became 
 general through the influence of religious principles, a 
 bone or limb of a deceased person, styled the os exccptum, 
 or os receptum, was put aside before cremation, and 
 subsequently entombed with the ashes. 2 
 
 The worship of the dead, which formed an integral 
 part of the religious system of the Romans, demanded 
 at last that the act of cremation should be accompanied 
 by such elaborate ritual and extravagant social cere- 
 
 1 " Du Jiw Hepulchri A, Rome," by Auguste Benoit. Nancy. 
 8 " Le Droit Funeraire i Borne," by H. Daniel- Lacombe, Docteur 
 en Droit. Paris.
 
 26 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 monial that the rulers of the Empire felt called upon 
 to curtail the many religious and family rites that had 
 grown up around the practice. The " trappings of 
 woe " necessitated by the unwritten rules of Roman 
 society were of so sumptuous a character that it was no 
 uncommon occurrence for wealthy families to become 
 pauperised by the death of a single relative. 1 And the 
 libations, wherewith the mourners, gathered round the 
 funeral pyre, toasted the departed spirit on its way to 
 the realms of the blest, were so limitless in quantity 
 that funeral ceremonies sometimes degenerated into 
 drunken orgies. Numa made some efforts to suppress 
 the luxury and display that had become inseparably 
 connected with the attendant rites of cremation. 
 He directed that his own body should be buried. 2 
 But his example not having the effect of setting a 
 fashion, more rigorous measures were enforced by the 
 twelve Tables of Justinian. The laws embodied in these 
 Tables had the object of establishing customs at once 
 sanitary and economical : 
 
 TABLE X. Fragment i. " A dead man shall not be 
 buried or cremated within the City." 
 
 Fragment 2. " More than this shall not be done, the 
 wood of a funeral pyre shall not be smoothed with an 
 adze." This enactment was designed to prevent the 
 wasteful expense of providing ornamental and polished 
 woods for the construction of the funeral pyre. 
 
 Fragment 5. " The bones of a dead man shall not be 
 gathered for subsequent funeral rites (except of persons 
 killed in battle).'' This rule was added in order that 
 criminals, heretics, and all offenders against national 
 
 1 "La Cremation et ses Bienfaits." . * Ibid.
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 27 
 
 morals and national creeds, should not, after they had 
 been slain by wild beasts or gladiators in the arena, 
 be honoured and apotheosised by the solemn act of 
 cremation. 
 
 Fragment 10. " A funeral pyre or new sepulchre 
 shall not be erected within sixty feet of another man's 
 house." 
 
 The twelve Tables further forbade the sprinkling 
 of the funeral pyre with myrrh, perfume, wine, or gar- 
 lands, and prohibited the erection of altars for burning 
 perfumes. 1 
 
 The municipal arrangements at Rome for the pro- 
 vision of cremation for the multitude were based on a 
 system in which order, decency, and economy were duly 
 observed. There was a public usturina a vast enclosure 
 paved with fire-proof stone and containing wood-sheds 
 and shops for the sale of urns. Any one might bring 
 their dead to this place ; a separate pyre was raised for 
 each corpse, and the charge was moderate. A colom- 
 barium was also provided, in which niches for the 
 disposal of urns were sold at a low price. 2 Paupers and 
 criminals were usually thrown into wells or pits out- 
 side the city walls, but there were also common pyres. 
 Macrobius and Plutarch say that as many as eleven 
 corpses were burnt at a time, and, according to these 
 chroniclers, the corpse of one woman was sometimes 
 joined to those of ten men, in order to quicken com- 
 bustion, on account of the " inflammable nature of the 
 woman." 
 
 The burning, consecration, and deifying of the 
 Emperors at length brought the practice of cremation 
 
 1 De Leg. 22-24. - " La Cremation et ses Bienfaits."
 
 28 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 into disrepute. 1 The adoration of these infamous men 
 attainted the pure worship of Manes (ancestors turned 
 gods), and purification by fire, together with the im- 
 mortality of the spirit of man, became to be less and less 
 believed in. 2 
 
 AMERICA. 
 
 Under a variety of forms the practice of burning 
 the dead still survives among many of the tribes of 
 American Indians, both in the Northern and Southern 
 Continents. 3 There appears also to be little doubt 
 that cremation was practised by the ancient Mexicans, 
 though it was not, as has been supposed, the only 
 mode of disposing of the dead adopted by the Aztecs. 
 Mr. A. F. Bandelier, in his " Report of an Archseo- 
 logical Tour in Mexico," states that " bones of Ancient 
 Aztecs have been exhumed in various parts, and 
 also urns containing ashes and charred human 
 remains." 
 
 As the result of his inquiries into the mortuary 
 customs of the ancient dwellers in Mexico, Mr. A. F. 
 Bandelier writes : " Urn-burial I consider as established, 
 but cremation, though not improbable, is not yet abso- 
 lutely proved to have existed. Should, therefore, 
 cremation not be proved, or should it be established 
 that its practice was coeval with one or the other of the 
 
 1 See Pierre Muret's " Rites of Funeral," chap. iii. p. 34. 
 
 - " La Cremation et ses Bienfaits," by A. Bonneau. 
 
 3 "Sepulture, its History, Methods, and Sanitary Requisites, 1 ' by 
 Stephen Wickes, A. II., M.D., published by 1'. Blakiston, Son 
 and Co., Philadelphia ; " Introduction to the Study of Mortuary 
 Customs among the North American Indians," by Dr. H. C. Yarrow, 
 published at the Government Printing Office, Washington.
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 29 
 
 customs mentioned, there should be at least three 
 different aboriginal modes of disposal of the dead." 
 In opposition to this view, we have the accounts of 
 M. Pierre Muret and Mr. H. H. Bancroft. The latter, 
 in his " History of the Mexican People," tells us, "that 
 the temple to the God of War, erected by the Aztecs 
 on the site of the present city of Mexico, was built in 
 two stories, the upper story being used as a receptacle 
 for the ashes of deceased monarchs and nobles. This 
 statement is borne out by Pierre Muret, who, in his 
 "Rites of Funeral, Ancient and Modern" (p. 106), 
 refers the reader for a description of the ceremonial 
 burning of the Kings of Mexico and Mechuacan to the 
 " History of America," by Barth. de las Casas, and more- 
 over, describes at length some of the modes of burning 
 practised in the ancient civilisations of South America. 
 " Most commonly," he writes, "they buried the Dead; 
 and some of them plac'd them sitting upright in their 
 Graves. . . . Others, after having let the Body lye in the 
 ground for the space of a whole Year, at the end thereof 
 took it up out of the Grave, and paid a Duty or Service 
 to it, which was so much the more ridiculous because 
 it was made up of weeping and laughter. And not to 
 speak of other barbarous ceremonies which attended it, 
 they first began these Obsequies with Songs that con- 
 tained a relation of the whole life of the Dead, which 
 were oft interrupted with the doleful noise of wailing 
 and lamentations, after which they sate down to eat 
 the Provisions they had brought along with them ; and 
 having thus feasted themselves, they rose and danc'd a 
 kind of Jig round the Corps, which they concluded 
 with huge cries, roaring out as loud as ever they could,
 
 80 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 stamping their Feet against the ground, and lifting 
 their eyes toward Heaven. At last they burnt the 
 Bones of the deceased, and gave his Head to his Widow 
 or nearest Relation, that they might keep the same as a 
 Relick " (chap. vii. pp. 100-1). And further he writes : 
 " Those among them that consider 'd their Physicians as 
 petty Gods, because of their procuring and preserving 
 of health (which of all temporal blessings is the greatest). 
 that they might show them a proportionable honour at 
 their Death, did not Bury them as others, but burnt 
 them publicly with solemn rejoycings ; Men and Women 
 confusedly singing and dancing together round about the 
 Fire ; and when the Bones were burnt to Ashes every 
 one endeavoured to get some part of them to carry to 
 his own House, which they afterwards drank in wine, 
 as an Antidote against all manner of diseases. Now, 
 though these ashes did. by the Law of the Countiy, 
 belong to the Relict or other nearest Relations of the 
 Deceased, to the end they might by drinking the same 
 preserve his skill and knowledge in their Family, yet 
 they, for the most part, had much ado to save them 
 from the Rabble, especially if the Physician had been 
 a Person of great repute for curing of diseases : For as 
 every one does naturally love his health, they believing 
 that this was an infallible Remedy to preserve it, we 
 need not admire that they used their utmost endeavour 
 to procure some of these Relicks which they often 
 snatched by force out of the hands of his Kindred and 
 Relations. Neither was this Custom of drinking the 
 Ashes of their dead Physicians so peculiar to the 
 Inhabitants of Panuco, for I find that a like Ceremony 
 was commonly us'd in the Countrcy of Vencssuda at the
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 31 
 
 death of all manner of persons." (Sep. Hist. Ind. ; 
 Acost. Hist. Amer.) 1 
 
 ISRAEL. 
 
 It is a moot point whether the " very great burning " 
 mentioned in II. Chron. xvi. 14 was an actual cremation 
 of the remains of Asa, or merely the burning of spices 
 by the tomb in which his embalmed body was laid. 
 The special pleaders for cremation profess to find 
 sufficient evidence in the Bible to confirm them in their 
 belief that, at least before the period of the Captivity, 
 partial cremation i.e., the destruction of the flesh and 
 the preservation of the bones alone for burial was the 
 original mode of entombment with the Israelites. In 
 I. Samuel xxxi. 10, n, 12, 13, and II. Samuel xxi. 12, 
 we find the ceremony of burning the body spoken of 
 as a rite in honour of kings. But the practice must 
 have been of short duration, and limited to a few. 2 The 
 burning of the body of Saul may have been occasioned 
 by the special circumstances of its mutilation. In 
 Amos we read of cremation being strictly applied to 
 those who died from plague. II. Chronicles xxi. 19, 
 and Amos ii. I, vii., IO, bear out the theory of partial 
 cremation, which is also supported by a law of the 
 Talmud : " The relations of the guilty condemned to 
 death cannot entomb their bones in the family sepul- 
 chres until their flesh is consumed." 3 There is little 
 
 1 " Rites of Funeral, &c.," by Pierre Muret, p. 104. 
 
 - See " La Cremation etsesBienfaits," by A. Bonneau, and "Sepul- 
 ture, its History, Methods, &c.," by Stephen Wickes, A.M., M.D., 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 3 In the Talmud is recorded a Jewish tradition, that Titus willed 
 that after his death his body should undergo cremation, and his
 
 32 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 doubt that during the period of their captivity in 
 Babylon the Jews were influenced by Mazdeism, for 
 there is no evidence to show that any form of cre- 
 mation was practised by them after their return from 
 captivity. 
 
 ISLAM. 
 
 Among the Mahommedaus, burial has been the 
 invariable rule. Mahomet formed his religion of the 
 scattered fragments of Mazdeism, Judaism, and Chris- 
 tianity ; it therefore discouraged burning and pro- 
 moted interment. Islamism in fact did for a large 
 part of Asia what Christianity subsequently did for 
 Europe. 1 
 
 CHRISTENDOM. 
 
 No mode of entombment was prescribed by the 
 Founder of the Christian Church, and among His early 
 disciples were those who indignantly scouted the pro- 
 position that the destruction of man's physical body 
 could become a bar to his resurrection from the dead. 2 
 Tertullian makes use of the following argument : " That 
 which you take to be the death of the flesh is only its 
 retreat. The soul is not alone in retiring ; the flesh 
 has also its places of retreat in water, in fires, in birds, 
 and in beasts (which consume the body). The flesh 
 
 ashes should be scattered over the surface of the seven seas, that 
 the God of the Jews might not find him and bring him to judg- 
 ment." Gittin, fol. 56, B, from the " Treasures of the Talmud," 
 by P. J. Hershon. 
 
 1 "La Cremation et ses Bienfaits," by A, Bonneau. - Ibid.
 
 ANCIENT LAW. 32 
 
 disappears, but is not lost." 1 The first adherents of 
 Christianity, not only in Judea, but in Rome, Alexan- 
 dria, Antioch and Greece, were Jews that is to say, 
 Jews influenced by Mazdeism and inimical to cremation. 
 But under the Empire of Liberty, which Christianity 
 proclaimed, the i'aithf ul followed the mortuary customs 
 of the countries in which they dwelt. 
 
 In Egypt, Christians were embalmed. S. Anthony 
 protested against a usage that prevented the observance 
 of the prescription in Genesis iii., and the Christians 
 protested against the acts of violenca with which he 
 threatened them ; the clergy were divided on the point, 
 and the bishops met to decide upon the question. The 
 result of their conference was a declaration that burial 
 was the best form of sepulture, but in order to conciliate 
 both parties they recommended Christians to bury their 
 dead after having embalmed them. It is probable that 
 the Church proceeded in analogous manner in those 
 countries where cremation was in vogue, advising but 
 not enjoining burial. In the cemeteries of early Chris- 
 tians in Rome, as also in the catacombs, urns have been 
 found enclosing ashes and portions of burned bones. 
 Under the Roman Empire, Christians were cremated in 
 other places besides the capital. Over twenty years 
 since, the late Dr. Schnepp, the Medical Officer of 
 Health for the French Government in Egypt, whilst 
 exploring an ancient subterranean cemetery situated 
 not far from Alexandria, penetrated into a gallery, upon 
 one of the walls of which he found a rectangular Greek 
 cross. He was in the portion of that ancient necropolis 
 reserved for the Christians. In this place Dr. Schnepp 
 
 1 " La Cremation et ses Bienfaits."
 
 34 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 found a great number of skeletons, but discovered also 
 three urns, one of which contained ashes and small 
 fragments of human bones. Thus, even in Egypt 
 there were Christians who caused themselves to be 
 burnt, and these must have been wealthy persons, for 
 wood is very scarce and very dear in the land of the 
 Pharaohs. 1 It is, however, not to be doubted that the 
 general Christian sentiment ever favoured the idea of 
 burial. In A.D. 312 Constantino ascended the throne, 
 and at the close of the following century cremation 
 was no longer practised in Italy and Greece, though it 
 was some time before it was abandoned in Gaul. As 
 late as the middle of the eighth century cremation was 
 still practised in parts of the kingdom of the Franks, for 
 Pepin-le-Bref, in the name of Chilperic III., published 
 an edict forbidding all persons, under .pain of death, to 
 burn the corpses of deceased friends. 
 
 Thus we see that it was the influence of religion that 
 prevailed upon the authorities of the nations of Europe 
 to stamp out the practice of burning the dead. But 
 fai back in prehistoric ages it had been the religious 
 influences of the times that had made cremation an all 
 but universal custom in those communities that first 
 attained to civilisation and to the apprehension of the 
 spiritual essence of true religion. 
 
 1 "La Cremation et ses Bienfaits.''
 
 PART II. 
 MODERN LAW (FOREIGN). 
 
 A SURVEY of the various struggles in which the present- 
 day advocates of cremation have already taken part, and 
 in which many of them are still engaged, affords clear 
 evidence that religious scruples are not the only 
 obstacles in the way of the universal re-adoption of 
 the practice of disposing of the dead by burning. In 
 all countries legal difficulties have had to be faced. It 
 is with the nature of these difficulties, as well as 
 with the different methods by which they have been 
 more or less successfully overcome, that this Part is 
 designed to deal. 
 
 The desirability of the re-introduction of cremation 
 into civilised society was first publicly discussed in 
 1797, France being the scene of the discussion. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 In year V. of the French Republic (1797), Legrand 
 d'Aussy, a Jesuit father and a member of the Institute 
 of France, loudly proclaimed the necessity of substi- 
 tuting cremation for burial. Upon his proposal, the 
 Ardopaye voted a prize of 150x3 francs for the scientific
 
 36 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 study of the question. 1 The propositions made by those 
 who competed for this prize all proved abortive. Yet, 
 owing to the fact that the question of incineration was 
 at that time first mooted, the people of France are to 
 be looked upon as the pioneers of modern cremation. 
 
 In the same year, the Council of the Five Hundred 2 
 appointed a commission to draw up and present to the 
 Legislature, a plan for the re-organisation of the pre- 
 vailing methods of disposing of the dead. The Bill 
 formulated by the commissioners was read to the 
 Council by Daubermesnil, who had charge of it, on the 
 2 ist Brumaire, year V. (November n, 1797). The 5th 
 article ran thus : 
 
 u Every individual shall be permitted to burn or bury, 
 in whatever place he shall deem fit, the bodies of 
 relatives dear to him, provided that he conforms to the 
 police regulations and to the laws relating to the public 
 health." 3 
 
 The 6th article of the same bill forbade cremation or 
 burial within boundaries of towns or other centres of 
 population ; and the 7th article provided that the 
 Ilepublic alone should confer the honour of public 
 mausoleums on those whose services it ought to recog- 
 nise, and further stipulated that the citizen who gave 
 private burial should be obliged, in due season, to plant 
 a tree, suitable to the climate, on the tomb. These 
 
 1 "Modern Cremation," by Dr. de Pietra Santa, p. 10. 
 
 - The Conseil des Cinq-Cents, with the Conseil des Anciens, 
 formed, according to the Constitution of year III. (1795), the 
 legislative body of the day. See "Modern Cremation," by Dr. 
 de Pietra Santa, p. 10. 
 
 3 " La Cremation et ses Bienfaits," by A. Bonneau,p. 270 ; " Ency- 
 clopedic d'Hygiene," 1891, vol. iv.
 
 MODERN LAW. 37 
 
 proposals provoked the most violent attacks. The 5th 
 and 6th articles might have passed, for even the oppo- 
 nents of cremation approved the liberty of action they 
 permitted ; but the peremptory terms of the /th article 
 furnished enough good and bad arguments to cause the 
 committee's suggestions to be rejected. 
 
 In 1799, Jacques Cambray, the Administrator of the 
 Department of Paris, 1 brought the subject before the 
 administration of the Department of the Seine. Though 
 rather extravagant, Cambray's arguments were based 
 upon hygienic and economic grounds, and therefore 
 proved convincing to those to whom they were addressed. 
 Upon his representations the authorities of the Seine 
 Department issued an order containing the announce- 
 ment that a crematorium and some columbaria would 
 shortly be erected in a cemetery at Montmartre. 
 Among the provisions of the order are the following : 
 
 u Considering that in ancient times the greater 
 number of nations were accustomed to burn their dead, 
 and. that this usage was only abolished, or rather fell 
 into disuse, through the influence exercised by religious 
 opinions, it is, according to all advises, advantageous to 
 re-establish the practice, but the power of conforming 
 to this custom shall not do away with the privilege of 
 committing bodies to the earth, as is and has been 
 practised by other peoples. . . ." 
 
 This announcement stirred the Government to take 
 some further steps in the matter. 2 
 
 In year VIII. of the Republic (A.D. 1800) the Minister 
 
 1 And author of " Rapport sur les Sepultures." 
 
 2 " Encyclopedic d'Hygiene, 1891," vol. iv. p. 61 ; " La Cremation 
 ct sea Bienfaits/' by A. Bonneau.
 
 38 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 of the Interior (Home Secretary) requested the members 
 of the Institute of France to form a committee to 
 put forward the question : " What should be consi- 
 dered the necessary funeral ceremonies (of cremation), 
 and what regulations should be adopted regarding the 
 place of sepulture?" To this question forty answers 
 wore received, but none of them solved it. The greater 
 number condemned cremation on the grounds of the 
 difficulty of carrying it out and the expense of the 
 combustibles. Nobody, however, suggested that the 
 authorities were justified in opposing the practice, and 
 despite the adverse decisions of the Council of the Five 
 Hundred and the many difficulties raised on all hands, 
 Comte Frochot, Prefect of the Police, granted permission 
 to Citoyenne Dupre-Geneste to burn the body of her 
 son, aged eight ; and further authorised cremation 
 generally, in the following precisely worded order: 
 "The last office performed for human remains is a 
 religious act, the mode of which the authorities cannot 
 prescribe without violating the principle of liberty of 
 opinion." 1 
 
 Notwithstanding the explicit terms of Frochot's order, 
 the governmental cataclysms and political changes, that 
 succeeded each other in quick succession, further de- 
 layed the establishment of the principle of individual 
 liberty of choice in regard to modes of sepulture. 
 During the Consulate, the method of burial was exactly 
 defined by the decree of the 23rd Prairial, year XII. 
 (June 1 2th, 1804). This decree, issued after Napoleon 
 had concluded a treaty with Pope Pius VII., dealt only 
 
 1 "Modern Cremation," p. 10; "Encyclopedic d'Hygiene," 1891, 
 vol. iv. p. 61.
 
 MODERN LAW. 39 
 
 with modes of burial. No reference was made in it 
 to cremation, but it specified the classes of persons to 
 whom Christian burial might be refused or accorded, 
 provided for the laying out of cemeteries outside the 
 walls of towns, and prohibited burial within the walls of 
 churches or in places of public resort. These enactments 
 continued in force until 1887. For a period of fifty 
 years the question of cremation remained in abeyance. 
 In 1856 some slight stir was created by the appearance 
 in the Presse of an article by A. Bonneau, advocating 
 the incineration of human remains. A few other emi- 
 nent writers, among whom was Georges Sand, also 
 sought to revive the question, but no practical results 
 were arrived at. It was not until 1 870-7 1, 1 when the 
 Franco-Prussian war afforded to the French the sad 
 spectacle of hasty and superficial burial on the field of 
 battle of thousands of decomposing corpses, that 
 certain scientific men endeavoured to persuade the 
 Government to lose no time in applying a process of 
 cremation to the bodies of soldiers killed in war. After 
 the battles of Worth and Sedan, the French Govern- 
 ment, acting in concert with that of Belgium, was con- 
 strained to incinerate a great number of the corpses of the 
 soldiers by a chemical process. And this method was 
 resorted to in spite of the fact that three years before, 
 at the " International Congress of Aid to the Wounded," 
 held at Paris, the French had rejected the proposals of 
 some Italians who had proclaimed the advisability of 
 practising cremation on fields of battle. It was at this 
 date that public interest in cremation again revived in 
 
 1 "La Cremation, sa raison d'etre, &c.," p. 8; and "Modem 
 Cremation," by Dr. de Pietra Santa, p. 10.
 
 40 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 France. Brochures, conferences, the records of learned 
 societies and of the two Academies, correspondence with 
 the Municipal Council of Paris, and articles in reviews 
 and daily papers, promoted an enthusiasm for burial 
 reform. Successive Ministers were memoralised in 
 favour of cremation, but to all representations invari- 
 ably replied that they could not countenance the prac- 
 tice until they saw it more popular in other countries, 
 and they maintained further that the medico-legal 
 difficulty was an insuperable one. The upholders of 
 cremation were divided into two parties. One of these 
 subsequently formed the nucleus of the Socidtt Franqaise 
 de Cremation, which desired the extinction of all senti- 
 mental care for the dead, and demanded that not only 
 cremation, but also civil funerals, should be made 
 obligatory. The other party included a number of 
 scientific men, who, while earnestly desiring the revival 
 of the practice on sanitaiy grounds, admitted tlu* 
 principle enunciated by Comte Frochot, that the disposal 
 of the dead should be regarded as a religious act, and 
 the mode of it be determined by individual choice. 
 In 1874 Monsieur Herold had occasion to present to the 
 Municipal Council of Paris his report on the proposal 
 to make a cemetery at Mery-sur-Oise. In this report 
 the following sentence is noticeable : " It is not without 
 regret that some members of the Commission have been 
 obliged to relinquish their intention of suggesting an 
 examination of the system of cremation. In their 
 opinion, cremation would not only have the incontestable 
 advantage of simplifying the solution of the material 
 question from the double point of view of salubrity and 
 space, but, far from lessening the respect for the dead,
 
 MODERN LAW. 41 
 
 it would enable due reverence to be more easily paid, and 
 consequently make it more general. The objection that 
 cremation might sometimes permit the traces of crime 
 to be more rapidly effaced is serious, but it is of no great 
 moment, since the reply to it is, that all deceased persons 
 are submitted to a strict examination, which might be 
 made still more rigorous, and that in suspected cases a 
 permit of cremation should always be refused." 1 The 
 discussion on this report resulted in the formation of a 
 Conference to consider the best process of incineration or 
 any other method of the disposal of the dead conducive 
 of similar results. At the termination of this conference 
 an administrative Commission, composed of municipal 
 councillors and sanitarians was nominated by the Decree 
 of February 15, 1875. This Commission declared the 
 following conditions necessary to the introduction of 
 permissive cremation : 
 
 Article I. The process of incineration or of chemical 
 decomposition ought to insure the transforma- 
 tion of all organic matter without producing any 
 odour, smoke, or deleterious gases. 
 Article IL Identity, together with complete and 
 unmixed preservation of all indestructible matter, 
 should be guaranteed. 
 Article III. The means chosen should be expeditious 
 
 and economical. 
 
 Article IV. No obstacle should be placed in the 
 way of the celebration of the religious ceremonies 
 of any sect or denomination. 
 
 Before submitting this programme to the Municipal 
 Council, the Administi-ative Commission consulted the 
 
 1 " La Cremation, sa raison d'etre, &c. ," p. 10.
 
 42 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 Council of Hygiene, which body, in its sitting 011 
 February 25, 1876, came to the following conclu- 
 sions : 
 
 I. It is not only possible, but easy, to burn corpses 
 without producing odour, smoke, or deleterious 
 gases. 
 
 II. From the point of view of sanitation, incineration 
 
 may have advantages over burial ; above all. in 
 regard to the conditions under which the latter 
 is practised in the matter of pauper graves 
 (fosses communes). 
 
 III. Incineration presents serious difficulties in re- 
 
 gard to the investigations of justice (for the 
 tracking of crime). 
 
 This report was communicated by the Prelect of the 
 Police to the Municipal Council on March 4, 1 876, and 
 the matter subsequently dropped. 1 
 
 In the following year (1877), Monsieur Level called 
 for a Conference to inquire into the best method of 
 incineration, on the grounds that " cremation forces 
 itself upon us to-day as a necessity of hygiene and of 
 social economy." His demand drew forth the reports 
 of Monsieur Morin, which bear the dates respectively 
 of June 1879, June 1880, and July 1880. In the first 
 of these, Monsieur Morin proposed the erection of a 
 crematorium in Pere Lachaise. " When a measure is 
 salutary and required by the general interest," said he, 
 " an enlightened Administration should not hesitate to 
 adopt it." The second report, which was supported by 
 the majority of the members of the Municipal Council, 
 
 1 "Encyclopedic d'Hygtene," Paris, 1891, vol. iv. p. 68.
 
 MODERN LAW. 43 
 
 called upon the Prefect of the Seine " to summon the 
 Conference energetically demanded by Monsieur A. 
 Cadet." l About the time that this report was issued 
 the Prefect of the Seine received two despatches one 
 from the Minister of Justice, and the other from the 
 Minister of the Interior. The first-named of these two 
 Ministers drew attention to the Decree of Prairial, 
 year XII., concerning burial, and to the Articles 77 of 
 the Civil Code 2 and 358 of the Penal Code. 3 " These 
 legal objections appear to me," said he, "to prevent 
 the authorisation even of experiments." The view of 
 the Minister of the Interior was as decided as that 
 of his colleague. He thought that a fresh law for 
 the modification of the dispositions of existing laws 
 and the authorisation of cremation, even as a mere 
 matter of experiment, 4 indispensable. Monsieur Morin's 
 third report refuted the Ministerial "impedimenta," 
 and stated that " the Municipal Council of Paris adheres 
 to its former deliberations, and invites the Government 
 to bring forward a law authorising cremation." In the 
 end the Municipality gained its point. On March 2 1 , 
 1885, the Minister of the Interior declared himself not 
 opposed to the incineration of the debris of the dissecting- 
 room, provided that crematories should not be established 
 except as an experiment, and that the arrangements of 
 the crematories should be approved by the Consultative 
 Committee of Hygiene of France ; the Council of Hy- 
 giene of the Seine having previously expressed approval 
 
 1 Author of " Hygiene, Inhumation, Cremation ou Incineration 
 des Corps." 
 - "Les Codes Annote"s de Sirey," p. 45. 
 
 3 Ibid. p. 284. 
 
 4 " La Cremation, sa raison d'etre, &c.," p. 1 1.
 
 44 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 of the plan. 1 The Municipal Council had already gone 
 fully into the question of methods, so it was not long 
 before a small crematory for the destruction of human 
 remains, mutilated in the cause of science, was built. 
 In November 1883, Monsieur Casimir-Perrier laid upon 
 the table of the Chamber of Deputies a Bill to provide 
 for permissive cremation. This Bill was not proceeded 
 with; but on March 30, 1885, during the discussion 
 upon the law providing for liberty of choice in regard 
 to the conduct of funerals, Monsieur Blatin proposed 
 an amendment giving to all persons in position to 
 dispose of their worldly belongings by will, complete 
 option in regard to the burial or burning of their ovm, 
 bodies. The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate 
 adopted this amendment ; and on November 15, 1887, 
 a law containing the following provisions was promul- 
 gated : 2 
 
 Article 3. 3 Every person of full age, or emancipated 
 minor, of a condition to dispose of his worldly 
 belongings by will, may regulate the nature of 
 his obsequies, and in particular that which 
 concerns the civil or religious character to be 
 given them, and the mode of his entombment. 
 .... A regulation of the public administration 
 shall determine the conditions applicable to the 
 various methods of entombment. All contra- 
 vention of the dispositions of this regulation 
 shall be punishable by the penalties set forth in 
 Article 5 
 
 1 "Encyclopedic d'Hy-iene,*' 1891, p. 69. 
 
 3 Ibid. p. 70. 
 
 3 Of the law of November 15, 1887.
 
 MODEBN LAW. 4S 
 
 Article 5. Any person who shall give to obsequies a 
 character contrary to the will of the defunct or 
 to the judicial decision, when the deed setting 
 forth the wish of the defunct or the decision of 
 the judge shall have been duly notified to him, 
 shall be punished by the penalties enumerated 
 in Articles 199 and 200 of the Penal Code ; 1 
 except where Article 463 of the said Code 2 
 applies. 
 
 The special conditions applicable to the different 
 modes of sepulture were subsequently fixed by the 
 Decree in Council, i889. 3 I cite the portions of the 
 Decree that bear on cremation. 
 
 "The President of the French Republic, upon 
 the advice of the Minister of the Interior, and 
 in consideration of the law of November 15, 
 1887, permitting freedom of choice in the 
 matter of funerals, notably Articles 3 and 5 ... 
 decrees . . . 
 
 TlTRE III. 
 
 ( Concerning Incineration. ) 
 
 Article 1 6. No appliance for cremation shall be put 
 into use without an authorisation of the Prefect, 
 accorded upon the advice of the Council of 
 Hygiene. 
 
 Article 17. Every incineration shall be carried out 
 under the supervision of the municipal authori- 
 ties, and shall be previously authorised by the 
 
 1 " Codes Annotes," p. 250. 2 Ibid. p. 324. 
 3 April 27.
 
 46 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 officer of the Civil State in the place of decease, 
 who shall give this authorisation only after 
 approving the following documents : 
 
 1 . A demand in writing by a member of the 
 family (of the deceased), or of some other person 
 qualified to arrange the funeral. Such demand 
 shall indicate the place where the incineration is 
 to be carried out. 
 
 2. A certificate of the doctor attending [de- 
 ceased] stating that the death is due to natural 
 causes. 
 
 3. The report of a ' sworn doctor,' l forwarded 
 by the officer of the Civil State verifying the 
 cause of death. 
 
 In default of the certificate of the doctor in 
 attendance, the 'sworn doctor' shall hold a 
 summary inquest, the results of which he shall 
 set forth in his report. In any case the 
 authorisation shall not be accorded unless the 
 ' sworn doctor ' certifies that death is due to 
 natural causes. 
 
 Article 1 8. Should it be necessary for the incinera- 
 tion to be carried out in a commune other than 
 that in which the death has taken place, it shall 
 be further justified by an authorisation for 
 the transport of bodies, in conformity with 
 Article 4/ 2 
 
 1 Medecin assermente, literally, "sworn doctor." No identical 
 officer in England ; Medical Officer of Health corresponds most 
 nearly Medical Examiner would be perhaps a better title. 
 
 - Article 4. " Except in the case of transference to the mortuary 
 chamber, as provided for in the following article, the removal of a 
 corpse shall only be effected when authorised by the mayor or
 
 MODERN LAW. 47 
 
 Article 19. The reception of the corpse and its in- 
 cineration shall be vouched for by an official 
 report, which shall be transmitted to the proper 
 authorities. 
 
 Article 20. The ashes, even by a provisional order, 
 shall only be deposited in regularly established 
 places of sepulture. 
 Article 21. The ashes shall not be disturbed, except 
 
 by the permission of the municipal authorities. 
 Article 22. Any contravention of the decrees regu- 
 lating the conditions of sepulture contained in 
 Articles 3, 4, 8 ( 2), 16, 17, 18, 20, and 21, 
 renders offenders liable to penalties provided 
 for in Articles 3 and 5 of the law of November 
 15, I88;. 1 
 Article 23. All dispositions contrary to the decree 
 
 now in recital are thereby rendered void." 
 As yet, Paris is the only French town that has 
 availed itself of the privileges of the decree above cited,- 
 but that city has done its best to remove all difficulties 
 incident to the re-adoption of the practice. The Prt- 
 fecture of the Seine 3 has commissioned a special doctor 
 to fulfil the task imposed by Article 3 of the Decree of 
 April 27, 1889. This task consists of determining 
 
 sub-prefect, provided that the removal takes place within the 
 limits of the commune or arrondissement (district), and in other 
 cases it shall be authorised by the Prefect of the Department in 
 which the death shall have taken place. The introduction of 
 bodies into France, and their transport to the place of sepulture, 
 shall be authorised by the Minister of the Interior." 
 
 1 Before cited. 
 
 2 "Encyclopedic d" Hygiene," 1891, p. 71. 
 
 3 Practically, the Corporation of Paris.
 
 48 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 the existence of any indications that seem to call for a 
 special inquiry into the cause of death. The Munici- 
 pality, for its part, has endeavoured to put the new 
 process within reach of every one and has issued a notice 
 giving a full account of all the details to be observed 
 in connection with a cremation. This notice has been 
 forwarded to all the mayors in France, and is given to 
 every person who registers a death. The Municipality 
 has, moreover, fixed 50 francs as the uniform tax to be 
 charged, apart from the price of the urn and all decorative 
 expenses, which vary from 12 to 200 francs, according to 
 the class of funeral decided upon. 1 This tax includes a 
 right to the possession of a niche in the municipal colum- 
 barium for five years, but it is only exacted from those who 
 are in a position to pay. For the indigent, everything, 
 including the medical certificate, is free. The Munici- 
 pality of Paris has also suppressed the charges for the 
 exhumation of all bodies to be eventually taken out of 
 the cemeteries of Paris, in view of their retrospective 
 cremation, and has exempted from the tax of transport 
 all bodies brought from other parts of the country to 
 the crematories of Paris. 2 Paris is at present the sole 
 French city in possession of a crematorium ; but on the 
 1 2th of April 1892, the Town Council of Lyons voted 
 the sum of 270,000 francs for the purpose of building a 
 crematory in the public cemetery of that town. 3 
 
 1 It must be remembered that in Paris all funerals are conducted 
 by the Municipality at fixed charges, that vary according to the 
 style of funeral adopted. 
 
 - " Encyclopedic d'Hygicne," 1891. 
 
 3 Phcenix, organ of the Union of German-speaking Societies 
 for the Promotion of Burial Reform and Permissive Cremation, 
 No. 5, May 1892.
 
 MODERN LAW. 49 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 In the years 1851 and 1857 two eminent savants, 
 Professors Moleschott and Coletti, lifted up their voices 
 and denounced the cemeteries of Italy as dangerous to 
 the public health. In 1869 the question of the practi- 
 cability of incineration was raised at the International 
 Medical Congress at Florence by Professors Coletti and 
 Castiglioni. This Congress next met in 1871 at Rome, 
 when the same question was made an order of the day. 
 On both occasions the following resolution was put and 
 carried by a large majority : " That by every possible 
 means the attempt should be made, in the interests of 
 the laws of hygiene, to obtain legal sanction to the 
 substitution of incineration of corpses for the present 
 system of burial." 
 
 The Royal Institute of Science and Literature of 
 Lombardy at once associated itself with the suggested 
 reform, and set aside one of its prizes for the proposer 
 of the most prompt and economical method of cremation, 
 in the carrying out of which due respect should be 
 paid to all civil usages and social convenances. Further 
 than this, the Lombard Institute addressed the following 
 declaration to the Legislative Body of the kingdom : l 
 "The Lombard Institute being profoundly convinced 
 that the adoption of the process of cremation would mark 
 a stage of progress in the march of civilisation, hopes 
 that the Government will put forth every effort to make 
 Italy the first country to adopt it, and thus to set the 
 example to every other civilised nation." 
 
 1 "La Cremation, sa raison d'etre, etc.," by Dr. de Pietra Santa, 
 pp. 20 and 21. 
 
 D
 
 50 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 From the time of this declaration the successive 
 stages of the progress of the reform may be easily noted. 
 Dr. de Pietra Santa, in his brochure, " La Cremation, sa 
 raison d'etre, etc.," has enumerated them with great 
 exactitude. In 1873, * ne Italian Senate, upon the 
 proposition of the Professor and Senator Maggiorani, 
 and in spite of the scruples of Minister Lanza, inserted 
 in the Sanitary Code of the kingdom (Article 185, 
 chap. i. titre ix.) a permissive regulation enabling 
 families who had previously obtained the authorisation 
 of the Superior Council of Health to adopt the process 
 of cremation. 
 
 In April 1874, a public conference was held at Milan. 
 This meeting, comprising all classes of society, and 
 under the presidency of Professor Polli, invited the 
 Chamber of Deputies to confirm, in its next discussion 
 upon the Sanitary Code (already approved by the Upper 
 House), the optional cremation of corpses, under tin 
 immediate sii.ri:eillance of the magistrates of the communes. 
 In September of the same year (1874) the following 
 Article was added to the Sanitary Code : 
 
 Article 67. " The prefect of the province, repre- 
 senting the provincial Council of Health, may 
 permit other modes of burial, of preservation, or 
 of destruction of corpses, including cremation, in 
 particular cases and for exceptional reasons" 
 
 In 1877, owing to the representations of Senator 
 Maggiorani and Senator Berti, the Honourable Nicotera, 
 Minister of the Interior (Home Secretary), modified 
 this Article by the issue of a royal decree providing 
 that " for the future the prefect of the province, acting 
 upon the testator's wishes and in response to the express
 
 MODERN LAW. 51 
 
 demand of the family (of the deceased), shall grant the 
 preliminary authorisation, after having received the 
 consent of the provincial Council of Health." 
 
 Upon the publication of this Decree, the Milanese 
 Cremation Society formulated some fixed rules for 
 carrying out the process of cremation, with due regard 
 for payment of proper respect for the dead and the 
 establishment of scientific and civilised methods. These 
 regulations were approved by the Sanitary Council and 
 authorised by the prefectoral decrees of October i, 
 1878, and April 2, 1880. In 1880, too, the munici- 
 palities of Rome, Udine, Padua, Cremona, and Varese, 
 in conjunction with the different local societies, applied 
 themselves to the task of furthering the regular practice 
 of cremation. Thenceforward, the chief aims of the 
 societies, were to influence other municipalities and to 
 induce the Government to abolish the tax always charged 
 for the transport of dead bodies, and likewise assessed 
 for the conveyance of human ashes. They sought also 
 to stir up the Government to make proper provision for 
 the consecration of ashes, which were not then protected 
 in the same way that dead bodies were. Further than 
 this, the societies laboured to remove all obstacles to 
 the discovery of foul play and criminal negligence. 
 
 But one of the chief hindrances to the progress of 
 cremation in Italy was then as in England it is now 
 the inability of a testator to determine the nature of 
 his own funeral. The wishes of the legal repre- 
 sentatives were paramount, and, though permitted, 
 cremation could not be carried out if surviving 
 relatives objected. The most prominent case of this 
 overruling of the expressed desires of the deceased was
 
 52 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 that of Garibaldi. On September 27, 1877, General 
 (Jaribaldi, writing from Caprera, sent the following 
 letter to his friend, Dr. Prandina : 
 
 *' MY DEAR PKANDINA, 
 
 " You have been so kind as to undertake the 
 charge of burning my body, and I thank you for so 
 doing. 
 
 " On the road that leads northwards from my house 
 to the shore, there is, upon the left hand, about 300 
 paces distant, a slight decline in the ground, bordered 
 by a wall. 
 
 "At that angle a pyre, two metres high, of acacias, 
 lentisk, myrtle, and other aromatic woods, shall be 
 erected. There will be placed on the pyre a little bed 
 of iron, and on this the uncovered bier containing my 
 mortal remains dressed in the red shirt. 
 
 " A handful of ashes are to be put in some sort of 
 urn that shall be placed in the spot where the remains 
 of my daughters Rose and Anita rest. 
 " Always yours, 
 
 " G. GARIBALDI/' 
 
 Upon the death of Garibaldi, the Minister of the 
 Interior directed Dr. Pini, Secretary of the Cremation 
 Society, to go to Caprera, in company with Dr. Todaro 
 and the Honourable Deputy Signer Crispi, 1 to carry out 
 the wishes of Garibaldi ; but the family and friends of the 
 patriot opposed the plan in the most determined manner, 
 and the three delegates were forced to return to Milan 
 with their mission unfulfilled. 2 There on the i8th of 
 
 1 Subsequently Prime Minister of Italy. 
 - "Encyclopedic d'Hygiene," 1891, p. 64.
 
 MODERN LAW. 53 
 
 June a solemn assemblage was held, which was attended 
 by all the members of the Cremation Society, and by al] 
 sorts of political and popular associations. The follow- 
 ing resolution was passed : 
 
 "The citizens and associations of Milan, convoked 
 in a public assembly by the Cremation Society, demand 
 that the wish expressed by General Garibaldi relative 
 to his mortal remains and ashes shall be strictly 
 respected." 
 
 The day after that on which this public meeting was 
 held, the following resolution was entered upon the 
 minutes of the Cremation Society : 
 
 "The Society of Cremation at Milan, the vigilant 
 and scrupulous guardian of all that is done in Italy and 
 elsewhere for the application and diffusion of the 
 hygienic and civil reform that it upholds ; 
 
 " Knowing the wish expressed by the living voice of 
 General Garibaldi to the Society's President, and con- 
 firmed in writing to our Associate Dr. Prandina, by 
 which he enjoined in precise terms that his mortal 
 remains should be incinerated ; 
 
 " Knowing that, by the last testamentary act of the 
 General, he ordered the incineration of his body, and 
 imposed the scrupulous accomplishment of his design 
 upon his widow ; 
 
 "The Society of Cremation deplores the existing 
 non-accomplishment of the immutable wishes of the 
 great departed, who, in decreeing the cremation of his 
 corpse, sanctioned and ennobled the principle of the 
 purification of mortal remains." 
 
 But the Society did not rest satisfied with deploring 
 the non-accomplishment of the General's wish, but
 
 fll THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 further determined not to rest until his desires had 
 been carried out. But the injunctions contained in 
 Garibaldi's will, the trust confided to his widow, the 
 agitation stirred up by the Milanese Cremation Society, 
 the influence of political friends, and the force of 
 popular opinion, all proved unavailing in the face of 
 the law of Italy that gave the right of disposal of the 
 body to the nearest legal representatives of the deceased. 
 And for nine more years the law remained unchanged. 
 
 In the meantime, on July 9, 1882, the Council of 
 State, having previously provided that the ashes of the 
 dead should be deposited in public cemeteries, and not 
 in houses or private grounds, granted permission to 
 societies, churches, and various public bodies, to pre- 
 serve the ashes of departed benefactors and others 
 within the walls of institutions and in other appropriate 
 places. 
 
 On January n, 1891, the new Italian Burial Law 
 was passed. In Italy now, as in France, the deceased 
 has the absolute right to determine whether his body 
 shall be burned or buried. 1 The following is the 
 text of the police instructions concerning cremation now 
 in force in Italy : - 
 
 Article 65. Crematory furnaces must not be erected 
 
 without the walls of public cemeteries. 
 Article 66. The employment of crematory furnaces 
 necessitates the surveillance of the town authori- 
 ties, and every cremation must be conducted 
 with the permission of the person who holds the 
 
 Communicated by Dr. dc Pietra Santa, Paris, February 1892. 
 u; No. 3, March 1892.
 
 MODERN LAW. 55 
 
 right to the private use of the furnace, or, when 
 the furnace belongs to the community, with the 
 permission of the local authorities. 
 Article 67. A cremation can only be permitted by 
 the civil officers of the place of abode of the 
 deceased, on the production of the following 
 documents : 
 
 1. (a) A legal extract from the will of the 
 deceased. 
 
 (6) In the absence of the above, a written 
 request by the nearest relative, or by a friend 
 if no relatives are living and no objections are 
 raised. 
 
 2. A certificate of the attendant doctor setting 
 forth the cause of death, and entirely removing 
 all suspicion of a criminal cause. 
 
 Article 68. In the absence of clause 2 of the pre- 
 ceding Article, and in case of sudden or suspicious 
 death, no antinomy must be laid before the 
 authorities. 
 
 Article 69. If the cremation is to be carried out in 
 another parish than that to which the deceased 
 belonged, then, besides the aforesaid documents, 
 an order of the prefect, permitting the trans- 
 port of the body, must be obtained. 
 
 Article 70. The body must be deposited in the 
 furnace in the clothes in which it is brought on 
 the bier. 
 
 Article 7 1 . In the following cases, the bier as well 
 as the clothes will be burned : 
 
 (a) When the clothes are in a dirty condi- 
 tion.
 
 58 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 (6) When it has been employed for a person 
 who has died from an infectious disease. 
 
 (c) When, apart from the aforesaid conditions, 
 the family of the defunct desires it. 
 
 Article 72. 1 In accordance with the cremation regu- 
 lations, the ashes shall be carefully collected, and, 
 when desired, returned to the relations or friends, 
 or their representatives, enclosed in an urn. 
 
 Article 73. The urn must bear an inscription setting 
 forth the Christian and surname of the person 
 whose ashes are contained in it. 
 
 Article 74. Each urn must contain the ashes of only 
 one person. 
 
 Article 75. The urns must be made of durable 
 material, and must, besides, be shut fast without 
 any opening when they are delivered up; or 
 they may, instead, be placed in the niche of a 
 suitable vault. 
 
 Article 76. The transport of urns that contain 
 cremated ashes is not a transgression of the 
 hygienic precautionary measure that applies to 
 transport of bodies. 
 
 Article 77. Urns containing ashes can, in accord- 
 ance with Article 59 of the Law for Protection 
 of the Public Health, be placed in vaults or 
 private graves, in churchyards, or in temples, 
 infirmaries, hospitals, or other situations, so long 
 as the place chosen is suitable and is under the 
 supervision of a legally recognised benevolent 
 society, and the situation is chosen and approved 
 by the family and the society. 
 
 1 Phoenix, No. 4, April 1892.
 
 MODERN LAW. 57 
 
 At the present time there are over twenty crematoria 
 ir- active use in Italy, and a very large number of 
 corpses have already been incinerated at the Campo 
 Varano cemetery at Rome. 1 
 
 THE GERMAN STATES AND PRUSSIA. 
 
 As early as 1854, a Cremation Society was formed in 
 Hamburg, and in 1856 Jacques Grimm began in Ger- 
 many his propagandism of the principles of cremation. 
 
 GOTHA. 
 
 To the Government of Gotha, however, belongs the 
 honour of having been the first administrative body to 
 authorise the practice of burning the dead. In Decem- 
 ber 1878, the Gotha crematorium was completed and 
 put into use, the law of the State having already pro- 
 vided for incineration, upon strictly sanitary principles, 
 of the remains of those who in life expressed a wish 
 to be cremated, and whose relatives consented to the 
 operation. Special measures had been also prescribed 
 to prevent the concealment of the evidences of crime. 2 
 (See Appendix.) 
 
 Five years before the opening of the Gotha crema- 
 torium, two scientifically conducted, though unatithor- 
 
 1 Phoenix, No. 5, May 1892. Organ of the " Union of 
 German-speaking Societies for promotion of Burial Reform and 
 permissive Cremation." See article on " The Progress of Crema- 
 tion '' in the " Annual Encyclopaedia " for 1889. 
 
 2 " La Cremation, sa raison d'etre, &c.," by Dr. de Pietra Santat 
 P- 35-
 
 68 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 ised, cremations had taken place in Germany ; the 
 first at Breslau in Silesia, Prussia ; the other at Dresden, 
 Saxony. 
 
 SAXONY. 
 
 After the installation of the Gotha crematorium, the 
 Cremation Society of Dresden " The Urn " begged 
 permission to inter the ashes of Dresden citizens, cre- 
 mated in the furnace at Gotha, in the Dresden cemetery. 
 To this entreaty the State Consistory replied : " The 
 Consistory sees no occasion for making a general 
 regulation in the matter." l The Dresden Society con- 
 tinued, however, to base its operations on the fact that 
 cremation was not forbidden by the law of Saxony. At 
 the present time, transportation of bodies for cremation 
 in other countries is permitted when the deceased has,, 
 in his will, expressed a desire to be cremated, and when 
 this will has been signed in the presence of a judge or 
 notary, or, in the absence of these, before five witnesses. - 
 Leipzig and Chemnitz have long possessed Cremation 
 Societies. The aim of the Leipzig Society, as set 
 forth in the PJwenix for January 1892, is to insure the 
 possibility of cremation for those who desire it for 
 themselves, and to support the means of cremation in 
 other places, until such a time as Leipzig shall have a 
 crematorium of its own. In a meeting of this Society, 
 
 1 "Erde oder Feuer" (Earth or Fire), by Wilhelm Schiiffer. 
 Darmstadt. 1890. 
 
 - Advertisement of Chemnitz Cremation Society in Phocnix f 
 No. 2, February 1892.
 
 MODERN LAW. 59 
 
 held on October 4, 1892,! it was decided to petition 
 the Town Council to establish permissive cremation in 
 Leipzig, and to give the Society a site on which to erect 
 a crematorium. 
 
 HAMBURG. 
 
 Between 1870 and 1880, the question of the advisa- 
 bility of adopting the practice of cremation was brought 
 before the Assembly of Burgesses of Hamburg, on the 
 occasion of the laying out of a new cemetery. The 
 result of the discussion in the Assembly was the appoint- 
 ment, in 1878, of a committee empowered to go to 
 Gotha and study the working of the crematorium there. 
 In 1883, a new Cremation Society was formed. This 
 body addressed a memorial to the Senate, praying for 
 permission to erect a crematorium, and asking for a 
 grant of State land for a site. The memorial was much 
 discussed in the Assembly of Burgesses, and upon two 
 occasions an almost unanimous vote was taken in favour 
 of requesting the Senate to accede to both demands of 
 the Society. As a result of this agitation, the Senate, 
 in 1885, made the announcement that, upon the con- 
 ditions that the capital for building the crematorium 
 was first raised, and a pledge given by the Society, 
 that only persons dying in Hamburg should be in- 
 cinerated there, the State would assign a piece of 
 ground for the desired purpose. 2 
 
 1 Phoenix, No. n, November 1892. 
 
 - Report of the Congress at Gotha of the German-speaking 
 Societies for the promotion of Burial Reform and Permissive 
 Cremation, 1886, p. 40. See also Pha-nij: for July 1892, p. 81.
 
 (50 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 The crematorium was built, but the limitation of its 
 use to persons dying in Hamburg was soon felt to be a 
 great drawback. The fewer the incinerations, the 
 greater the cost of each particular cremation. For 
 economical reasons, therefore, it was most desirable 
 that many more incinerations, than those that the 
 population of the city of Hamburg afforded, should be 
 effected there. On this account the Assembly of 
 Burgesses, in 1891, petitioned the Senate to reconsider 
 the conditions they had previously made. 1 In a docu- 
 ment dated December 21, 1891, the Senate replied to 
 the petition of the burgesses with an emphatic refusal 
 to modify the conditions that had been accepted by the 
 Hamburg Cremation Society. The chief ground of the 
 refusal, so it was stated in the document, was the fear 
 lest the transport of bodies, from places where cremation 
 was not established, might lessen the regard borne by 
 neighbouring States to the free city of Hamburg. This 
 unequivocal refusal called for some reply from the bur- 
 gesses. They therefore appointed a committee to con- 
 sider the matter. In May 1 892, this committee had arrived 
 at the con elusion that the question ought not to be allowed 
 to rest, but the Senate again appealed to. 2 The report of 
 the committee wholly opposed the idea of the Society's 
 design causing friction with neighbouring Governments, 
 and stated that between December 14, 1878, and the 
 middle of March 1802, 742 bodies had been burned at 
 Gotha, 335 of which came from outside Gotha, and nearly 
 half of these from Prussia ; and the report further went 
 on to say that a fifth of the bodies already burned in 
 
 1 Phtrnix, No. 2, February 1892. 
 
 2 Ibid. No. 7, July 1892.
 
 MODERN LAW. 61 
 
 the new crematorium of Heidelberg had been brought 
 from Prussia, and no ill-feeling had been excited in 
 either case. The committee also reminded the Senate 
 that it had itself sought the co-operation of the bur- 
 gesses in the work of legislating for the establishment 
 of cremation, and had thereby given them the right to 
 express their opinion ; wherefore the Senate ought not 
 to circumvent them. The committee concluded its 
 report by suggesting further regulations for determining 
 the cause of death and registering the same. 
 
 The Senate is, however, still obdurate, and as the 
 Constitution of Hamburg requires that all laws must 
 receive the consent of both Assembly and Senate, the 
 crematorium still remains closed to all but the deceased 
 townspeople of Hamburg. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Quite recently, the building of a columbarium in one 
 of the Berlin cemeteries has been tacitly permitted, but 
 the State Church prohibits the attendance of a clergyman 
 and the exercise of religious rites at incinerations. 1 A 
 crematorium is used by the city authorities of Berlin 
 for the destruction of the corpses of paupers, unidentified 
 persons, and human remains from dissecting-rooms. 2 
 Since the erection of this building, the report of the 
 Berlin magistrates, who compose the Funeral Com- 
 mission, has been published. As a result of their 
 
 1 Article on "Progress of Cremation " in the New York Evening 
 Pot, April 9, 1892. See also " Report on the Administration of 
 the Public Cemeteries of Berlin, from April i, 1890, to March 31, 
 1891." 
 
 - Phoenix, No. 3, March 1892.
 
 62 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 inquiries, the report states that " the magistrates 
 are of opinion that against partial and permissive 
 cremation, such as the commonalty of Berlin desire, 
 there can be, from a judicial standpoint, no plausible 
 objection." 1 
 
 On May 28, 1892, the question whether cremation 
 could not be put on the same footing as earth-burial was 
 asked in the Prussian Parliament. In reply, the 
 Attorney-General (Ober-Eegicrungsrath) Hopker stated 
 that no law prohibiting cremation existed in Prussia, 
 that in the future perhaps regulations for the estab- 
 lishment of the practice of incineration might be drawn 
 up ; but that at present there was no need for any legis- 
 lation on the subject, as no general opinion existed in 
 favour of it. The Minister of Health, (Schonfeld) an- 
 nounced that his department took a neutral attitude 
 towards cremation ; and Dr. Renvers, as representative 
 of the Minister of Public Worship, said that, though no 
 Christian doctrine forbade cremation, the practice was 
 repugnant to the ideas of all Christian sects and pro- 
 moted unbelief. Judge Supper, on behalf of the 
 Minister of Justice, spoke against cremation in the 
 interests of criminal law. 
 
 FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN. 
 
 In Frankfort the building of a crematorium was for- 
 bidden, on account of the existence of a law providing 
 for the erection of a tombstone over the body of every 
 person dying in the State. 2 The Berlin Ministry, being 
 
 , No. 6, June, 1892. 
 - Report of the Congress at Gotha, 1886.
 
 MODERN LAW. 63 
 
 appealed to, to remove this technical difficulty, refused 
 to interfere with the existing burial laws, upon the 
 excuse that the custom of cremation was not yet viewed 
 with popular favour. But the Imperial Government 
 intimated that, when cremation was more generally ap- 
 proved, something might be done to legalise it in Frank- 
 fort. Up to 1886, this was the only result that the 
 efforts of the Frankfort friends of cremation had 
 achieved. The present state of the cremation question 
 in Frankfort is described in a letter written to the 
 author by Dr. Karl Flesch, a solicitor, and member of 
 the Town Council of Frankfort : l 
 
 " We have no crematorium (in Frankfort), for the 
 Prussian Government has announced that it will forbid 
 cremation. Our Senate has no legislative powers, as 
 we are no longer a self-governing State. Whether the 
 burning of the dead is a matter that falls under the 
 jurisdiction of a Town Council, in the way of local 
 government, is disputed ; I think it does, and hope to 
 bring the question before our highest Verwaltungsgericht 
 (Court of Queen's Bench), and get a decision to support 
 my view. The Prussian Minister of the Interior con- 
 siders himself entitled to forbid the practice of cremation 
 by simply issuing an arbitrary command. No law on 
 the subject exists in Prussia." 
 
 HESSE. 
 
 The Frankfort Cremation Society had always drawn 
 a large number of its members from the neighbouring 
 town of Offenbach, in Hesse, and in February 1891 
 
 1 October 1892.
 
 64 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 this fact suggested the idea that the Frankfort Crema- 
 tion Society should build a crematorium in the ceme- 
 tery at Offenbach. By August of the same year enough 
 money had been subscribed for the purpose. In order 
 that the best possible system should be adopted, the 
 Frankfort Society joined that of Heidelberg, which was 
 about to undertake a similar task, in ascertaining the 
 mode of construction most advisable for them to employ. 1 
 Klingenstierna's furnace was eventually decided upon, 
 and the crematorium erected. On July 6, 1892, an 
 experimental cremation was carried out in it. 2 So far, 
 everything transpired according to the wishes of the 
 friends of cremation. But on September 29, 1892, the 
 Town Council 3 of Offenbach received a formal com- 
 munication from the Burgherrnaster, in his capacity 
 of chief officer of the local police, forbidding the crema- 
 tion of human remains, and commanding that within 
 ten days the furnace so recently erected should be put 
 into such a condition that it would be impossible to use 
 it for the purpose for which it was built. This order 
 was issued in obedience to the injunction of the Grand 
 Ducal Administration which claimed to take its autho- 
 rity from Article 80 of the District and Provincial 
 Regulations, 4 and it expressly stated that earth-burial 
 was the only mode of disposing of the dead recognised 
 within the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Further than this, 
 the order contained the announcement that a penalty 
 not exceeding 90 marks would be exacted of any person 
 contravening or not complying with the order. The 
 
 1 Phtrnix, No. I, January 1892. 
 - Ibid. No. S, August 1892. 
 
 3 " Stadtverordneten." 
 
 4 " Kreis-und Provinzialordnung."
 
 MODERN LAW. 65 
 
 document containing these peremptory commands 
 was received by the Town Council at its sitting on 
 September 15, 1892. This body, in its turn, for- 
 warded the order to the committee that had promoted 
 the building of the crematorium, and subjoined a 
 lengthy and detailed statement, in which it was 
 announced that, in the opinion of the Town Council, 
 the order was grounded on an erroneous application of 
 the principles of justice, and was further both " illegal 
 and inadmissible." This statement of the Town Council 
 was drawn up under three heads. In the first place, it 
 was contended that cremation was not forbidden by the 
 laws of the German Empire, nor by those of the Grand 
 Duchy, and that, though burial was enjoined by impli- 
 cation, the burial of ashes after cremation had taken' 
 place would fully meet the requirements of that injunc- 
 tion. Secondly, it was urged that only acts endanger- 
 ing the public peace, or those that were in opposition to 
 laws and regulations already established could be in- 
 cluded among punishable offences ; and thirdly, it was 
 pronounced inadmissible that the police should interfere 
 with actions against which no prohibition existed in 
 law, which were beneficial to the public health, and 
 which it was not proposed to force upon those to whom 
 religious views rendered them objectionable. 1 
 
 In Hesse, therefore, the matter rests for the present 
 where these documents leave it. But the question of 
 the legality of cremation is shortly to be brought before 
 tbe courts of law. 2 
 
 1 Phwnix, No. 11, November 1892. 
 
 a Communication from Dr. Fix, of the <: Hess- Land verein for 
 Burial Reform and Permissive Cremation." 
 
 E
 
 C6 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 WCRTEMBERG. 
 
 In the Kingdom of Wiirtemberg, the question of 
 burning the dead was first raised towards the close of 
 the year 1874, when a Cremation Society was formed. 
 On February 4, 1875, the Town Council 1 subjoined to 
 a memorial presented to that body by the Cremation 
 Society, a statement to the effect that the members of 
 the Council were under the impression that the Society 
 not only desired to obtain permission of the State to 
 establish cremation in the town of Stuttgart, but also 
 wished to be provided with a site for a crematorium as 
 the means of carrying out their purpose. After this 
 the matter came to a standstill, and, in 1882, the 
 Society disbanded. 
 
 In the meantime, a Royal Decree, concerning the 
 exposure, dissection, and burial of bodies, issued 
 January 24, 1882, contained the following words: "A 
 dead body must be disposed of only by means of inter- 
 ment in a public burial-ground. For burial in any 
 other place, except a public burial-ground, permission 
 from the Government is necessary." 
 
 This order completely shut out the possibility of 
 establishing cremation, until special permission could 
 be obtained from the Government of the Kingdom of 
 Wurtemberg. In 1 890, another Cremation Society was 
 formed. This gave occasion for bringing the matter 
 once more before the authorities, by means of a petition 
 to the Minister of the Interior praying for permission 
 to build a crematorium. 2 The Society further requested 
 
 1 " Gemeinderath." 
 
 J February 2, 1891. See Phoenix, No. n, November 1892.
 
 MODERN LAW. 67 
 
 the Town Council not to place any obstacles in the 
 way of the establishment of permissive cremation and 
 the erection of a crematorium ; whereupon the Council 
 determined to lay the matter before its Police and 
 Cemetery Committees. 
 
 The sitting of these Committees for consideration of 
 this question was held on February 12, 1892. 
 
 On the motion of a member of the Police Commit- 
 tee, 1 it was agreed that the Council had no objections 
 to the establishment of cremation, provided certain 
 precautions, presently to be determined upon, were 
 observed. 
 
 On the motion of Councillor Payer, it was carried, by 
 seven votes to six, that the Council should declare itself 
 in favour of the establishment of cremation in the town 
 of Stuttgart, and inform the Cremation Society of its 
 willingness, in the event of the approval of its project 
 by the State Government, to assign a special place for 
 the erection of a crematorium, and, on account of the 
 Society, to take the same under control of the town 
 authorities. 
 
 On the motion of Councillor Baumeister, it was 
 agreed, by ten votes to three, that the Town Council 
 should announce that it had nothing to urge against 
 the establishment of cremation in Stuttgart, but was 
 ready, in the event of the Society's project being 
 approved by the State Government, to appoint a special 
 site for the erection of a crematorium in a public 
 cemetery. 2 
 
 Up to the present time, no answer to the petition 
 delivered by the Stuttgart Cremation Society to the 
 
 1 " Polizeirath." " Phoenix, No. 4, March 1892.
 
 8 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 Minister of the Interior of the Kingdom of Wiirtemberg 
 has been received, and the Society is quite unable to 
 account for the unusual delay. 1 
 
 BADEN. 
 
 In the Grand Duchy of Baden, the Government is 
 not inimical to cremation. Mannheim, Baden-Baden. 
 and Heidelberg all possess flourishing cremation 
 societies.- Heidelberg is one of the four German towns 
 (Gotha, Hamburg, and Offenbach being the other three) 
 that possess crematory furnaces. 
 
 The Heidelberg crematorium was put into use in 
 December 1891. It stands in a separate part of the 
 town cemetery, 3 and, under due police supervision, is 
 equally available for strangers and for the inhabitants 
 of Heidelberg. 4 (See Appendix.) From December 1 89 1 
 to the end of October 1892, thirty-six incinerations had 
 taken place in it. 5 The Baden-Baden Society has 
 recently been instrumental in establishing another 
 Society at Lahr (in Baden), 6 and in May 1892 the 
 " Friends of Cremation " in Baden were able at their 
 general meeting to congratulate the members of the 
 Society at Mannheim on their recent determination to 
 build a crematorium of their own. 7 It was agreed that 
 the size of the town of Mannheim and its liberal character 
 were sufficient guarantees that this action would in no way 
 interfere with the success of the Heidelberg crematorium. 
 
 ; No. ii, November 1892. 
 a " Erde oder FeuerJ? " p. 43, by Wilhelm Schaffer. Darmstadt. 
 8 Phrsnijc, No. 3, March 1892. 
 
 4 Ibid. No. 2, February 1892. 5 Ibid. No. 10, October 1892. 
 
 Ibid. No. i, January 1892. 7 Ibid. No. 6, June 1892.
 
 MODERN LAW. 69 
 
 BAVARIA. 
 
 When, in October 1891, the Town Council of Munich, 
 was about to purchase a site for a new cemetery, the 
 Munich Cremation Society put forth the demand that 
 a portion of that cemetery might be reserved for the 
 future building of a crematorium. At the same time, 
 the Society inquired of the magistrates whether any 
 objections could be raised to the depositing of caskets 
 or urns in burial places or family vaults. 1 
 
 In their public sitting on January 19, 1892, the 
 Munich magistrates addressed a reply to the Society, of 
 which the following is the substance : 
 
 "Concerning your memorial, presented October 29, 
 1892, we beg to inform you that the reservation 
 of a special site for the building of a crematorium 
 in planning out the new cemetery does not appear to 
 be necessary, as the Town Council has already entered 
 into an arrangement with the commissioners of one of 
 the cemeteries to build a crematorium, and we would 
 state further that, before any more steps can be taken in 
 the matter, the opinion of the Royal Bavarian State 
 Government must be ascertained. On this account, there- 
 fore, we leave it in your hands to address a memorial 
 on this question to the Government of the Kingdom. 
 
 " What further concerns the depositing of ashes 
 by the sides of bodies, buried in graves and vaults in 
 the cemeteries of this town, can be treated of in the 
 future." 2 
 
 Upon receipt of this comunication, the Society inv 
 mediately set itself the task of drawing up a petition 
 
 1 Plucnix, No. 3, March 1892. - Ibid.
 
 70 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 to the State Government praying for the establishment 
 of permissive cremation in Bavaria. 
 
 This petition, which was agreed upon in the general 
 meeting of the Munich Cremation Society 1 held on 
 January 31, and dispatched February 12, 1892, was 
 discussed in the sitting of the town magistrates on 
 March 29, and led to the following announcement being 
 addressed to the Society. - 
 
 "Concerning your petition of February 12, we 
 beg to inform you that the magistracy in to-day's 
 sitting, unanimously agreed to support the aforesaid 
 petition for the establishment of permissive cremation 
 in Bavaria." 
 
 No change has yet taken place in the laws of the 
 Kingdom, but, in spite of this fact, the Town Council of 
 Nuremberg (Bavaria) has recently (October II, 1892), 
 announced its intention of building a crematorium in 
 that city. 3 
 
 The speeches of the delegates to the General 
 Assembly of the " German-speaking Societies for the 
 Promotion of Burial Reform and Permissive Crema- 
 tion "at Baden-Baden, on September 8, 1892, prove 
 that in all places where cremation societies exist, efforts 
 are being made to induce the respective Governments 
 to legalise permissive cremation and to consent to the 
 building of crematoria. 4 In most towns, regulations are 
 
 1 There are in Munich two cremation societies, the " Verein 
 fur Feuerbestattung," and the "Verein fiir Leichenverbrennung." 
 The latter is the one mentioned above. 
 
 Plifrnic, No. 5, May 1892. 
 
 3 Jbid. No. ii. November 1892. 
 
 4 Jbiil. No. 10. October 1802.
 
 MODERN LAW. 71 
 
 already in force, in conformity with which bodies may be 
 removed to Gotha, Heidelberg, or Zurich for incineration. 
 But as in all countries under Prussian jurisdiction 
 the cremation of corpses is strictly forbidden, the result 
 of the action of the Cremation Society of Frankfort in 
 bringing the matter before the " Verwaltungsgericht " 
 (Court of Queen's Bench) is anxiously awaited through- 
 out the German Empire. 1 
 
 AUSTRIA. 
 
 In 1 8/2, the crematory appliances, displayed by Dr. 
 Brunetti at the International Exhibition at Vienna, 
 made a strong impression upon the people of that city^ 
 and led to a movement in favour of cremation. 
 
 After a serious study of the question, the Sanitary 
 Council of the Empire and the Army Health Council 
 pronounced themselves in favour of incineration. But 
 Court influences and opinions current in the higher 
 governmental spheres proved inimical to the practice. 2 
 In 1874, the Municipal Council of Vienna unanimously 
 passed a proposition to the effect that " the Administra- 
 tion be asked to provide for the immediate carrying out of 
 the system of cremation." After the question had been 
 submitted to and rejected by the Upper House, a Bill 
 was introduced into the Chamber of Deputies, but, 
 before the matter came under discussion, Parliament 
 was prorogued. 
 
 According to the laws of Austria, an Act not 
 passed before a dissolution must be drawn up 
 
 No. 10, October 1892. 
 - " La Cremation, &c." by Dr. de Pietra Santa, p. 45.
 
 72 THH LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 entirely afresh. It therefore became necessary to g<-t 
 up new petitions and revise all memoranda, before the 
 subject of cremation could be again brought before 
 Parliament. 1 
 
 A few years later a society for the " burning of 
 bodies " was founded in Vienna under the title of 
 " The Urn." This society sent a deputation to the 
 Prime Minister Count Taaffe to ask him to further 
 the passing of a law making cremation legal. Iut 
 an absolute refusal was the only response granted to 
 A deputation that represented the Governor of Lower 
 Austria, the Municipality of Vienna, and many persons 
 who were interested in the question of cremation. - 
 For some time after this, no steps of importance were 
 taken by " The Urn," and the inertia of that body 
 led to the secession of some of its members and the 
 formation of a new Society, under the Presidency of 
 Herr Siedeck, entitled " The Flame." 3 This Society has 
 put forth ceaseless efforts to obtain governmental sanc- 
 tion for the practice of cremation in Austria ; it has also 
 made arrangements with the railway companies for the 
 transport of bodies from all parts of Austria to Gotha 
 and Zurich. The special rates chargeable for the 
 coffin and for mourners are published every month in 
 thePhcenix. On February 19, 1892, a large number of 
 members and friends attended the Annual Meeting of 
 " The Flame." After the usual formal business had 
 been transacted, Herr Lekisch a member of the 
 magistracy 4 informed the meeting that the Board of 
 Health of Lower Austria had, in a note concerning 
 
 ' Report of the Congress at Gotha. 1886. - Ibid. 
 
 3 Ibid. * Or Town Councillor (Magistratsrath).
 
 MODERN LAW. 73 
 
 burial regulations, sent from the Health Department to 
 the Municipality of Vienna, expressed itself in regard 
 to cremation in the following manner : 
 
 "The Board of Health is of opinion that the burning 
 of bodies, when effectuated in compliance with the 
 requirements of justice and sanitation, and in accord- 
 ance with religious considerations and the dictates of 
 piety, and not as an expensive and exceptional privilege, 
 but as a measure of as universal application as possible, 
 meets the necessities of the care of the public health, 
 and overthrows the many difficulties that burial gives 
 rise to. It is, therefore, a task that must be undertaken 
 in the future. The Department leaves it to the discre- 
 tion of the Municipality of Vienna to make fit use of 
 this opinion." 
 
 This expression of opinion was the first recognition, 
 on the part of the Government, of a cause which the 
 Municipality of Vienna had long before made their 
 own, and which members of the Vienna Town Council 
 had urged so frequently and with absolutely no results 
 in the Lower House of Parliament. 
 
 In view of this declaration, the Municipality of 
 Vienna, in its next sitting, February 26, 1892,* 
 decided to give its serious consideration to the question 
 of cremation as a part of the much-needed burial 
 reform. Public attention was thus once more attracted 
 to cremation, and matters so far progressed that, at the 
 General Assembly of ;i German-speaking Societies for 
 the promotion of Burial Reform and Permissive Crema- 
 tion," 2 Herr Siedeck announced that "The Flame" 
 
 1 PIiH-Ht'j; No. 4. April 1892. 
 
 - Baden-Baden, September 1892.
 
 74 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 had recently passed a resolution to the effect that the 
 consent of the Municipality of Vienna to the erection 
 of a crematorium should be obtained, and. in order to 
 hasten the establishment of cremation, the building 
 forthwith begun. Though no law rendering cremation 
 permissive has yet been passed in Austria. "The 
 Flame " has now undertaken the task of building a 
 crematorium, in the hope that the holding of a trial 
 incineration, largely attended by relatives and friends 
 of the deceased, may force the hand of the Government 
 and lead to some legislation on the subject. 1 
 
 In regard to the provision to be made by a testator 
 to insure the cremation of his body at death, the 
 opinion of Dr. Emil Guttman, Counsellor-at-Law (Hof- 
 UTid Gericktsadrocat) in Vienna, is of value. Writing 
 in the Phcenix No. 9 (September 1892), Dr. Guttman 
 says : ' The law of Austria, unlike that of most Euro- 
 pean States, which disregards the wishes of the testator, 
 is administered by a procedure that has the threefold 
 aim of: i. Determining the legal representatives; 
 2. Fulfilling the last will, so far as the intention of 
 the testator can be ascertained ; and 3. Insuring the 
 payment of all legacies. So far as this procedure pro- 
 vides for the fulfilment of the express wishes of the 
 testator, it ought to guarantee the cremation of his or 
 her body, if desired. Yet it does not necessarily do 
 so." Dr. Guttman goes on to explain that, although 
 the law of Austria stipulates that, after the settlement 
 of the affairs of the deceased, and before the residue of 
 the estate is handed over to the heirs, the Court that 
 
 1 Plurnix, No. 10. October 1892. Also communication from 
 Heir Siedeck, Vienna.
 
 MODERN LAW. 75 
 
 adjudicates must prove, point by point, that the will of 
 the deceased has been fulfilled, it is nevertheless left to 
 the discretion of the Court whether or no the disposi- 
 tions of the will need be literally carried out. This is 
 especially the case when the fulfilment of the wishes of 
 the deceased is attended with great difficulty or expense. 
 In a case where the deceased has stated in his will 
 that he wishes to be buried in a place remote from that 
 in which he dies, and his relations bury him before they 
 are made acquainted with his wishes, the law forbids 
 the exhuming and removal of his body, on account of 
 the extraordinary difficulty and outlay attending such a 
 proceeding. In the same manner, therefore, a body 
 buried by relatives before the contents of a will became 
 known to them, could not be exhumed for cremation ; 
 and even if the legal representatives of the deceased, 
 in spite of the knowledge of the dispositions of a 
 will enjoining cremation, should, on account of the 
 difficulty and cost of transporting the body to a dis- 
 tant crematorium, have the body buried, they would 
 probably be within the law, especially as the non- 
 existence of any statute legalising cremation leaves 
 it in doubt whether cremation may or may not be 
 regarded as permissible in the Austrian Empire. But, 
 though a single testamentary disposition may be un- 
 availing. Dr. Guttman notes that there are other 
 methods in Austrian law that may prove more effective. 
 Testamentary dispositions can assume different forms ; 
 they may take either as a disadvantageous condition, 
 in the case of non-fulfilment, or merely as the wish of 
 the testator the form of a bequest to heirs or. of a 
 so-called tax, by which certain persons inherit certain
 
 "6 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 dispositionary powers; or again, and this is the most 
 stringent kind of testamentary disposition, they may 
 assume the form of a condition, the fulfilment of which 
 is obligatory on the persons who inherit the disposi- 
 tionary powers. No form of a testamentary disposition, 
 unless it be the conditional form, can guarantee the 
 fulfilment of the testator's wish against all contin- 
 gencies and differences of opinion. Only the prescribing 
 of express conditions, upon fulfilment of which alone 
 the receipt of a legacy absolutely depends, can insure 
 the carrying out of a testator's instructions, provided of 
 course that their performance is physically, legally, and 
 morally possible. 
 
 On account of the contradictory aspects of all 
 Austrian law, it is impossible for any lawyer to 
 say exactly what testamentary dispositions will be 
 supported by judicial opinion, and what not. On this 
 account, therefore, Ur. Guttruan thinks the only method 
 to be recommended is that of the testator leaving all 
 or part of his estate to a certain person or persons, upon 
 the sole condition that they shall cause his body to be 
 cremated. Then the testator's wishes would have to be 
 carried out before his bequests could be distributed, and, 
 as there is no law in Austria forbidding cremation, it 
 could scarcely be urged that the burning of a body is 
 an illegal act. 
 
 According to Dr. Guttman, it becomes the duty of 
 all Austrian legal advisers, in drawing up a will enjoin- 
 ing the cremation of the testator's body, to make the 
 mode of the disposition of his remains sure by following 
 the lines laid down in his article. In his opinion, it is 
 of little use for supporters of cremation to draw up all
 
 MODERN LA.W. 77 
 
 sorts of forms, to be filled in by persons desiring to be 
 cremated, for these, however carefully worded, cannot 
 insure the carrying out of a testator's wishes. It is 
 far more necessary, so Dr. Guttman affirms, that the 
 requirements of each individual case should be inquired 
 into, and an experienced lawyer entrusted with the 
 drawing up of a will, taking its special features fully 
 into account. 
 
 On September 21, 1892, in the Burghermaster's 
 Assembly of the Vb'lkermarkt district of Graz, a peti- 
 tion was forwarded to the Ministry of the Interior, 
 praying that the. bodies of all persons dying from 
 cholera, might be burned. 1 
 
 BOHEMIA. 
 
 In the sitting of the Municipal Sanitary Council of 
 Prague, April 25, 1888. the need of adopting the 
 practice of cremation was discussed. It was proposed 
 that the Town Council should be requested to set aside, 
 in its next budget, a sum of money for the purchase 
 of a site for a crematorium. The proposal was warmly 
 supported by the members of the Sanitary Council 
 and referred to a committee for further consideration. 
 On May 25, 1888, this committee made its report, 
 in which it stated that, in view of the impossibility 
 of making any mode of burial innocuous, the committee 
 was of opinion that it was necessary that the over- 
 crowding of cemeteries and the filling of the earth 
 with organic matter should be obviated by the adoption 
 of permissive cremation, since all objections to such a 
 
 1 Ph(rnix, No. 10, October 1892.
 
 78 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 mode of disposing of the dead, as a hindrance to the 
 researches of justice, might be done away with by 
 the establishment of a severer system of death registra- 
 tion. Upon these principles, therefore, the committee 
 recommended the Sanitary Council to petition the town 
 authorities to adopt the process. 1 
 
 DENMARK. 
 
 The Danish Cremation Society was founded in 1881,- 
 and strove for more than ten years to induce the 
 Minister of Justice and the Folketing, 3 which, led by 
 the Minister of Public Worship, made a determined 
 stand against cremation, to favour the views of its 
 members. Although the Minister of Public Worship 
 announced his disapproval in a most decided manner, 
 and had a great deal of influence in the Folketing, 
 the Society determined to conduct an experimental 
 incineration, hoping, by that action, to force legislation 
 in the matter. In order to accomplish this end, it 
 was primarily necessary to have a crematorium. The 
 building of one was decided upon on April 9, 1885, 
 and, in September 1886, the structure being completed, 
 it was arranged to hold a trial burning in it. A body 
 of a suicide, obtained from the anatomy class in the 
 University of Lund, Sweden, was procured for the 
 purpose, and the cremation carried out. A repetition 
 of the experiment, was, however, forbidden by the Min- 
 ister of Justice, and the Society was warned that, if it 
 
 1 1'liti-ui.i; No. 8, August 1892. 
 - I hid. No. 5, May 1892. 
 3 Parliament, Lower House.
 
 MODERN LAW. 79 
 
 attempted to burn another body, the police would 
 interfere. In 1888, the courts of law confirmed the 
 prohibition of the Minister of Justice, and explained 
 that, even though no law existed forbidding cremation, 
 burial was the only legal form of disposal of the dead, 
 and one that could not be dispensed with, except in a 
 case of urgent necessity. An appeal from this decision 
 was disallowed. But the permission which neither the 
 Administration nor the courts of law would grant, was 
 eventually obtained through the Legislature. 
 
 The following are the conditions, approved by the 
 Minister of Justice, 1 under which the new Danish law 
 rendering cremation permissive, may be carried out : 
 
 " . . . . The existence of a testamentary disposition 
 in valid form, and of a sufficient legacy to defray the 
 cost of cremation ; the production of certificates obtained 
 from the medical officer and from the police authori- 
 ties, setting forth the undoubted cause of death ; and 
 the depositing of the ashes in a churchyard or an 
 officially approved crematorium." 
 
 SWEDEN. 
 
 In 1890 there were already four cremation societies 
 in Sweden, containing in all 3050 members, the chief 
 Society being that at Stockholm. 
 
 On the occasion of the first cremation carried out in 
 Sweden, the following order was published by the 
 lloyal Captain-General of the Province of Stock- 
 holm : 2 
 
 iij;, No. 5, May 1892. 
 - " Erde oder Feuer ? " by Wilhelm Schaffer. Darmstadt^ 1890.
 
 80 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 44 Nor, mix r \, 1887. 
 
 " When it became known that the Swedish 
 Cremation Society had erected a crematorium for the 
 burning of bodies in Hagalund, in the parish, of Solna, 
 the lloyal Captain-General invited the president of the 
 Society, Captain and Chevalier E. J. Klingenstierna, 
 to appear before him this day (November I, 1887), in 
 order that he might have a personal interview with 
 him, and that that gentleman might submit to him a 
 printed copy of the statutes of the Swedish Cremation 
 Society. Together with the various deeds and formu- 
 laries concerning the cremation already accomplished, 
 Mr. Klingenstierna gave the information that notice of 
 the nature of the first steps taken by the Society had 
 been sent in to his Majesty, and that his Majesty had 
 thereupon asked his Ministers of Justice to give him 
 their opinion on the matter. Upon hearing this, the 
 Royal Captain of the Province found no immediate 
 necessity for him, on his part, to take any further 
 measures in the affair ; only Captain Klingenstierna, by 
 virtue of his office, 1 must make it known that the 
 Society can only again take charge of deceased persons 
 on condition that he shall be able, as heretofore, to 
 collect and preserve all the deeds relating [to the 
 decease] and, besides these, he must produce before the 
 sheriff of the jurisdiction [province or county] of 
 Haxholm, the medical and police certificates. It will 
 rest, then, with the sheriff to supply the date of 
 presentation and to make further entries for preserva- 
 tion in the sheriff's office. 
 
 " MATTHES FALK." 
 
 1 As President of the Cremation Society.
 
 MODERN LAW. 81 
 
 NORWAY. 
 
 Cremation has not been so easily adopted in Norway 
 as in the neighbouring country of Sweden. In March 
 1889, a Cremation Society was started in Christiania, 
 but there is, as yet, no crematorium in that city. 1 On 
 May 25, 1892, another Society of about in members 
 was founded in Bergen. This Society announces as its 
 objects, the establishment of permissive cremation in 
 Norway, and the erection of a crematory furnace in 
 Bergen. 2 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 
 In Switzerland, there seems to have been no agitation 
 in favour of cremation until 1873. In 1874, public 
 meetings, held at Ziirich, did much to popularise the 
 idea of cremation, and societies for the promotion of 
 that mode of disposing of the dead were subsequently 
 formed in various towns, notably in Zurich, Aaran and 
 Argovie. 3 The Municipality of Zurich 'greatly favoured 
 the reform, and, in April 1877, the Zurich Government, 
 upon the proposal of the Chief Officer of Health, issued 
 a series of regulations determining the three special 
 conditions under which the cremation societies of the 
 Canton might proceed to put the methods advocated by 
 them into practice. These conditions were : 
 
 I. The formally expressed wish of the defunct. 
 
 II. The carrying out of a post-mortem by the coroner 
 
 1 " Erde odcr Feuer ? " by Wilhelm SchJiffer. Darmstadt. 
 - Plunnlc. No. 6. June 1892. 
 
 ; ' La Cremation, sa raison d'etre, &c.," p. 44, by Dr. de Pietra 
 Santa. 
 
 F
 
 2 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 of the district and the granting of a certificate attri- 
 buting death to natural causes. 
 
 III. The obtaining of an authorisation from the Chief 
 of Police, after a preliminary inquiry concerning the 
 mode of life of the deceased person. 
 
 Further than this, a police regulation, drawn up by 
 the Chief of Police and the representatives of the Cre- 
 mation Society, enumerated the hygienic, administrative 
 and legal conditions necessary for the carrying out of 
 the practice. But, in spite of all these authorisations, 
 it was not till 1885 that the decision was arrived at 
 actually to construct a crematory furnace at Zurich. 
 This edifice was completed in 1888, and the first 
 cremation took place there January 15, 1889.* At 
 Berne, the Government has been urgently requested to 
 follow the example of that of Zurich. 2 But though 
 cremation societies exist in Berne, Geneva, St. Gallen. 
 Lausanne, Biel and Basle, none of these towns possess 
 crematoria. Great efforts are, however, being made in 
 all of them to arrange for the construction of furnaces. 
 
 In Zurich, a movement has been recently set on foot 
 to make the cremation of bodies of persons dying of 
 infectious diseases, compulsory. 3 
 
 BELGIUM. 
 
 In Belgium, the idea of cremation has been well sup- 
 ported from the first. Municipalities have favoured it. 
 and the process was early applied to the carcases of 
 
 1 For " Instructions for the Conduct of Cremations in Ziirich." 
 see Appendix. 
 
 2 " La Cremation, &c.," by Dr. de Pietra Santa, p. 44. 
 * Phoenix, No. 8, August 1892-
 
 MODERN LAW. 83 
 
 animals. The Government, however, upon the advice 
 of the Minister of Justice, long since declared that 
 " before the practice of incineration can be adopted by 
 the Belgians, there must be an alteration in the existing 
 legislation which provides for the burial of the dead." 1 
 No alteration has been made, and the "decree ofPrairial 
 Year XII.," issued when Belgium belonged to France, is 
 not only still in force, but on June 17, 1882, it was inter- 
 preted and confirmed by the circular of the Minister of 
 the Interior which forbade cremation. 2 On the 2oth of 
 March 1882, the Municipality of Brussels and a number 
 of private citizens sent a petition to Parliament de- 
 manding permissive cremation. No results followed 
 the presentation of this document, and on January 2nd, 
 1883, Comte Goblet d'Alviella made a report upon the 
 petition, and asked that it should be laid before the 
 Ministry. Since that time, however, all thoughts of 
 cremation have been in abeyance in Belgium, and 
 those Belgians who wish to be cremated, are forced to 
 arrange to have their bodies taken out of the country 
 for incineration. 
 
 HOLLAND. 
 
 The Burial Law 'in force in the Netherlands bears 
 the date of April 10, i869. 3 The first article of this 
 law, as originally drawn up by Minister Heemskuh in 
 1867, permitted cremation as an exceptional mode of 
 burial. But his successor, Minister Foch, allowed him- 
 
 1 " Report of Congress at Gotha," 1886. 
 
 - Communication from Docteur J. Crocq, Senator and President 
 of the Cremation Society of Belgium. See Codes Annotes, p. 45, 
 annotation to Article 77. 
 
 3 " Bulletin des Lois," 1869, .p 65.
 
 84 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 self to be intimidated by the representations of Dr. 
 Westerhoff. and, in spite of the entreaties of Deputy van 
 K rkvvyk not to undo the well thought out work of his 
 predecessor, he changed one word in the first article, 
 and thereby excluded cremation. Minister Foch forgot, 
 however, to alter the remaining articles ; the result 
 being that the penalties enumerated by the Law of 
 April loth, 1869, are only applicable to those persons 
 who bio-y corpses in contravention of the dispositions of 
 that law ; as, for example, the burial of bodies in places 
 other than those set apart for the purpose. 
 
 In Holland, cremation is not forbidden by law, and 
 it would be impossible for a judge to punish, as a 
 transgressor of the law, any person convicted only of 
 burning a dead body. Nevertheless, cremation has not 
 yet been practised there. 1 The Sanitary Code provides 
 for the burial of all bodies in biers. 2 The Netherlands 
 Cremation Society, founded at the Hague, December 
 28th. 1874, was authorised by Royal Decree, September 
 1st. 1875. It comprises ten local sections in the prin- 
 cipal cities with 400 members, and a general section for 
 other cities and towns with 280 members, making in all 
 680. In response to the agitation promoted by this So- 
 ciety, the Dutch Government submitted to the Academy 
 of Sciences this question : " Would the cremation of the 
 dead put any obstacles in the way of the researches of 
 medical jurisprudence?" The special commission no- 
 minated by Professor Donders, President of the Academy 
 
 1 Communication, dated November 6th, 1892, from Mr. John J. 
 Perk, Secretary-General of the Netherlands Cremation Society. 
 - Cremation, sa raison d'etre, &c.," p. 50.
 
 MODERN LAW. 85 
 
 of Sciences, came to the conclusion that the incinera- 
 tion of human remains, surrounded by necessary safe- 
 guards, might be adopted without any difficulty. 1 This 
 opinion was expressed in June 1882, and in July 1886 
 the general assembly of the Netherlands Society of 
 Physicians also declared itself in favour of the authori- 
 sation of cremation. 2 In expectation of the Govern- 
 mental order permitting the cremation of the dead, the 
 Netherlands Cremation Society has for some time col- 
 lected a fund for the erection of furnaces in different 
 parts of the Kingdom. At the ninth General Assembly 
 at Leyden, September 27, 1884, the Society took upon 
 itself, upon consideration of an advance payment of 
 200 guilders (about 17) the care of the transporta- 
 tion and incineration at the nearest crematory (that at 
 Gotha) of the bodies of those members who should 
 express a desire to be cremated. This decision was 
 sanctioned by the Royal Decree of January 2, I885- 3 
 
 Over and over again the Society has petitioned the 
 Government to establish permissive cremation, and the 
 stereotyped response of successive Ministers has always 
 been : " There is at present no urgency." At last 
 the Society has determined to wait no longer. In a 
 General Assembly, held at Utrecht, November 21, 1891, 
 it was agreed that a crematory furnace, on the Bourry 
 system, should be built at Hilversum, a town midway 
 between Amsterdam and Utrecht. 4 
 
 1 Report of the Congress at Gotha, 1886. 
 
 Prospectus of tbe Netherlands Cremation Society. 
 
 3 Prospectus of Netherlands Cremation Society. 
 
 4 Communication, dated November 6, 1890, from Mr. John J. Perk.
 
 so THE LAW OF % CREMATION. 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 We have it on the authority of the Spanish Consul- 
 (ieneral in London, that no cremation societies exist 
 :.i Spain, neither has cremation been legislated for, or 
 in any way recognised, by the Government of that 
 country. As early as 1877, however, attempts were 
 made by scientific men to found a society. Some 
 pamphlets were written in favour of the practice, and 
 it was discussed in the Medico-pharmaceutical Academy 
 of Catalonia, but no definite steps have been as yet 
 taken to establish the practice. 1 
 
 PORTUGAL. 
 
 In Portugal, cremation is optional throughout the 
 Kingdom, and the Municipality of Lisbon has enacted 
 compulsory cremation in times of epidemic of yellow 
 fever. 3 
 
 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 Though in the practical application of the principle of 
 cremation Germany led the van, and though in regard 
 to the legalising and proper safeguarding of the prac- 
 tice, the Government of Italy proved itself more respon- 
 sive to popular demands than any other Administration, 
 the citizens of the United States have not lagged far 
 behind the inhabitants of Germany and Italy in their 
 adoption of the crematory process. In modern times, 
 the first cremation of human remains on American soil 
 
 1 La Cremation. &C.." by Dr. de Pietra .Santa, p. 51. 
 
 - Speech of Dr. Cameron in moving Disposal of the Dead 
 (Regulation) Bill " in House of Commons. April 30. 1884. See also 
 " Earth-Burial iincl Cremation," by A. G. Cobb.
 
 LAW. 87 
 
 was effected at Washington, Pa., 1 in I8/6. 2 It does not 
 appear that any law had previously been passed making 
 cremation legal, though in 1875 the Health authorities 
 of Massachusetts had taken the votes upon the subject, 
 of the medical men and sanitarians in their jurisdiction,, 
 with the following result : 
 
 For the adoption of cremation . .61 
 
 Against . . . . . .21 
 
 For embalming ..... 3 
 
 For incineration by chemical processes . I 
 The building of the Washington Crematorium, was 
 due entirely to private enterprise. Dr. Le Moyne, the 
 great advocate of the adoption of incineration, was the 
 constructor of the furnace. Besides the cremation 
 already referred to, which took place in 1876, this 
 furnace was used for the destruction of human bodies 
 in 1877, 1878, and 1879. Though cremation had not 
 the status of burial, the authorities did not interfere 
 with the carrying on of the process. Many cremation 
 companies were rapidly formed in various cities of the 
 States, but at first few practical results were achieved. 
 In September 1874 an article in the American Law 
 Register, by Marshall D. Ewell of Chicago, contained 
 the following comments on the celebrated decision of 
 Mr. Justice Stephen in the case of Reg. v. Price : " The 
 great learning of the Judge who gave the charge .... 
 
 as well as the fact that Lord Justice Fry concurred in 
 his opinion, will invest it with great authority when- 
 ever the question shall again come up for decision, as 
 
 1 Washington, Pennsylvania, a small town not the city of 
 Washington, capital of the United States. 
 - " La Cremation sa raison fl'C-tre," by Dr. Pietra Santo
 
 83 THE LAW Ofc CREMATION. 
 
 it unquestionably will, in the not far distant future. 
 We have read the case carefully several times, and. 
 while we confess that our personal opinion is very 
 decidedly in favour of the cremation of dead bodies, 
 under such statutoiy regulations as may be necessary to 
 prevent the destruction of the evidence of crime, as 
 soon as the state of public sentiment will warrant it> 
 yet we consider the reasoning of the learned judge in 
 support of his conclusion, that cremation is not illegal, 
 fery unsatisfactory ; and we are of opinion that the 
 authorities referred to by him, in his opinion, support 
 the conclusion that it is the duty of the c-.rccut.oi- <>/ 
 at In r jii't-wi/i, harinij charge of a dead body, <'.;/,f 
 where a different disposition, is autlwrised by the state /< , 
 to bury it and not to burn it, and that such will contin< 
 to be his duty till public sentiment is so changed * f<> 
 I/IIHII/II/ mid procure legislation authorising <-r<'iiinti<>ii. 
 consummation which, in the more thickly settled commu- 
 nities at least, is most dccoutly to be wished, and must 
 , i- 1 nt n nl I n be attained." 
 
 In August 1884, Dr. Le Moyne's Crematorium at 
 Washington, Pa., was closed to the general public, but 
 in November, of the same year, the second crematory 
 ever built in the United States was opened at Lancaster, 
 Pa. 1 Following upon this, others rapidly sprung up in 
 different parts of the country. In spite of the opinion 
 already cited of the contributor to the American Law 
 Register regarding the illegality of the act of cremation 
 in a country where there existed no statutory authorisa- 
 tion of the practice, the civil authorities manifested no 
 disposition to prevent the burning of dead bodies. 
 1 " Earth-l-uriHl and Cremation," by A. G. Cobb.
 
 MODERN ^AW. 89 
 
 As early as September 1883, the Grand Jury of New 
 Orleans had recommended the establishment in that 
 city of a crematory for the incineration of the bodies of 
 persons dying of contagious diseases. 1 In June 1886, 
 a committee on cremation, appointed by the " Society 
 of Medical Jurisprudence and State Medicine " of New- 
 York City made a report, in which it declared cremation 
 to be a sanitary necessity. Accompanying the report 
 was a resolution recommending the passage of a Bill by 
 the Legislature that would require all persons dying of 
 infectious diseases to be cremated under the direction 
 of the municipal authorities. The Bill was to provide 
 also for the incineration of the remains of paupers and 
 unidentified persons. Public crematories were deemed 
 advisable, and recommended. 2 Acting upon this sug- 
 gestion, the New York State Legislature in 1888 
 passed a Statute (cap. 441, i), providing that "the 
 Board of Commissioners of Quarantine shall forthwith 
 erect and establish upon Swinburne Island, in the 
 harbour of New York, a crematory of such form and 
 construction as they may deem advisable. It shall be 
 lawful for the said Board of Commissioners to cause to 
 be incinerated in such crematory the bodies of persons 
 dying at the quarantine hospital from contagious or 
 infectious diseases ; but they shall not incinerate the 
 bodies of any persons dying as aforesaid, whose re- 
 ligious views, as communicated by them while living, 
 or by their friends within twenty-four hours after their 
 decease, are opposed to cremation. The bodies of such 
 persons shall be disposed of as hereinafter provided." 
 
 1 " Earth Burial and Cremation," by A. G. Cobb. - Ibid.
 
 SH) THE LAW ^F CREMATION. 
 
 Cremation is little more than a matter of business 
 in New York State : in the beginning the Cremation 
 Companies were simply registered at Albany in a 
 manner precisely similar to that employed at the in- 
 corporation of any ordinary trading company. Vet 
 incineration cannot possibly be deemed illegal, for the 
 Penal Code, 305, provides that " a person has the 
 right to direct the manner in which his body shall be 
 disposed of after his death ; and also to direct the 
 manner in which any part of his body which becomes 
 separated therefrom during his lifetime shall bo dis- 
 posed of." 
 
 In 1886, the University of Pennsylvania erected a 
 crematory for the incineration of bodies dissected in the 
 Medical Department of the University, 1 and the Health 
 Department of Philadelphia now maintains a furnace 
 for the destruction of the remains of persons dying of 
 infectious diseases.' 2 (See Appendix.) 
 
 MEXICO. 
 
 The Mexican Government approves of the practice 
 of cremation, and has intimated its intention of sub- 
 stituting it for that of burial. 3 
 
 BRAZIL. 
 
 Brazil appears to have been the pioneer country of 
 South America in regard to the re-adoption of the long- 
 extinct practice of cremation. In the hope of lessening 
 the mortality that devastates the older quarters of Bio 
 
 1 "Earth-Burial and Cremation,' 1 by A. G. Cobb. 
 
 2 Article on " Progress of Cremation," in the AVir JVi7- Kreniny 
 rot, Saturday, April 9, 1892. 
 
 3 "Erde o<ler Fcm-r .'" by Willitlni SrhiifTer. Darmstadt, 1890.
 
 MODERN LAW. 91 
 
 Janeiro during the visitations of yellow fever, the late 
 Government of Brazil resolved to erect a crematorium 
 in the cemetery of St. Francis-Xavier. 1 
 
 AEGENTINE REPUBLIC. 
 
 In this country also the bodies of persons dying of 
 infectious diseases are cremated. 2 
 
 INDIA. 
 
 As stated in Part I., the practice of burning the dead 
 is still retained in India, with all the attendant rites and 
 ceremonies with which the traditions of the pre-historic 
 faiths of the Indian peoples have invested it. The 
 British Government has wisely refrained from interfering 
 with the ancient custom, at least as regards the burning 
 of corpses. But the incineration of the living is a 
 different matter, and Silti (or suttee) has been forbidden. 
 Under the government of Lord William Bentinck, a 
 legislative enactment was promulgated against it. By 
 this Act, the observance of Sati was declared penal in the 
 British territories. 3 The preamble of this Regulation, 
 which embodies the reasons which justified the Govern- 
 ment in abolishing the ancient practice, runs as follows : 
 
 " The practice of Sati, or of burning or burying alive 
 the widows of Hindus, is revolting to the feelings of 
 human nature; it is nowhere enjoined by the religion 
 of the Hindus as an imperative duty ; on the contrary, 
 a life of purity and retirement on the part of the widow 
 is more especially and preferably inculcated, and by a 
 vast majority of that people throughout India the prac- 
 
 1 ' La Cremation. &.C.." by Dr. de 1'it-tra Santa, p. 54 
 
 - "Erde oder Feuer?" by Wilbelm ticlmffer. Darmstadt, 1890 
 
 " Keg. XVII. of 1829.
 
 92 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 tice is not kept up nor observed. In some extensive 
 districts it does not exist. In those in which it has 
 been most frequent, it is notorious that, in many 
 instances, acts of atrocity have been perpetrated, which 
 have been shocking to the Hindus themselves and in 
 their eyes unlawful and wicked. 
 
 " The measures hitherto adopted to discourage and 
 prevent such acts have failed of success, and the 
 Governor-General in Council is deeply impressed with 
 the conviction that the abuses in question cannot 
 be effectually put an end to without abolishing the 
 practice altogether. Actuated by these considerations, 
 the Governor-General in Council, without intending to 
 depart from one of the first and most important 
 principles of the system of British government in India, 
 that all classes of the people be secure in the observance 
 of their religious usages so long as that system can be 
 adhered to without violating the paramount dictates of 
 justice and humanity lias deemed it right to establish 
 the following rules, which are hereby enacted to be in 
 force from the time of their promulgation throughout 
 the territories immediately subject to the Presidency of 
 Fort William." * 
 
 This statute, therefore, rendered the practice of Sfiti, 
 or of burning or burying alive the widows of Hindus, 
 illegal and punishable by the criminal courts (sec. ii.), 
 and eveiy person aiding and abetting the same was 
 declared liable to punishment. It was further ordained 
 (sec. iii.) that all zemindars, talookars. and other pro- 
 prietors of land shall be responsible for the immediate 
 
 1 " The Law relating to the Hindu Widow," by Trail okyanatha 
 Mitra, M.A., D.L.. pp. 94 & 95.
 
 MODERN LAW. 93 
 
 communication to the officers of the nearest police 
 stations of any intended case of Sati, and in case of 
 neglect they were liable to a fine. After its abolition 
 in British India, the custom was still observed in the 
 Native States. When Maharajah Runjeet Sing died in 
 1839, some of his wives became Satl; and recently, 
 when Maharajah Jung Bahadur of Nepal died, his wives 
 became Siiti. Occasional cases of Silti still occur. 
 
 JAPAN. 
 
 Cremation has long been held in honour by the 
 Buddhists of Japan, but in 1876 it was prohibited by 
 the Government out of deference for European ideas. 
 The prohibition, however, could not stand against the 
 force of popular usage, and three years later it was 
 withdrawn. 1 The average number of bodies consumed 
 annually by fire in Japan is io,ooo. 2 
 
 NEW SOUTH WALES. 
 
 A Bill to establish and regulate cremation was approved 
 by the Legislative Council of New South Wales in 
 1886. but failed to pass the House of Assembly. 3 
 During the year 1892, however, a movement was 
 started with the object of inducing the Government to 
 build a crematorium connected with the Sydney 
 Quarantine Hospital, and eventually to establish a 
 public crematorium. 4 
 
 1 " La Cremation, &c," by Dr. de Pietra Santa, p. 57. 
 - " Earth-Burial and Cremation," by A. G. Cobb. 
 
 3 "Annual Cyclopedia, 1888." Published by Appleton of New 
 York. 
 
 4 Phanijc, No. 11, November 1892.
 
 PART III. 
 
 ENGLISH LAW. 
 
 THE legal doubts and difficulties that have ever beset 
 and still impede the re-introduction of cremation into 
 Great Britain cannot be better exemplified than by a 
 short account of the early struggles of the Cremation 
 Society of England. 1 This Society was founded in 1874 
 by a number of gentlemen interested in Burial Reform.- 
 The opinion of an eminent counsel favourable to the 
 cause of cremation was obtained, and a still more favour- 
 able opinion was given, unofficially, by Lord Selborne 
 to a member of the Society's Council. 3 In 1879, a 
 correspondence was begun between the Secretary of the 
 Society and the Right Honourable R. A. Cross, Secretary 
 of State for the Home Department. A deputation, 
 composed of inhabitants of Woking and neighbourhood, 
 had waited on the Home Secretary and protested against 
 the building of a crematorium, then in process of erection, 
 
 1 President, Sir Henry Thompson, F.R.C.S. ; Honorary Secre- 
 tary, J. C. Swinburne-Hanham, Esq., J.P. Offices : 8 New 
 Cavendish Street, Portland Place, London, W. 
 
 2 " Cremation," by Sir H. Thompson and others, p. 50. 
 
 3 Ibid. Letter from the Secretary to the Right Hon. R. A. Cross, 
 Home Secretary, p. 51.
 
 ENGLISH LAW. 95 
 
 and this protest led to the interchange of letters 
 between the Society and the Home Office. In the 
 course of this correspondence Sir R. A. Cross pointed out 
 that " the practice of ordinary burial had become inter- 
 woven with the legislative arrangements of the country, 
 closely connected with various safeguards respecting 
 death, with statistics of death, and with the evidence of 
 death. 1 He also drew attention to the fact that " the 
 form of certificate produced to the minister is that given 
 by the registrar, who issues the certificate in exchange 
 for that of the medical attendant, and thus the statistical 
 object is secured. Further, the certificate of burial is, in 
 all legal proceedings, the proper and most economical 
 form of the evidence of death." He further informed the 
 promoters of the Cremation Society that he could not 
 u acquiesce in the continuance of the undertaking of the 
 Society to carry out the practice of cremation " until 
 Parliament had authorised such a practice by a " special 
 or general Act," and that if the undertaking were 
 persisted in, it would be his duty either to " test its 
 legality in a court of law or to apply to Parliament for 
 an Act to prohibit it until Parliament had an oppor- 
 tunity of considering the whole subject." A deputation 
 consisting of the President (Sir Henry Thompson), Sir 
 Spencer Wells, and other members of the Council, only 
 elicited a suggestion from Sir R. A. Cross that a Bill 
 might be brought into the House of Lords to determine 
 the matter on a legal basis and to establish a system of 
 registration. Meanwhile an inquiry was raised in the 
 House of Lords, but it led to no practical result. In 
 
 1 "Cremation."' Sir H. Thompson and others, p. 53. Letter 
 of February 21, 1879.
 
 J>6 THK LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 1 880, owing to a change of (Jovernment, the correspond- 
 ence was resumed with Sir William Harcourt, then 
 Secretary of State, and an address was accepted at a 
 meeting of the Public Health Section of the British 
 Medical Association signed by 143 gentlemen, praying 
 that the Government would not oppose the practice of 
 cremation. This address was forwarded to the Home 
 Secretary, and a simple acknowledgment of its receipt 
 returned to the senders. 1 In 1882, the Secretary of the 
 Cremation Society submitted the following question to 
 the Home Secretary : " Supposing I were to die now, 
 directing my executors to have my body burnt in our 
 crematorium at Woking. would *ny executors be liable 
 to prosecution ? " To this question the following reply 
 was sent : 2 " Sir William Harcourt can give no opinion 
 in matters which belong to the jurisdiction of courts of 
 law." But concerning the practice of disposing of the 
 dead by burning, Sir William was of opinion " that it 
 ought not to be sanctioned except under the authority 
 and regulation of an Act of Parliament," and he stated 
 further that he " must adhere to the view expressed by 
 his predecessor in office," in the letter of February 2 1 , 
 
 1879. 
 
 In 1882, the case of Williams v. Williams 3 was heard 
 before Mr. Justice Kay. This case bears so important 
 a relation to the matter under discussion that it is 
 necessary to deal with it at some length. Henry 
 Crookenden, by a codicil to his will, directed his 
 executors to give his body to his friend, Miss Eliza 
 
 1 " Cremation," by Sir H. Thompson & others, pp. 56 & 57. 
 Letter of Dec. 24, 1880. 
 - Ibid. p. 58. Letter of February 15, 1882. 
 3 L. R. 20 Ch. D. p. 659.
 
 ENGLISH LAW. 97 
 
 Williams (who was not one of his executors) to be dis- 
 posed of in the manner described by him in a private 
 letter addressed to her, in which he stated that he- 
 wished his body to be burned, when dead, under a 
 pile of wood. He further directed his executors to 
 pay her all expenses incurred out of his estate. He 
 died December 2ist, 1875, and by direction of the 
 widow and son was buried at Brompton Cemetery, the 
 executors paying the expenses of the funeral. Miss 
 Williams made claim as to the disposal of the body, 
 but not having the codicil and letter at hand, some 
 dispute as to what actually occurred took place. In 
 March 1 876, Miss Williams wrote to the Home Secretary, 
 with copies of the codicil and letter, praying for a 
 license to remove the body for the purpose either of 
 having it burnt or placing it in consecrated ground. 
 The body had been buried, under the rites of the Eoman 
 Catholic Church, in an unconsecrated part of the 
 Cemetery. The Under-Secretary of State refused to 
 allow the body to be burnt, but asked to what burial- 
 ground it was proposed to remove it, and to this 
 question Miss Williams, writing from Montgomeryshire, 
 replied that the body would be removed to the church- 
 yard of Manafan in Montgomeryshire. On the 23rd of 
 March i 76, the Home Secretary granted a licence for 
 the removal of the body from Brompton Cemetery. In 
 November of the same year Miss Williams informed 
 the executors that, if opportunity offered, she should 
 carry out Mr. Crooken den's wishes. In December 
 the managers of Brompton Cemetery informed the 
 solicitors of the widow and sons of the granting of 
 the licence, and they thereupon wrote to Miss Williams 
 
 G
 
 98 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 and to the Secretary of State, and on the 2Oth March 
 1878 the licence was revoked; but meanwhile, on the 
 1 4th March, Miss Williams had caused the body to be 
 disinterred, taken to Milan, and there burnt. 
 
 Miss Williams thereupon brought this action against 
 the executors and the widow and sons as residuary 
 legatees, claiming to be paid the expenses incurred 
 in carrying out the testator's wishes. It was argued 
 on her behalf that, though a direction in a codicil 
 was "not exactly a legacy, it had always been con- 
 sidered that a man could dispose of his own body." 
 that "if he directed his executors to bury him in a 
 particular place or way, they must do so " ; that, " even 
 if there was no property in a body (Reg. v. Sharpe 1 ), 
 a direction as to its disposal may be good " ; that 
 "a testator may leave property in many ways to 
 objects in which he had no interest, and that in the 
 present case the testator had directed his executors to pay 
 these expenses"; that although it "was not the custom 
 in England to burn bodies, yet there was no law against 
 doing so, nor was it contra bonos mores ; so that there 
 was no reason why Miss Williams, having possession of 
 the body, and having carried out the directions of the 
 testator, should not be repaid." On behalf of the 
 executors and the widow and sons, it was argued " that 
 the executors had a right to the possession of the body 
 (Reg. v. Fox 2 ), and could recover it from any one else ; 
 that they had sole discretion as to the funeral " (Stag 
 v. Punter 3 ), and that " the testator's directions are 
 frequently disregarded (Dawson v. Small 4 ) ; (Lloyd ??. 
 
 1 Dea & Bell, C. C. 160. -2 Q.JB. 246. 
 
 3 3 Atk. 119. * L. R, 18 Eq. 114,
 
 ENGLISH LAW. 99 
 
 Lloyd x ) ; that " where no living person is entitled to the 
 benefit of a trust, the executors may perform it or may 
 disregard it, unless it amounts to a charity "; that " re- 
 moval from a grave is a misdemeanour " (Rex v. Lynn 2 ); 
 that " a licence to remove for one purpose does not 
 justify removal for another purpose, and leaves the 
 removal an indictable offence " ; and that " the testator 
 did not mean his body to be burned after it had been 
 buried." It was argued in reply that in Keg. v. Fox 
 the only question was whether a body could be detained 
 for debt ; in Reg. v. Sharpe 3 the defendant was a 
 trespasser; 4 that executors have no property in the body, 
 and that a man has a right to direct who is to have 
 the custody of his body. 
 
 Mr. Justice Kay in giving judgment said, in con- 
 clusion : 
 
 "I must hold that this action fails entirely: for any one 
 of the reasons which I have given, the action would, in 
 my opinion, be altogether unsustainable ; and I dismiss 
 it with costs." 5 
 
 Not long after the hearing this case, the subject of 
 cremation again came before the Court in connection 
 with the well-known case of Reg. v. Price, 6 tried at the 
 Cardiff Assizes before Mr. Justice Stephen in February 
 1884. The Judge's charge to the Grand Jury in this 
 case was the turning-point in the history of the 
 Cremation Society of England, since it was the 
 occasion of the promoters of the Society taking up the 
 line of action they have since pursued. In his charge, 
 
 1 2 Sim. (N. S.) 255. '-' 2 T. R. 733. 
 
 3 Dea & Bell, C. C. 160. 4 " Russell on Crimes," p. 611. 
 
 3 See Appendix. 6 Law Rep. 12 Q. B. D., p. 247.
 
 100 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 the learned Judge, after reviewing at considerable 
 length the authorities on the subject of burial, ex- 
 pressed his conclusion in these words : " Though I 
 think that to burn a body decently and inoffensively is 
 lawful, or at the very least not criminal, it is obvious 
 that if it is done in such a manner as to be offensive to 
 others, it is a nuisance, and one of an aggravated kind." 1 
 It is under the protection of this important exposition 
 of the law which clearly demonstrates that there is 
 nothing in English law to render cremation illegal, 
 that the practice is now carried on ; and although the 
 system of registering deaths and granting certificates 
 remains unaltered, it appears that cremation is author- 
 ised in England as a legal method of disposing of the 
 dead. 
 
 Two months after the date of this trial the Disposal 
 of the Dead (Regulation Bill) moved by Dr. Cameron, 
 seconded by Dr. Farquharson, and supported by Sir 
 Lyon (now Lord) Playfair, was introduced into the 
 House of Commons. 
 
 According to Dr. Cameron, the object of this Bill 
 was to afford " additional guarantee for the detection of 
 foul play 'before corpses are permitted to be buried, and 
 to provide for the regulation of cremation, a practice 
 which, uncontrolled at present, is fraught with danger 
 to the community, but which under proper regulations, 
 . . . presents a chance of effecting a most important 
 social and sanitary reform." 5 In support of the Bill Dr. 
 Farquharson and Sir Lyon Playfair both spoke in favour 
 
 1 See Appendix. 
 
 Dr. Cameron's speech at the House of Commons, April 30, 1884.
 
 ENGLISH LAW. 101 
 
 of the crematory process, and pointed out its advantages. 
 The Bill was, however, opposed by the Government and 
 the leader of the Opposition, and was thrown out by a 
 majority of 149 to 79. 
 
 In May 1884, came another case that has an important 
 bearing on this subject, in so much that it decided the 
 illegality of burning or otherwise disposing of a dead 
 body with the intention of avoiding an inquest. (Reg. 
 v. Stevenson and another. 1 ) 
 
 The defendants were tried and found guilty btfore 
 Mr. Justice Hawkins, at the Leeds Assizes, upon an 
 indictment charging them with having burnt the dead 
 body of a child, with intent to prevent the holding of 
 an inquest upon it, but sentence was deferred until the 
 opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeal could be 
 obtained as to whether it was an indictable offence to 
 prevent the holding of a coroner's inquest ; and 
 secondly, whether, under the circumstances of the case, 
 the coroner had jurisdiction to hold an inquest. 
 
 On the arguing of the case before Justices Grove, 
 Stephen, Williams, Matthew, and Hawkins, on June 28, 
 1884, the conviction was affirmed, and it is some 
 satisfaction to the upholders of cremation to know that 
 it was held that " it is a misdemeanor to burn or other- 
 wise dispose of a dead body, with intent thereby to 
 prevent the holding upon such tody of an intended 
 coroner's inquest, and so to obstruct a coroner in the 
 execution of his duty, in a case where the inquest is 
 one which the coroner has jurisdiction to hold." It 
 was also held that "a coroner has jurisdiction to hold. 
 
 1 L. R. 13 Q. B. D. 331.
 
 102 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 and is justified in holding, an inquest if he honestly 
 believes information which has been given to him to be 
 true, which, if true, would make it his duty to hold 
 such inquest." 
 
 Soon after the rejection of the Disposal of the Dead 
 (Regulation Bill) the English Cremation Society issued 
 a public notice stating that, under certain conditions, 
 the crematorium could now be used, 1 and from the 
 2Oth of March 1885 to the end of the year 1891, 177 
 bodies have undergone the process of incineration at 
 Woking. 
 
 The most prominent objection to the more general 
 adoption of cremation is that rapid decomposition of 
 the body removes all traces of poison or violence. 
 The danger is no doubt a real one, but it is not 
 entirely removed by burial. Sir Henry Thompson says, 
 in reference to this question : 2 "It is often stated that 
 burial ensures the conservation of evidence that poison 
 has been given, but without large qualification the 
 statement is very far from true. Soon after burial 
 distinct traces of most poisons certainly those which 
 are the most potent, such as morphia, aconite, atropine, 
 strychnine, prussic acid, &c. are, sooner or later, 
 decomposed ; or they may become associated with 
 new septic poisons developed in the body itself, which 
 complicate the steps of subsequent inqniry, and invali- 
 date unquestionable evidence which was present for 
 some days after death, and might have been obtained 
 while the body was above ground. There remain, then, 
 only the metallic poisons which can be reckoned on as 
 
 1 See Appendix. - " Modern Cremation."
 
 ENGLISH LAW. 103 
 
 likely to be detected after exhumation, practically three 
 in number arsenic, antimony, and mercury. These will 
 mostly continue for a considerable time in a condition 
 which permits them to be obtained by analysis from the 
 tissues of the person poisoned. Nevertheless, exhumation 
 is at the best a clumsy attempt to rectify culpable want 
 of care before burial. For it is not too much to say that 
 the chances in favour of discovering poison will be at 
 least twenty to one if adequate inquiry be made while 
 the body is above ground, as compared with the result 
 of analysis made of those which have once been buried. 
 Yet what is our position in relation to this inquiry ? 
 Does the fact just named practically rule our action in 
 this matter ? By no means. Thousands of bodies are 
 buried every year in this country even without medical 
 certificates of any kind. Of course there are numerous 
 deaths from disease in which no medical advice has been 
 demanded, because the warning symptoms of danger 
 have been absent or insufficient ; and for this very 
 reason an inquiry should be made by some competent 
 official. And there are perhaps occasionally some in 
 which the absence of the medical man has been ensured 
 in furtherance of a sinister design. The proportion of 
 inquests to deaths is by no means inconsiderable, but 
 it is certainly less than it ought to be. Of the 522,750 
 deaths of 1885, no less than 27,798, or 5.3 percent, were 
 certified after inquest; but no less than 18,146, or 3.5 
 per cent, were buried without medical certificate or any 
 inquiry whatever. And in the year 1886 these un- 
 certified deaths amounted to 18,322. While it must be 
 confessed that there is a very large number of cases in-
 
 104 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 sufficiently defined by certificate and unsatisfactorily ac- 
 counted for. Since the date of the first edition a little 
 more attention appears to have been given to this matter, 
 for in the latest report that is, of the deaths in 1889, 
 amounting to 518,353 the causes of 29,079, or 5 '6 per 
 cent., were certified after inquest; and 15,100 deaths, or 
 2 -9 per cent., were not certified ; an improvement of about 
 & half per cent. 1 But in Scotland the uncertified deaths 
 form a far larger proportion to the certified than they 
 do in England. Thus, in the year 1888, the latest issue, 
 the uncertified deaths in Edinburgh amounted to no less 
 than lO'i per cent, of the entire number. Among the 
 rural population, it was far larger, reaching from 14 to 
 over 40 per cent, in the remoter districts. 2 
 
 " Few persons probably are aware of the infinitesimal 
 relation which exhumation for legal purposes bears by 
 comparison with the enormous opportunities offered for 
 the commission of undiscoverable crime, due to our im- 
 perfect arrangements for inquiry into the cause of death 
 in all ordinary cases. It is not too much to say that in 
 .a very large proportion of these the registration is 
 merely an empty form. 
 
 " ' To strain at a gnat and swallow a camel,' as a 
 metaphor, inadequately represents the inconsistent con- 
 duct of those who continue to disregard the facilities care- 
 
 1 Registrar-General's Report of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, 
 the 52nd, for the year 1889, p. xviii. (Eyre & Spotti&woode, 1890). 
 
 2 Registrar-General's Report of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in 
 Scotland for the year 1888, p. Ivi. (Neill & Co., Edinburgh, 1890 . 
 For an account of the laxity of usage in certifying death in Scot- 
 land, see a pamphlet by Dr. Charles Cameron, LL. D., M.P., entitled 
 "The Modern Cremation Movement" (Alex. Gardner, Paisley and 
 London, 1888). The whole work is an admirable and very forcible 
 statement of the case in favour of cremation.
 
 ENGLISH LAW. 105 
 
 lessly permitted for criminal poisoning, and magnify the 
 slender detective resources afforded by exhumation. 
 Dr. Danford Thomas the well-known coroner for Central 
 Middlesex, informs me that during the last seven 
 years he has held about 10,000 inquests in that district, 
 and only three exhumations have been ordered during 
 the same period. 
 
 " But at my suggestion, Dr. Danford Thomas has been 
 good enough to organise a systematic inquiry, extending 
 throughout England and Wales, designed to obtain the 
 results of exhumation for the last twenty years or there- 
 abouts. There are 3 34 coroners in England and Wales. 
 of whom 317, embracing all the important districts, 
 have responded to a series of questions sent out to each 
 for the purpose. Of this number, sixty-two had been 
 directed to perform exhumation, and the total number 
 of exhumations was 102. From these data it may be 
 estimated that the mean number of exhumations made 
 in a year throughout England and Wales is only five, 
 and less than one yearly for poison ! The number of 
 inquests during 1886 was 30,548, showing as an average 
 one exhumation to every 6,1 oo inquests 
 
 ' Whether cremation be adopted, or the practice of 
 burial alone be continued, in either case it is equally 
 desirable to make a far more searching inquiry than we 
 do at present in all cases of death." 
 
 The excellent regulations laid down by the Cremation 
 Society of England are, as far as that Society is con- 
 cerned, a great safeguard ; but as the practice becomes 
 more general, the passing of a Bill such as that brought 
 in by Dr. Cameron, Lord Play fair, and Dr. Farquh arson 
 for the regulation of cremation and other modes of dis-
 
 106 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 posal of the dead, will become more and more pressing, 
 and cannot long be delayed. 
 
 It is to be hoped that when a Bill is again presented 
 it will deal more fully with the question of certificates 
 of death than did the former one. By section 4 of that 
 Bill it was provided that it should not be lawful to bury 
 the dead body of a person until a certificate of registra- 
 tion had been issued in accordance with the provisions 
 of the Registration Acts ; by section 5 it was provided 
 that where it was sought to register a death without 
 the production of a medical certificate, in terms of the 
 Registration Acts, the Registrar should delay issuing a 
 certificate, and give notice to the Medical Officer of 
 Health, who should proceed to ascertain the cause 
 of death, and that his certificate, if granted, should 
 be deemed a medical certificate within the meaning 
 of the Acts. It also provided that if the Medical 
 Officer was obstructed in proceeding to ascertain the 
 cause of death, or was unable for any reason to ascer- 
 tain the same, he should immediately give notice to 
 the Coroner, who should proceed to hold an inquest. As 
 this would throw an additional burden on the Medical 
 Officer, and would not improbably lead to the passing of 
 a subsequent Bill providing, as in France and certain 
 parts of Germany, that in all cases of death the 
 certificate shall be granted by a Medical Officer duly 
 appointed for that purpose, 1 it is to be hoped that 
 any future Bill that is promoted will provide for the ap- 
 pointment of a qualified medical officer in each 
 district whose duty it shall be personally to view the 
 
 1 In France, Mtdecin Vtrificattur, or 3/edecin Atsermente : see p. 46. 
 In Germany, see p. 139.
 
 ENGLISH LAW. 107 
 
 corpse, and certify as to the cause of death in every 
 case. 
 
 The following excellent suggestions are made by Sir 
 Henry Thompson : l 
 
 " (i) No body to be buried, burned, or otherwise dis- 
 posed of without a medical certificate of death, signed, 
 after personal knowledge and observation, or by inform- 
 ation obtained after investigation made by a qualified 
 medical man. 
 
 " (2) A qualified medical man should be appointed as 
 official certifier in every parish, or district of neighbour- 
 ing parishes, whose duty it will be to examine in all 
 cases of death and report the cause in writing, 
 together with such other details as may be deemed 
 necessary. 
 
 " (3) If the circumstances of death obviously de- 
 mand a coroner's inquest, the case is to be transferred to 
 his court and the cause determined, with or without 
 autopsy. If there appears to be no ground for holding 
 an inquest, and an autopsy be necessary to the furnish- 
 ing of a certificate, the official certifier will make it, and 
 state the result in his report. 
 
 " (4) No person or company should be henceforth 
 permitted to construct or use an apparatus for burning 
 human bodies without obtaining a licence from the Home 
 Secretary or other authority as determined. 
 
 " (5) No crematory should be so employed unless 
 the site, construction, and system of management have 
 been approved, after survey, by an officer appointed by 
 Government for the purpose. But the licence to con- 
 struct or use a crematory should not be withheld if 
 
 1 " Modern Cremation,' 1 by Sir Henry Thompson.
 
 108 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 guarantees are given that the conditions required are 
 or shall be complied with. All such crematories to be 
 subject at all times to inspection by an officer appointed 
 by the Government. 
 
 " (6) The burning of a human body otherwise than 
 in an officially recognised crematory shall be illegal and 
 punishable by penalty. 
 
 " (7) No human body shall be burned unless the 
 official examiner who signs the certificate of death 
 shall, in consequence of application made, add the 
 words : " Cremation permitted." And this he will be 
 bound to do if, after due inquiry, with or without 
 autopsy or coroner's inquest, he is satisfied and can 
 certify that the deceased has died from natural causes, 
 and not from ill-treatment, poison, or violence." 
 
 The before- mentioned Bill 1 further provided for 
 the payment of a fee of five shillings to the Medical 
 Officer from the person requiring the death to be regis- 
 tered. 
 
 And this leads naturally to the consideration of 
 another set of fees viz., Burial Fees. 
 
 It not infrequently happens that the relatives of 
 deceased persons, whose bodies have been cremated, 
 desire to bury the urn containing the ashes in a 
 particular cemetery, but although the burial service 
 may have been already read, either at the house of the 
 deceased previous to the cremation or at the chapel 
 attached to the crematorium, and although it is un- 
 necessary to bury the urn more than a few inches 
 below the surface, it has been the custom to charge 
 
 1 See p. 100
 
 ENGLISH LAW. 10S 
 
 burial fees as if the grave had been opened for the 
 burial of a body contained in a coffin. Some provision 
 for the burial of urns containing the ashes of deceased 
 persons should certainly be added. 1 
 
 The Select Committee of the House of Commons 
 (1882) on Ecclesiastical and Mortuary Fees, recom- 
 mended " that no incumbent appointed in future should 
 be allowed to demand any ecclesiastical fee on account 
 of the use of a brick grave or a leaden coffin, or on 
 account of any monument or memorial inscription 
 erected or placed in the parish churchyard, or in a 
 parochial cemetery, subject always to his income being 
 supplemented by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 
 proper cases." 
 
 There is again a kindred subject which might well 
 be included in the Bill when re-introduced viz., the 
 position of an executor to a will containing a direction 
 to cremate the body of a testator. As the law now 
 stands, an executor is not obliged to follow a direction 
 by will as to the disposition of the body of a testator 
 there being no property in a dead body, 2 but 
 only a right of possession and power of disposition 
 vested in the executors. 3 It is scarcely necessary to 
 point out that the present position of the law on this 
 subject leads naturally to results like those that 
 occurred in the cases already quoted, and places ex- 
 ecutors in the painful position of either carrying out 
 a system of disposing of the dead to which they may 
 be from religious or other reasons opposed, or refusing 
 
 1 See Appendix, pp. 143, 144, and 150, 151. 
 
 - Reg. v. Scott and Williams v. Williams. 3 Reg. r. Sharp e.
 
 110 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 the last request of a testator whose wishes they desire 
 to fulfil. 
 
 In Italy, France, and the United States, the difficulty 
 has been solved by giving to all persons, of full age and 
 sound mind, the absolute right to determine the manner 
 in which their bodies shall be disposed of after death j 1 
 provided, of course, that the regulations in force in the 
 different countries are complied with. Until the law 
 that gives to executors the complete power of disposition 
 of the body has been altered, testators in this country 
 will always experience considerable difficulty in insur- 
 ing the cremation of their bodies at death, if indeed 
 they can ever provide with certainty that their wishes 
 shall be complied with. The embalming 2 and burial of 
 the remains of Garibaldi, 3 in spite of his reiterated wish 
 to be cremated, is a notable instance of the difficulty 
 in question, but it is not an extreme or isolated case. 
 Such cases have probably occurred over and over again 
 in England during the last few years, and they must 
 <xmtinue to occur here and in all countries where abso- 
 lute disposition of the body is vested in executors. 
 
 An article by a Viennese lawyer has already been 
 cited* in which it is pointed out that, in spite of the 
 fact that Austrian law nominally gives to all testators 
 
 1 See under headings " France," " Italy," and " United States of 
 America," in Part II., pages 44, 54, and 55. 
 
 - The Secretary of the Milan Cremation Society, when sent by 
 the Italian Minister of the Interior to Caprera to conduct the 
 cremation of Garibaldi, arrived in time to be present at the em- 
 balming of the General's body, which had already been begun by 
 Professor Albauese. 
 
 3 See under heading " Italy," in Part II., pp. 51 and 52. 
 
 4 See under heading "Austria," Dr. Emil Guttman's opinion, 
 pp. 74 and 75.
 
 ENGLISH LAW. Ill 
 
 power to direct the disposition of their own bodies, 
 the discretionary power vested in officials, who stand 
 in the place of executors in that country, leaves it 
 always very uncertain that their wishes will be 
 carried out. The suggestion made by Dr. Emil Gutt- 
 man in his article in PJuenix of September 1892, in 
 regard to insuring cremation in accordance with the 
 existent form of Austrian law, somewhat resembles 
 a plan adopted by the author in 1890. A testator 
 being exceedingly anxious to insure cremation, a sepa- 
 rate executor was appointed by codicil, there being 
 already an existing will, for the purpose of carrying out 
 an agreement to cremate already entered into between 
 the testator and the Cremation Society of England, with 
 which Society a sum of money had been deposited to cover 
 the expenses of the funeral and cremation. This executor 
 was appointed for the period of one month after the death, 
 this being considered a sufficient time to allow the re- 
 moval and cremation to take place, or for such period, 
 if less than one month, as should elapse until the cre- 
 mation had been actually accomplished in accordance 
 with the directions contained in the codicil. The 
 codicil further directed that the trusts and provisions 
 of the will and any previous codicil should be subject 
 to the provisions of the codicil, and that, in particular, 
 the appointment of executors made by the will should 
 not take effect during the existence- of the limited 
 executorship, but should take effect immediately upon 
 the expiration of such executorship. A copy of this 
 codicil was deposited with the Cremation Society, to- 
 gether with the Society's forms, duly filled up, and a sum, 
 sufficient to cover undertaker's charges and travelling
 
 112 THE LAW OF CREMATION. 
 
 expenses, was left with the Society to the use of the 
 executor. 
 
 By these means the necessity of disturbing the pro- 
 visions of the existing will was avoided, and the 
 executors, whom the testator wished to carry out its 
 provisions, remained as originally appointed. 
 
 It is difficult to understand why English law should 
 deprive testators of the power of disposing of their own 
 bodies. The ancient Roman Law recognised the right 
 of all persons, in a position to dispose of their worldly 
 belongings by will, to determine the character of their 
 own obsequies, and did not permit any violation of 
 their wishes. 
 
 In the case of hereditary sepulchres, under the Roman 
 Law, every representative of a family could claim the 
 right of burial therein, but surviving members could 
 do nothing contrary to the will of a testator. 1 The 
 latter might have specially forbidden his representa- 
 tives to bury him in the hereditary sepulchre and 
 they were then obliged to conform to his wish, 
 under penalty of exposing themselves to an action 
 sepulchri violati. Further, if the testator had directed 
 that the right to bury him was vested in only one of 
 his representatives, that direction had to be observed ; 
 they were, however, forbidden to divide this right 
 upon their own initiative, in order to bestow it upon 
 only one of them. They received the right as it was and 
 as delivered to them by the testator, and could neither 
 dispose of it among themselves nor transmit it to 
 strangers. The duty of burying a deceased person fell 
 
 1 " Le Droit Fuiu-raire :\ Rom< ," by Henri Daniel Lacombe, 
 Docteur en clroit.
 
 ENGLISH LAW. 113 
 
 by law upon the beneficiaries (under the will), and they 
 all had to contribute pro redd to the expenses ; but this 
 general rule underwent an exception when the defunct 
 had specially designated some person to fulfil the duty. 
 This specially designated person might have, as his 
 trust, either to arrange the funeral or erect the tomb. 
 Under these circumstances it was this person alone 
 who was entitled to act, and any one who hindered the 
 action, under any pretext whatsoever, was in the wrong 
 (non rede facere).
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. 
 MR. JUSTICE KAY'S JUDGMENT 
 
 In the Case of Williams v. Williams, 20 Ch. Div. 659. 
 
 <c I DO not delay giving judgment, as from the time 
 when I learned the facts of the case my opinion upon 
 it has not been altered." His Lordship then stated the 
 facts of the case down to the funeral, and continued : 
 
 " Several legal points have been raised, on which I 
 have not felt a moment's doubt, and which I will dispose 
 of in the first instance. It is quite clearly the law of 
 this country that there can be no property in the dead 
 body of a human being. That was declared to be the 
 law in the case of Reg. v. Sharpe, and as the decision 
 is useful for other reasons, I will refer to the case more 
 at length. It was an indictment for unlawfully digging 
 up and taking the body of a deceased person out of a 
 grave. It seems that the defendant's family had be- 
 longed to a congregation of Dissenters, and his mother 
 with some other of his relatives had been buried in one 
 grave in the burying-ground of the congregation ; that 
 his father had recently died, and that the defendant 
 prevailed on the person to whom the key of the burying- 
 ground was entrusted to allow him to cause the grave to
 
 116 APPENDIX. 
 
 be opened, under the pretext that he wished to bury his 
 father in the same grave, that he caused the remains of 
 the coffin of his mother with the corpse to be placed in 
 a shell and carried some miles away towards the church- 
 yard where he intended to bury his father's corpse with 
 the remains of his mother. These acts were done with- 
 out the knowledge or consent of the congregation to 
 whom the burying-ground belonged, or of the trustees 
 having the legal estate therein. The person having the 
 keys of the ground was induced to admit the defendant 
 into the ground and to the grave by reason of the pre- 
 text that he intended to bury his father there. The 
 jury found that this was only a pretext, and that his 
 real intention was from the beginning to remove his 
 mother's corpse ; that he acted throughout without the 
 intention of disrespect to any one, being actuated by 
 motives of affection towards his mother, and of religious 
 duty. Mr. Justice Erie delivered the judgment of 
 the Court, which consisted besides of Pollock, C.B.. 
 Willes, J., Bramwell, B., and Watson, B." His Lord- 
 ship then read the judgment, in which Erie, J., after 
 stating the facts said : l " ' Neither authority nor principle 
 would justify the position that the wrongful removal 
 of a corpse was no misdemeanour if the motive for the 
 act deserved approbation. A purpose of anatomical 
 science would fall within that category. Neither does 
 our law recognise the right of any one child to the 
 corpse of its parent, as claimed by the defendant. Our 
 law recognises no property in a corpse, and the protection 
 of the grave at common law, as contradistinguished 
 from the ecclesiastical protection to consecrated ground, 
 1 Dca & Bell, C. C. 163.
 
 APPENDIX. 117 
 
 depends upon this form of indictment ; and there is no 
 authority for saying that relationship will justify the 
 taking of a corpse away from the grave where it ha 
 been buried. We have been unwilling to affirm the con- 
 viction on account of our respect for the motives of the 
 defendant, but we have felt it our duty to do so, rather 
 than lay down a rule which might lessen the only pro- 
 tection the law affords in respect of the burials of Dis- 
 senters. The result is that the conviction will stand, 
 and the judge states that the sentence should be a 
 nominal fine of one shilling.' That judgment entirely 
 justifies my statement that the law of this country re- 
 cognises no property in a corpse. 
 
 " The second point of law depends upon the rights of 
 executors with respect to burial. They are stated thus 
 in Williams on Executors : l ' It is now proposed to 
 consider the duties of an executor or administrator. 
 And first he must bury the deceased in a manner suit- 
 able to the estate he leaves behind him ; and the reference 
 is to the high authority of Mr. Justice Blackstone, who 
 states the proposition in the same words. 2 It has been 
 argued that this only applies to the expenses of the 
 burial ; but I do not agree with that contention. It 
 means, and I understand the law of this country to be, that 
 primd facie the executors are entitled to the possession 
 of and are responsible for the burial of a dead body ; and 
 if any further authority be wanted it is to be found in 
 the case of Reg. v. Fox, 3 where a gaoler had refused 
 to deliver up to the executors the body of a person who 
 died while a prisoner, unless they would satisfy certain 
 claims made by the gaoler against the deceased. The 
 1 Sixth ed. p. 906. * 2 HI. Com. 508. 3 2 Q. B. 246.
 
 113 APPENDIX. 
 
 Court issued a mandamus, and Lord Chief Justice 
 Denman said this : ' I think this is a case in which 
 we ought not to wait for a return but that the man- 
 damus should be peremptory in the first instance. If 
 Scott has any answer to give, he can do so, not by way 
 of return, but in showing cause why an attachment 
 should not issue.' In that decision Williams, Coleridge, 
 and Wightman, J.J., concurred, and it is founded on 
 Reg. v. Scott, 1 where a similar event had occurred ; and 
 Mr. Justice Maule said that the notion of a gaoler being 
 authorised to detain a dead body on account of pecuniary 
 claims was a mistake, and that he would be liable to 
 prosecution. That case shows not merely that a gaoler 
 may not detain the dead body, but that although there 
 is no property in a dead body, the executors have such 
 a right of possession that they may obtain a peremptory 
 mandamus against the gaoler, who was lawfully in 
 possession of the body of the man while alive, to have 
 the dead body delivered up to them. Accordingly, the 
 law in this country is clear, that after the death of a 
 man, his executors have a right to the custody and pos- 
 session of his body (although they have no property in 
 it) until it is properly buried. It follows that a man 
 cannot by will dispose of his dead body. If there be 
 no property in a dead body, it is impossible that by 
 will or any other instrument the body can be disposed 
 of. I asked for any authority in conflict with these cases, 
 but none was produced. I have referred to the books 
 of the greatest authority on the question, and I believe 
 there is no authority in the least degree in conflict with 
 these cases. 
 
 1 2 Q. B. 248, N.
 
 APPENDIX. 11 
 
 " It follows that the direction in this codicil to the 
 executors, to deliver over the body to Miss Williams, who 
 is not one of the executors, is a direction which in point 
 of law could not be enforced and was void. She had no 
 right of property in the body under that direction, nor 
 could she enforce the delivery of the body by the 
 executors. I should have therefore no hesitation, if the 
 case stood there, in saying that this direction contained 
 in the codicil was a direction which could not be 
 enforced at law, and was therefore void. Of course the 
 purpose named in the letters cannot make it better or 
 worse. If the purpose had merely been for burial in a 
 particular cemetery, which would be entirely according to 
 the law of this country, that would not make the direc- 
 tion to deliver the body to some one who was not an exe- 
 cutor any more legal or enforceable, but the purpose 
 confessedly was to have the body burnt, and thereupon 
 arises a very considerable question whether that is .or not 
 a lawful purpose according to the law of this country. 
 That is a question which I am not going to decide. 
 
 ' But there are two other points, either of which it 
 seems to me would be equally fatal to this claim. The 
 body was buried by the family with the assent of the 
 executors. The testator was a member of the Roman 
 Catholic communion, and I am told that when bodies 
 are buried in ground which is not altogether conse- 
 crated, ceremonies take place at the grave which have 
 the effect of blessing the grave ; at any rate, the priest, 
 as I understand, pronounces a blessing on the grave, and 
 some consecrated earth is thrown in. All that I under- 
 stand was done at this funeral, and the funeral was 
 perfectly regular, formal, and proper according to the
 
 120 APPENDIX. 
 
 rites of the Church of Rome. Now, Miss Williams at 
 and before this funeral expressed her wish to carry out 
 the desires of the testator. The evidence is that neither 
 the family nor the executors would assent, and accord- 
 ingly the funeral took place. Afterwards, in March 
 1876, she applied to the Secretary of State." (His 
 Lordship then stated the facts as to her application.) 
 " I wish to preface all I am going to say on this part of 
 the case by the statement, that in my view this lady 
 considered that she was under a paramount obligation, 
 by reason of the duties which she had undertaken to the 
 testator, to carry out this wish of his if by any means she 
 could, and I should absolve her, so far as I can form any 
 opinion on the matter, of any intention to do that which 
 was illegal or improper, or in any way contra bonos mores. 
 But I observe that by the terms of the codicil the 
 testator certainly contemplated that the cremation 
 should take place before burial, because he directs that 
 the body should be delivered to her three days after 
 death and that then the costs which she incurred should 
 be repaid to her on production of the vouchers within 
 three months of his death. There can be no kind of doubt, 
 therefore, that what he contemplated was not cremation 
 after interment, bat cremation and not interment." 
 
 His Lordship then read the answer of the Under 
 Secretary of State, and observed that his meaning 
 clearly was that no licence would be given to remove the 
 body for the purpose of cremation, and that a licence 
 would only be given for the purpose of burying the body 
 in consecrated ground, if the ground was pointed out and 
 approved of. His Lordship then read the reply of Miss 
 Williams, and said that it clearly meant that she had
 
 APPENDIX. 121 
 
 given up the notion of cremation, and would adopt the 
 other alternative, and thereupon the licence was given, 
 which of course proceeded on the supposition that the 
 only purpose for which she intended to remove the 
 body was that of burying it in consecrated ground at 
 Manafan. His Lordship then read her letter to the 
 executors, and said that if that had been brought to 
 the attention of the Home Secretary before the body 
 was removed, no doubt the licence would have been re- 
 voked ; and moreover, if the executors had applied in 
 this Court for an injunction, this Court would have 
 stopped the removal of the body. His Lordship then 
 proceeded : 
 
 " It has been argued that the removal for the purpose 
 which this lady certainly represented to the Secretary of 
 State that she had abandoned, was a misdemeanour, and 
 there is language in the judgment of Chief Justice Erie 
 in the case of Reg. v. Sharpe 1 which might justify an 
 argument to that effect. That, however, is a point 
 which I am not going to decide. It is enough for me to 
 say that the removal for the purpose of cremation and 
 the cremation were illegal acts. If that alone were the 
 question to be decided, it would be impossible for this 
 lady to recover against the estate money for doing that 
 which, if I am right, was an illegal act/' His Lordship 
 then dealt with other points of the case not affecting 
 the present subject, and concluded : 
 
 " I must hold that this action fails entirely : for any 
 one of the reasons which I have given, the action 
 would, in my opinion, be altogether unsustainable ; and 
 I dismiss it with costs." 
 
 ' Dea & Bell, C. C. 160.
 
 II. 
 
 MR. JUSTICE STEPHEN ON THE LAW 
 OF CREMATION. 
 
 Charge to the Grand Jury at the Crown Court, 
 Cardiff, in February 1884. 
 
 GENTLEMEN OF THE GRAND JURY, There are a con- 
 siderable number of cases on the calendar, but, with 
 one exception, they are of the most ordinary kind, and 
 the circumstances attending them are of such a usual 
 character that I shall not weary you with dwelling 
 upon them at all. One of the cases to be brought 
 before you is so singular in its character, and involves 
 a legal question of so much novelty and of such general 
 interest, that I propose to state at some length what I 
 believe to be the law upon the matter. I have given 
 this subject all the consideration I could, and I am 
 permitted to say that, although I alone am responsible 
 for what I am about to read to you, Lord Justice Fry 
 takes the same view of the subject as I do, and for the 
 same reasons. 
 
 William Price is charged with a misdemeanour 
 under the following circumstances : He had in 
 his house a child five months old, of which be is 
 said to be the father. The child died. Mr. Price 
 did not register its death. The coroner accordingly 
 gave him notice on a Saturday that unless he sent a
 
 APPENDIX. 123 
 
 medical certificate of the cause of death, he (the 
 coroner) would hold an inquest on the body on the 
 following Monday. Mr. Price on the Sunday after- 
 noon took the body of the child to an open space, put 
 it into a ten-gallon cask of petroleum, and set the 
 petroleum on fire. A crowd collected; the body of 
 the child, which was burning, was covered with earth 
 and the flames extinguished, and Mr. Price was brought 
 before the magistrates and committed for trial. He 
 will be indicted before you on a charge which in 
 different forms imputes to him as criminal two parts 
 of what he is said to have done first, in having 
 prevented the holding of an inquest on the body; 
 and secondly, in his having attempted to burn the 
 child's body. With respect to the prevention of the 
 inquest, the law is that it is a misdemeanour to pre- 
 vent the holding of an inquest, which ought to be 
 held, by disposing of the body. It is essential to this 
 offence that the inquest which it is proposed to hold 
 is one which ought to be held. The coroner has not an 
 absolute right to hold inquests in every case in which 
 he chooses to do so. It would be intolerable if he 
 had power to intrude without adequate cause upon 
 the privacy of a family in distress, and to interfere 
 in their arrangements for a funeral. Nothing can 
 justify such an interference, except a reasonable 
 suspicion that there may have been something peculiar 
 in the death, and that it may have been due to other 
 causes than common illness. In such cases the 
 coroner not only may, but ought, to hold an inquest, 
 and to prevent him from doing so by disposing of the 
 body in any way for an inquest must be held on the 
 view of the body is a misdemeanour. The depo- 
 sitions in the present case do not very clearly show
 
 124 APPENDIX. 
 
 why the coroner considered an inquest necessary. If 
 you think that the conduct of Dr. Price was such as 
 to give him fair grounds' for holding one, you ought 
 to find a true bill, for beyond all question he did as 
 much as in him lay to dispose of the body in such 
 a manner as to make an inquest impossible. The 
 other part charged as criminal is the attempt made 
 by Dr. Price to burn his child's body, and this raises, 
 in a form which makes it my duty to direct you upon 
 it, a question which has been several times discussed, 
 and which has attracted some public attention, though, 
 so far as I know, no legal decision upon it has ever 
 been given the question, namely, whether it is a 
 misdemeanour at common law to burn a dead body 
 instead of burying it. As there is no direct authority 
 upon the question, I have found it necessary, in order 
 to form an opinion, to examine several branches of the 
 law which bear upon it more or less remotely, in 
 order to ascertain the principles on which it depends. 
 The practice of burning dead bodies prevailed to a 
 considerable extent under the Romans, as it does to 
 this day among the Hindoos, though it is said that 
 the practice of burial is both older and more general. 
 It appears to have been discontinued in this country 
 and in other parts of Europe when Christianity was 
 fully established, as the destruction of the body by 
 fire was considered, for reasons to which I need not 
 refer here, to be opposed to Christian sentiment ; but 
 this change took place so long ago, and the substitu- 
 tion of burial for burning was so complete, that the 
 burning of the dead has never been formally forbidden, 
 or even mentioned or referred to, so far as I know, 
 in any part of our law. The subject of burial was 
 formerly and for many centuries a branch of the
 
 APPENDIX. 125 
 
 ecclesiastical or canon law. Among the English 
 writers on this subject little is to be found relating to 
 burial. The subject was much more elaborately and 
 systematically studied in Roman Catholic countries 
 than in England, because the law itself prevailed 
 much more extensively in those countries. In the 
 " Jus Ecclesiasticum " of Van Espen, a great authority 
 on the subject, there is an elaborate discourse, filling 
 twenty-two folio pages in double column, on the 
 subject of burial, in which every branch of the subject 
 is systematically arranged and discussed, with 
 references to numerous authorities. The only 
 importance of it is that it shares the view of the 
 Canonists on the subject, which view had great in- 
 fluence on our own ecclesiastical lawyers, though only 
 a small part of the canon law itself was ever intro- 
 duced into this country. Without giving specific 
 reference, I may say that the whole of the title in 
 Van Espen regards the participation in funeral rites 
 as a privilege to which, subject to certain conditions, 
 all the members of the Church were entitled, and the 
 deprivation of which was a kind of posthumous 
 punishment analogous to the excommunication of the 
 living. The great question with which the writer 
 occupies himself is In what cases ought burial to be 
 denied ? The general principle is that those who are 
 not worthy of Church privileges in life are also to be 
 excluded from them in death. As to the manner in 
 which the dead bodies of persons deprived of burial 
 were to be disposed of, Van Espen says only that 
 although in some instances the civil power may have 
 entirely forbidden burial, whereby bodies may remain 
 unburied or exposed to the sight of all, to be devoured 
 by beasts or destroyed by the weather (he considers
 
 12(5 APPENDIX. 
 
 the dissection of criminals as a case of this kind), the 
 Church has never made such a provision, and has 
 never prohibited the covering of dead corpses with 
 the earth. This way of looking at the subject seems 
 to explain how the law came to be silent on excep- 
 tional ways of disposing of dead bodies. The question 
 was in what cases burial must be refused. As for 
 the way of disposing of bodies to which it was refused, 
 the matter escaped attention, being probably regarded 
 as a matter which affected those only who were so 
 unfortunate as to have charge of such corpses. The 
 famous judgment of Lord Stowell in the case of iron 
 coffins (Gilbert v. Buzzard, 2 Haggard, Consistory 
 Reports, 333), which constitutes an elaborate treatise 
 on burial, proceeds upon the same principles. The 
 law presumes that every one will wish that the bodies 
 of those in whom he was interested in their lifetime 
 should have Christian burial. The probability of a 
 man entertaining and acting upon a different view is 
 not considered. These considerations explain the 
 reason why the law is silent as to the practice of 
 burning the dead. Before I come to consider its 
 legality directly, it will be well to examine some 
 analogous topics which throw light upon it. There 
 is one practice which has an analogy to funereal 
 burning, inasmuch as it constitutes an exceptional 
 method of dealing with dead bodies. I refer to 
 anatomy. Anatomy was practised in England as far 
 back as the very beginning of the seventeenth 
 century. It continued to be practised, so far as I 
 know, without any interference on the part of the 
 Legislature, down to the year 1832, in which year was 
 passed the Act for regulating the Schools of 
 Anatomy. This Act recites " the importance of
 
 APPENDIX. 127 
 
 anatomy, and that the legal supply of human bodies 
 for such anatomical study is insufficient fully to 
 provide the means of such knowledge.' It then 
 makes provision for the supply of such bodies by 
 enabling any executor or other party having lawful 
 possession of the body of any deceased person to permit 
 the body to be dissected except in certain cases. The 
 effect of this has been that the bodies of persons dying 
 in various public institutions, whose relatives were 
 unknown, were so dissected. The Act establishes 
 other requisitions not material to the present question, 
 and enacts that after examination the bodies shall be 
 decently interred. This Act appears to me to prove 
 clearly that Parliament regarded anatomy as a legal 
 practice ; and, further, that it considered that there 
 was such a thing as a ' legal supply of human bodies,' 
 though that supply was insufficient for the purpose. 
 This is inconsistent with the opinion that it is an 
 absolute duty on the part of persons in charge of 
 dead bodies to bury them, and this conclusion is rather 
 strengthened than otherwise by the provision in sec. 1 3 
 of the Act : ' The party removing the body shall 
 provide for its decent burial after examination.' This 
 seems to imply that, apart from the Act the obligation 
 to bury would not exist, and it is remarkable that the 
 words are not, as in the earlier section, ' executor or 
 other party,' which seems to point to the inference 
 that the executor stood in a different position as to 
 burial from the party having ' lawful possession,' and 
 has a wider discretion on the matter. I come now to 
 a series of cases more clearly connected with the 
 present case. A.S is well known, the great demand 
 for bodies for anatomical purposes not only led in 
 some cases to murders the object of which was to sell
 
 123 APPENDIX. 
 
 the bodies of the murdered persons, but also to 
 robberies of churchyards by what were commonly 
 called "resurrection men." This practice prevailed 
 for a considerable length of time, as appears from the 
 case of R. r. Lynn (2 T. R. 738) decided in 1788, 
 forty-four years before the anatomy Act. In that case 
 it was held to be a misdemeanour to disinter a body 
 for the purpose of dissection, the Court saying that 
 common decency required that the practice should be 
 put a stop to, that the offence was cognisable in a 
 criminal court as being highly indecent and contra 
 bonos mores, at the bare idea alone of which nature 
 revolted. Many also said that " it had been the 
 regular practice of the Old Bailey in modern times 
 to try charges of this nature." It is to be observed 
 in reference to this case that the act done would have 
 been a peculiarly indecent theft if it had not been for 
 the technical reason that a dead body is not the subject 
 of property. A case, however, has been carried a step 
 further in modern times. It was held in Reg. v. Sharpe 
 (i Dea. ct Bell, 160) to be a misdemeanour to dis- 
 inter a body at all without lawful authority, even 
 when the motive of the offender was pious and 
 laudable, the case being one in which the son dis- 
 interred his mother in order to bury her in his father's 
 grave, but he got access to her grave and opened it by 
 false pretence. The law to be extracted from these 
 authorities seems to me to be this : the practice of 
 anatomy is lawful and useful, though it may involve 
 an unusual means of disposing of dead bodies ; but 
 to open a grave and disinter a dead body without 
 authority is a misdemeanour even if it is done for a 
 laudable purpose. These cases, for the reasons I have 
 given, have some analogy to the case of burning a dead 

 
 APPENDIX. 12& 
 
 body, but they are remote from it. They certainly 
 do not in themselves warrant the proposition that to 
 burn a dead body is in itself a misdemeanour. There 
 are two other cases which come rather nearer to the 
 point. They are R. v. Van, 2 Den. 325, and R. v. 
 Stewart, 12 A. E. 773-779. Each of these cases 
 lays down in unqualified terms that it is the duty 
 of certain specified persons to bury in particular cases. 
 The case of R. v. Stewart lays down the following 
 principles : " Every person dying in this country, 
 and not within certain exclusions laid down by the 
 ecclesiastical law, has a right to Christian burial, and 
 that implies the right to be carried from the place 
 where his body lies to the parish cemetery." It adds : 
 " The individual under whose roof a poor person dies 
 is bound (i.e., if no one else is so bound, as appears from 
 the rest of the case) to carry the body, decently covered, 
 to the place of burial. He cannot keep him unburied, 
 nor do anything which prevents Christian burial. He 
 cannot therefore, cast him out, so as to expose the body 
 to violation, or to offend the feelings or endanger the 
 health of the living ; for those reasons he cannot carry 
 him uncovered to the grave." In the case of R. v. 
 Van the Court held : " That a man is bound to give 
 Christian burial to his deceased child if he has the 
 means of doing so ; but he is not liable to be indicted 
 for a nuisance if he has not the means of providing 
 burial for it." These cases are the nearest approach 
 which I have been able to find to an authority directly 
 upon the present point ; for if there is an absolute 
 duty upon a man having the means to bury his child, 
 and if it is a duty to give every corpse Christian burial, 
 the duty must be violated by burning it. I do not 
 think, however, that the cases really mean to lay 
 
 I
 
 130 APPENDIX. 
 
 down any such rule. The question of burning was 
 not before the Court in either case. In R. v. Stewart 
 the question was whether the duty of burial lay upon 
 the parish officers or on some other person. In R. v. 
 Van the question was whether a man who has not the 
 means to bury his child was bound to incur a debt in 
 order to do so. In neither case can the Court have 
 intended to express themselves with complete verbal 
 accuracy, for in the case of R. v. Stewart the Court 
 speaks of the " right " of a dead body, which is 
 obviously a popular form of expression, a corpse 
 not being capable of rights ; and in both cases the 
 expression Christian burial is used, which is obviously 
 inapplicable to persons who are not Christians Jews, 
 for instance, Mahommedans, or Hindoos. To this I 
 may add that the attention of neither Court was called 
 to the subject of anatomy already referred to. 
 Skeletons and anatomical preparations could not be 
 innocently obtained if the language of the cases re- 
 ferred to was construed, as it was intended to be, 
 severely and literally accurate. There is only one 
 other case to be mentioned. This is the case of 
 Williams v. Williams, which was decided two years 
 ago by Mr. Justice Kay in the Chancery Division of 
 the High Court, and is reported in the L. R. 20 Ch. 
 Div. 659. In this case one H. Crookenden directed 
 his friend, Eliza Williams, to burn his body, and 
 directed his executors to pay her expenses. The 
 executors buried the body. Miss Williams got leave 
 from the Secretary of State to disinter it, in order, as 
 she said, to be buried elsewhere. Having obtained 
 possession of it by misrepresentation, she burnt it, 
 and sued the executors for her expenses. I need not 
 trace out all the points in the case, as it avowedly
 
 APPENDIX. 131 
 
 leaves the question now before us undecided. The 
 purpose was, says Mr. Justice Kay, " confessedly to 
 have the body buried, and thereupon arises a very 
 considerable question whether that is or is not a law- 
 ful purpose according to the law of this country. 
 That is a question which I am not going to decide." 
 He held that in the particular case the removal of the 
 body and its burning were both illegal according to 
 the decision of R. v. Sharpe, already referred to. 
 " Giving the lady credit," he said, " for the best of 
 motives, there can be no kind of doubt that the act 
 of removing the body by that licence, and then burn- 
 ing it. was as distinct a fraud on that licence as any- 
 thing could possibly be." This was enough for the 
 particular case, and the learned judge accordingly 
 expressed no opinion on the question on which it now 
 becomes my duty to direct you. It arises in the 
 present case in a perfectly clear and simple form, un- 
 embarassed by any consideration as applied to the 
 other cases to which I have referred. There is no 
 question here of the gross illegality which marked the 
 conduct of those described as resurrection men, of 
 the artifices not indeed criminal, but certainly dis- 
 ingenuous by which the possession of the body was 
 obtained in the cases of R. v. Sharpe and Williams v. 
 Williams. Dr. Price had lawful possession of the 
 child's body, and it was certainly not only his right- 
 but his duty to dispose of it by burying, or in any 
 other manner not in itself illegal. Here I must con- 
 sider the question whether to burn a dead body instead 
 of burying it is in itself an illegal act. After full 
 consideration, I am of opinion that a person who burns 
 instead of burying a dead body does not commit a 
 criminal act unless he does it in such a manner as to
 
 132 APPENDIX. 
 
 amount to a public nuisance at common law The 
 reason for this opinion is, that, upon the fullest ex- 
 amination of the authorities, I have, as the present 
 review of them shows, been unable to discover any 
 authority for the proposition that it is a misdemeanour 
 to burn a dead body, and in the absence of such 
 authority I feel that I have no right to declare it to be 
 one. There are some instances, no doubt, in which 
 courts of justice have declared acts to be misdemeanours 
 which had never previously been decided to be so ; 
 but I think it would be found that in eveiy such 
 case the act involved great public mischief or moral 
 scandal. It is not my place to ofler any opinion of 
 the comparative methods of burning and burying 
 corpses, but before I could hold that it must be a 
 misdemeanour to burn a dead body I must be satisfied 
 not only that some people, or even many people, object 
 to the practice, but that it is on plain, undeniable 
 grounds highly mischievous, or grossly scandalous; 
 even then I should pause long before I held it to be 
 a misdemeanour, but I cannot even take the first step. 
 Sir Thomas Browne finishes his famous essay on Urn 
 Burial with a quotation from Lucan, which in eight 
 Latin words translated by eight English words seems 
 to sum up the matter : ' Tabesne cadavera solvat an 
 rogus baud refert' (' Whether decay or fire destroys 
 corpses matters not'). The difference between the 
 two pi'ocesses is, the one is quick, the other slow. 
 Each is so horrible that every earthly imagination 
 would turn away from its details, but one or the other 
 is inevitable,. and each may be concealed from obser- 
 vation by proper precautions. There are, no doubt, 
 religious considerations and feelings connected with 
 the subject which every one would wish to treat with
 
 APPENDIX. 133 
 
 respect and tenderness, and I suppose there is no 
 doubt that as a matter of historical fact the disuse 
 of burning bodies was due to the force of religious 
 sentiments. I do not think, however, that it can be 
 said that every practice which startles and jars upon 
 the religious sentiments of the majority of the popula- 
 tion is for that reason a misdemeanour at common 
 law. The statement of such a proposition is a sufficient 
 refutation of it, but nothing short of this will support 
 the conclusion that to burn a dead body must be a mis- 
 demeanour. As for the public interest in the matter, 
 burning, on the one hand, effectively prevents the 
 bodies of the dead from poisoning the living ; on the 
 other hand, it might, no doubt, destroy the evidences 
 of crime. These, however, are matters for the 
 Legislature and not for me. The great leading rule 
 of criminal law, is that nothing is a crime unless it 
 is plainly forbidden by law. This rule is, no doubt, 
 subject to exceptions, but they are rare, narrow, and 
 to be administered with the greatest reluctance, and 
 only upon the strongest reasons. This brings me to 
 the last observation I have to make. Though I think 
 that to burn a body decently and inoffensively is law- 
 ful, or at the very least not criminal, it is obvious that 
 if it is done in such a manner as to be offensive to others 
 it is a nuisance, and one of an aggravated kind. A 
 common nuisance is an act which obstructs or causes 
 inconvenience or damage to the public in the exercise 
 of right common to all her Majesty's subjects. To 
 burn a dead oody in such a place or in such a manner 
 as to annoy persons passing along public roads, or 
 other places where they have a right to go, is beyond 
 all doubt a nuisance, as nothing more offensive, both 
 to sight and smell, can be imagined. The depositions
 
 i::i APPENDIX. 
 
 in this case do not state very distinctly the nature of 
 the place where the act was done ; but if you think, 
 upon inquiry, that there is evidence of its having 
 been done in such a situation and manner as to be 
 offensive to any considerable number of persons, you 
 should find a true bill. This must depend upon details 
 on which it would be improper, and indeed impossible, 
 to address you. I must conclude with a few words 
 explanatory of the reasons which have led me to 
 address you at so much length. The novelty of the 
 matter, and the interest which many persons take in 
 it, are a reason for going into it fully. The difficulty 
 which a petty jury would find is avoided by my 
 addressing myself to you rather than to them. The 
 fact also that if I am wrong my error is in favour 
 of the defendant, is another reason for stating my 
 views fully to you, for if he should be acquitted upon 
 my direction, there would be no means of carrying 
 the ca^e to the Court for Crown Cases Reserved."
 
 III. 
 
 GOTHA. 
 
 Description of Crematorium and Regulations jor 
 the Conduct of Cremations. 
 
 THE Crematorium, which is constructed after the 
 design of Herr Siemens, Engineer of Dresden (" Re- 
 generatM-System " with gas furnace), stands in the 
 new Cemetery at Gotha. All the apparatus is situated 
 underground, beneath the chapel floor, and is so 
 arranged that the coffins can be lowered gradually 
 into the receiving-chamber during the reading of 
 the burial service, and mechanically passed on into 
 the furnace itself. From December 14, 1878, until 
 January 1893, 1156 bodies were cremated there. 
 
 On March 4, 1877, the first police regulations 
 authorising the cremation of the bodies of persons 
 dying within the jurisdiction of the town of Gotha, 
 were sanctioned by the Grand Ducal State Ministry. 
 These regulations were followed by others, issued on 
 June 2, 1 88 1, which provided (i) that in every case 
 where cremation was desired a special authorisation 
 in writing should be obtained of the local police 
 authorities ; (2) that incineration should only be 
 carried out when the deceased had expressed the wish 
 to be cremated, or when those who had the conduct 
 of the funeral desired it ; and (3) that no cremation
 
 136 APPENDIX. 
 
 should be proceeded with until the usual certificate 
 required in the case of burial had been obtained. 
 
 On account of the omission of the charges for dig- 
 ging and maintenance of graves, the cost of cremation 
 at Gotha is very little more than that of burial in the 
 same place. The fees are : 
 
 For use of the apparatus . . 16 mk. 
 For firing . . . 24 to 30 mk. 
 For engineer and stoker . \ . 14 mk. 
 Tax assessed by town authorities 
 
 (for strangers) ... 5 mk. 
 
 Further expenses vary according to the style of 
 funeral and mode of ceremonial adopted. The aver- 
 age cost of a cremation, apart from fees connected 
 with any religious ceremony, but inclusive of the ex- 
 penses of transport from the railway station to the 
 crematorium, and fees to attendants, is 100 mk. 
 
 For persons dying within the jurisdiction of the 
 town of Gotha, the funeral service is performed, up 
 to the moment of the descent of the coffin into the 
 receiving-chamber of the furnace, in a precisely 
 similar manner to that practised at ordinary burials. 
 The funeral services for persons brought from other 
 places to Gotha can be arranged for by those who 
 have charge of the funeral. 
 
 The size of a coffin in which the remains of a per- 
 son to be cremated are brought to Gotha must not 
 exceed 
 
 2*25 metres in length. 
 
 o*75 height. 
 
 0-72 width. 
 
 The coffin should be constructed of light wood and the 
 lid made as low as possible. If, in the case of the 
 transport of a body from a distance, the authorities
 
 APPENDIX. 137 
 
 of the place of decease require the coffin to be made 
 of metal, only the thinnest tin or zinc is suitable. 
 Should other metal be used, the body must be trans- 
 ferred on arrival to a wooden coffin. But out of 
 respect for the dead and in deference to religious 
 sentiment, it is requested that this necessity shall be 
 as far as possible avoided. 
 
 After cremation has taken place the ashes are 
 returned to the persons who have the conduct of the 
 funeral, or, if these desire it, they are placed in 
 the columbarium in an urn made at their expense. 
 The size of the urn must not exceed 
 
 o'8o metres in height, and 
 
 0*40 ,, width. 
 
 The charge for placing an urn in a niche in the 
 columbarium for a period of thirty years is 45 mk. 
 This charge does not vary, as no extra payment is ex- 
 acted of foreigners. At the expiration of thirty years, 
 the ashes will be buried in the portion of the cemetery 
 reserved for the purpose. 
 
 The Town Councillor superintending the cremations 
 carried out at Gotha (at the present time Herr 
 Liebetrau) requests that any person intending to 
 conduct a cremation at Gotha shall forward to him in 
 advance a sufficient sum to cover all expenses. The 
 amount considered necessary to meet all charges that 
 can possibly be incurred is 170 mk. when the usual 
 religious ceremony is desired, and 130 mk. when no 
 service is required. The unexpended balance of the 
 sum deposited in advance will be returned as soon as 
 possible to the person who makes the payment. Tin 
 cases for the transport of ashes, and urns of different 
 sizes for their preservation, are kept ready at the 
 crematorium.
 
 138 APPENDIX. 
 
 It is the desire of the Town Councillor that the 
 following points shall be particularly noted by persons 
 not residing in Gotha : 
 
 1 i ) Bodies of persons dying without the jurisdiction 
 of Gotha must not be despatched to that place until 
 the Town Councillor lias received the official cer- 
 tificates of the cause of death. Provided that 
 i mk. 20 pf. is sent to defray the cost of the tele- 
 gram, permission to send on the body will be tele- 
 graphed to the person who makes the application. 
 
 (2) The body intended for cremation must be 
 accompanied by a written railway-pass, issued by the 
 competent authorities. 
 
 (3) The bodies of persons dying at u distance and 
 brought by rail to Gotha will, if notice of their coming 
 be received the day before their arrival, be met at the 
 station by the hearse and be taken therein to the 
 cemetery, the cremation taking place at noon on 
 the following day. 1 
 
 1 Prospectns of the Gotba Crematorium, issued June 1881. 
 with notes of subsequent arrangements, supplied by Herr 
 Liebetrau, the Town Councillor superintending the conduct 
 of cremation at Gotha.
 
 IV. 
 CREMATION IN HEIDELBERG. 
 
 THE cremation establishment in the cemetery at Heidel- 
 berg was opened on the 23rd of December 1891. It 
 may be used by residents as well as non-residents, but 
 its use is dependent upon certain police regulations 
 being fulfilled, of which we give the principal ones, 
 together with the charges. The Heidelberg Cemetery 
 Commission keeps forms for the attestations required 
 under 2,1-2, which are sent by return to interested 
 parties ; with regard to 2, 4, it should be noted that 
 the additional words on the pass for the body " for 
 cremation " are insufficient. 
 
 I. Extract from the Local Police Regulations. 1 
 
 2. The cremation of a body may only take place 
 after the written authorisation of the district officer, 
 representing the local police authorities, has been ob- 
 tained, without prejudice to the general regulations 
 relating to the previous inspection of the body by the 
 Medical Officer 2 and the transport of the body. 
 
 The following documents are required for the 
 
 1 Reprinted from Plicenia-, No. 2, February 1892. 
 
 2 Official Medical Examiner appointed to inquire into the 
 cause of death in all cases.
 
 140 APPENDIX. 
 
 application for the authorisation which is to be sent 
 to the President of the Cemetery Commission, or made 
 verbally : 
 
 1. An attestation delivered by the competent 
 
 authorities to the effect that the entry has 
 been made in the official register of deaths 
 ( 55 ff. of the Imperial Law of the 6th of 
 February 1875) ; for persons dying out of 
 the German Empire, a certificate of death 
 officially authenticated. 
 
 2. (a) A medical report on the decease for the 
 
 particular case, written by a recognised doctor 
 and officially authenticated. 
 
 (b) A certificate delivered by the sanitary 
 officer of the place of death, or by the Grand 
 Ducal District Medical Officer for Heidelberg, 
 stating that the inspection of the body con- 
 ducted by him has removed all suspicion of 
 violent death. And 
 
 (c) If an autopsy has taken place, also a re- 
 port made and legalised in the same manner. 
 
 In all these documents (a, 6, c) the cause of death 
 must be stated as clearly as possible 
 
 3. A legalised statement containing the proof that 
 
 the deceased 
 
 (a) Has expressed the wish to be cremated ; 
 or 
 
 (b) In the case of incapacitated persons or 
 of persons under eighteen years, that those 
 upon whom the duties of conducting the funeral 
 devolve, wish for the cremation. 
 
 In the cases referred to under No. 3 (b) the 
 authorisation for cremating can only be granted if 
 following upon a previous autopsy by a Government
 
 APPENDIX. 141 
 
 doctor, a certificate is produced to the effect that all 
 suspicion of violent death has been removed. 
 
 4. In the case of persons having died in foreign 
 parts an additional attestation stating that the 
 proposed cremation of the body was notified to 
 the police authorities of the place of death. 
 
 3. The Cemetery Commissioners communicate 
 the application, with all the documents, together with 
 their own opinion, to the District Ofiicer, who before 
 giving his decision must ascertain from the Grand 
 Ducal District Medical Ofiicer whether the cause of 
 death as stated in the documents is clearly a perfectly 
 natural one. 
 
 If in the opinion of the Grand Ducal Medical Officer 
 there is any doubt on that point, then the District 
 Ofiicer may leave it to the relatives of the deceased to 
 have the autopsy effected by the Official Doctor, for 
 the purpose of removing the suspicion, and to lay 
 before him the result. 
 
 If the result of the autopsy, according to the Grand 
 Ducal Medical Officer's opinion, does not completely 
 remove the doubt as to the cause of death, then the 
 permission for carrying out the cremation shall be 
 declined by the District Officer. 
 
 4. If there exists any suspicion of violent death 
 (including suicide and accidents) the mode of pro- 
 cedure is subject to the regulations observed in cases 
 of violent death. The cremation under such circum- 
 stances cannot take place. 
 
 5. If the authorisation is granted, the District 
 Official delivers a written certificate to the relatives 
 who have made the application, and informs the 
 Grand Ducal Medical Officer and the Cemetery Com- 
 missioners of the fact that he has done so.
 
 14-2 APPENDIX. 
 
 6. The bodies of persons who have died in foreign 
 parts that are to be sent here for cremation, can 
 only be transferred after the official authorisation for 
 cremation required under 2 et aeq. of these regula- 
 tions has been granted. 
 
 8. With regard to the cremation itself, the follow- 
 ing rules are to be observed : 
 
 (a) The size of the coffin which must be made of 
 soft wood and must not be provided with any 
 metallic ornaments, is not to exceed the follow- 
 ing dimensions : 
 
 Length . . 2 '2 5 metres. 
 Width . . 0-75 
 Height . . 0-72 
 9. The ashes, which, according to the wish of 
 the mourners, are placed in closed wooden cases, in 
 receptacles of burned clay, or in soldered tin boxes, 
 may either be buried in the cemetery or be kept above 
 ground in the same place, or be taken care of by the 
 mourners. 
 
 II. Cremation Charges. 1 
 
 The following charges for cremation, together with 
 the additional expenses, have been fixed by the Town 
 Councillors : 
 
 The transfer of a body from the railway M. 
 station to the crematorium . . . 30 
 If the body is brought to the town mortuary 
 
 for any length of time this tax is raised by 20 
 The cremation of a body, with all the arrange- 
 ments necessary for the purpose, up to the 
 handing over of the ashes or the burying 
 of the same in the public cemetery re- 
 served for that purpose . . . .25 
 1 Reprinted from Ph'cnix, No. i, March 1892.
 
 APPENDIX. 143 
 
 M. 
 
 Each cremation directly following . . ,10 
 In this case the expenses for burying are 
 
 divided. 
 
 A small case of wood ..... 1.50 
 A small capsule of tin . . . . .1.50 
 A simple sarcophagus of burned clay 
 An ornamented sarcophagus of burned clay . 10 
 One made of majolica . . . . 15 
 
 Cemetery charges. For the reception of 
 ashes, family graves of i'2o m. long by 
 o'8o m. are granted at the following rates : 
 
 (a) In the first or second row, one grave 50 
 Each additional grave . . .40 
 
 (b) In the other rows, one grave . . 40 
 Each additional grave . . -3 
 
 Further, the rules (a) to (h) are applicable to 
 graves for ashes. 
 
 In each family grave (i) the remains of four persons 
 may be buried within forty years, under the rules 
 stated in (i) ; and in the family graves of the class 
 (a) the remains of ten persons. 
 
 In a family grave of the class (a) already occupied, 
 the cremated remains of eight persons more may be 
 buried within the same period ; but if this is done, 
 the grave cannot be preserved for the burial of an- 
 other body. 
 
 Also for the graves for ashes in family tombs the 
 duration of the period of consecration is fifteen years. 
 
 USE OF THE CEMETERY. 
 
 (a) For burying non-residents (see 23 of the 
 
 regulations for bodies and burials). M. 
 
 For adults ... 50 
 
 For children under 1 5 years . . .25
 
 144 APPENDIX. 
 
 M. 
 
 (b) For burying the cremated remains of 
 
 non-residents . . . . -25 
 For each additional person . . 2 5 
 
 In the case of the burial of the ashes of a 
 non-resident shareholder, or his wife, or his 
 children, in an urn-niche in the cremation hall, 
 this charge is not made. 
 
 The burial of ashes for one person in 
 
 a family tomb ..... 5 
 
 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIQUIDATION OF THE 
 
 BUILDING EXPENSES OF THE CREMATION 
 
 ESTABLISHMENT. 
 
 The following amounts are not paid into the ceme- 
 tery account, but into the sinking fund, out of which a 
 number of shares, determined by ballot, corresponding 
 to the amount accruing from this source, are yearly- 
 paid off. After the complete liquidation these charges 
 are discontinued. 
 
 1 . For each burial : M. 
 
 (a) For residents . . . . .20 
 
 (b) Non-residents . . . . .40 
 
 The Town Council is empowered in the case 
 of persons of small means to remit the payment 
 of these charges upon stated grounds. 
 
 2. For the right of using an urn-niche 
 twenty years ...... 40 
 
 To shareholders, or their wives or children, 
 they are given free as long as there are niches 
 remaining unoccupied. 
 
 3. For a marble tablet with screws . 1 5
 
 APPENDIX. 145 
 
 III. Hints to Persons intending to hold a 
 Cremation at Heidelberg. 1 
 
 It is advisable to draw the attention of those who 
 wish to carry out cremation to the following points in 
 particular : 
 
 1. The application, together with a certificate as 
 prescribed under 2 of the local police regulations, 
 should be to the President of the Cemetery Commis- 
 sion at the Town Hall of the place. 
 
 2. Immediately after the death of the person to be 
 cremated has taken place or, still better, before the 
 forms used for the certificates should be obtained. The 
 latter may be obtained at all Town Hall offices in the 
 towns of Baden, or from the representatives of the 
 different cremation associations in the towns out of 
 Baden, or from the Cemetery Commission and the 
 Free Association for Cremation in Heidelberg. 
 (Address, Town Councillor Limbach.) 
 
 3. Together with the required form, application 
 should at once be made to the doctor who has attended 
 the deceased for an account of the illness, and to the 
 Medical Officer of the district for inspection of the 
 body before it is dressed, and for obtaining the 
 required certificates. 
 
 4. The death certificate, which, in the case of the 
 holding of a religious ceremony, should be given in 
 duplicate, and the attestation for the notice given 
 the district office for the proposed cremation in 
 Heidelberg, should in no case be omitted from the 
 papers. 
 
 1 Reprinted from Phoenix No. 4, April 1892. 
 
 K
 
 146 APPENDIX. 
 
 5. Bodies can be brought here only if the authori- 
 sation for cremation has been granted. Telegraphic- 
 reply Ls given if the sum of i.2om. for the telegram 
 is sent together with the application. 
 
 6. The transfer should be arranged in such way 
 that the body may arrive in the forenoon in order 
 that the cremation may take place on the same day.
 
 INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CONDUCT OF 
 CREMATIONS IN ZURICH. 1 
 
 I. Information. 
 
 INFORMATION of every cremation intended to be 
 carried out in Zurich must be given to the Secretary 
 of the Town Cemetery Commission (Town Hall, 
 Zurich). 
 
 This official, upon ascertaining as far as possible 
 the wishes of the relatives, fixes the time of the 
 funeral. 
 
 II. Documents to be presented. 
 
 Simultaneously with the information, the following 
 deeds must be laid before the Cemetery Commission : 
 
 1. An officially authenticated deed, in which the 
 deceased distinctly expresses his desire to be cremated. 
 
 Exception to this rule may be made when three 
 persons solemnly assert that the deceased had ex- 
 pressed to them the wish to be cremated. This 
 assertion can be made either before the Secretary of 
 the Cemetery Commission, or in a written declaration 
 in an officially authenticated deed. 
 
 2. For persons dying in the Canton of Zurich, a 
 certificate of the Official Medical Examiner of the 
 
 1 Reprinted from Ph<cnir, No. 8, August 1892.
 
 148 APPENDIX. 
 
 district declaring that there is no obstacle in the 
 way of cremation. 
 
 Before the Medical Examiner can make this de- 
 claration, there must be submitted to him (a) the 
 official funeral certificate ; (6) an account of the ill- 
 ness [preceding death] by the doctor in attendance. 
 If this account leaves any doubt as to the cause of 
 death, the Medical Examiner can himself conduct an 
 inquest, and, if necessary, insist on a post-mortem 
 examination. 
 
 For persons dyiny vnthoid the canton of Zurich, a 
 deposition of the local authorities of the place of 
 decease to the effect that there is no reason why a 
 cremation should not be proceeded with. 
 
 Minors and lunatics come under No. i of these 
 instructions. At the deaths of such persons, their 
 mode of entombment is determined by those who 
 have the conduct of their funerals. 
 
 Membership of the Zurich Cremation Society alone 
 does not furnish sufficient proof of the will of the de- 
 ceased. In order to ensure cremation, it is of the 
 highest importance that there should be an authen- 
 ticated testamentary request, and only under these 
 circumstances is the intervention of the society for 
 the purpose of carrying out the cremation per- 
 missible. 
 
 III. The Funeral Commissioner. 
 
 To provide for and superintend cremations, the 
 Society has appointed a Cremation Commissioner 
 (at the present time, Hermann Brunner, Zurich), 
 who, in conjunction with the Secretary of the Ceme- 
 tery Commission, imparts all necessary information 
 and conducts cremations on behalf of this Society.
 
 APPENDIX. 149 
 
 IV. Size cmd Material of the Coffin. 
 
 The size of the coffin must not exceed the following 
 dimensions : Length, 2 meters ; width 070 meters ; 
 height, 0*45 meters. In order that the lid shall not 
 be too high, it is necessary that the body of the 
 coffin should be rather broad. 
 
 Bodies will be burnt only in wooden coffins. For 
 bodies brought from without Ziirich, the inner coffin 
 must be of wood (deal, or, better still, poplar). It is 
 necessary to have wooden nails instead of iron ones, 
 and no metal attachments. 
 
 The body should not be embedded in ashes or coals, 
 but in sawdust or shavings. 
 
 Bodies brought from a great distance from Zurich 
 should be embalmed. 
 
 The embedding of bodies in any but suitable coffins 
 cannot be undertaken. 
 
 We refuse all responsibility in regard to the con- 
 duct of a cremation when the conditions, herein set 
 forth for the construction of coffins and embedding of 
 bodies, are not fully complied with. 
 
 V. Transport to the Cemetery. 
 
 For the transport of a body from the residence of 
 the deceased, or from the railway station to the central 
 cemetery, the relatives must make arrangements with 
 a burial society. The transport to the crematorium 
 is charged for through the Zurich Burial Society, at 
 the rate fixed for interments.
 
 150 APPENDIX. 
 
 VI. Funeral Ceremonies. 
 
 When the relatives desire a ceremony in the 
 crematorium, they must themselves provide for the 
 conduct of it, and the Cremation Commissioner must 
 communicate with the Secretary of the Cemetery 
 Commission. 
 
 VII. Conduct of the Cremation. 
 
 The cremation, as well as the disposal of and de- 
 livery of the ashes, takes place under the direction of 
 the Commissioner of the Cremation Society, or one 
 of the members of the Society's commission. 
 
 Upon the arrival of the funeral procession in the 
 crematorium, the coffin is placed on a table before the 
 receiving-chamber, and by means of a mechanical 
 contrivance is passed thence into the receiving-cham- 
 ber, whereupon the incineration immediately begins. 
 
 During the incineration the mourners are allowed 
 to remain within the crematorium. 
 
 The watching of the cremation through the opening 
 provided for that purpose, or through the opening in 
 the door of the furnace, can only be allowed by agree- 
 ment between the nearest relatives of the deceased 
 and the superintendent of the cremation. 
 
 VIII. Disposal of tJie Ashes. 
 
 It will be the rule to take the ashes from the 
 furnace upon the morning following the cremation, 
 and to place them in the urns provided for the pur- 
 pose, which shall be closed and soldered. 
 
 The urns can be made to any design chosen by the 
 relatives of the deceased.
 
 APPENDIX. 151 
 
 Urns, to be deposited in niches in the crematorium, 
 must not exceed the following dimensions : Length, 
 0-45 meters ; width, 0-32 meters ; height, 0.27 meters ; 
 The Cremation Society keeps a stock of urns of this 
 kind, as well as cases for the transport of ashes to 
 distant parts. 
 
 IX. Preservation and Destination of Ashes. 
 
 Ashes to remain in Zurich can be disposed of in the 
 following ways . 
 
 1. In niches in the interior of the crematorium for 
 a period of twenty years. After the expiration of 
 this period, the relatives are at liberty to take the 
 urns into their own keeping. 
 
 2. In various urn-cemeteries for the period of 
 twenty years. 
 
 3. In a private grave in the central cemetery. In 
 exceptional cases the ashes can, by the specific request 
 of the next of kin and with the consent of the Ceme- 
 tery Commission, be deposited in other cemeteries in 
 closed and sealed urns. 
 
 X. Inscriptions. 
 
 In the case where an urn occupies a niche in the 
 crematorium, the inscription, after consultation about 
 the wording with the relatives, will be designed after 
 the patterns of writing and arrangement exhibited 
 by the Cremation Society, at the cost of the heirs. 
 
 Members of the Zurich Cremation Society have 
 both tablet and inscription provided gratis.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 XI. Fees. 
 
 Francs. 
 
 Cremation fees to be paid down : 
 (a) Cremation including use of the appa- 
 ratus for 
 
 1. Members .90 
 
 2. Non-members dying in the canton of 
 
 Zurich . . . . . .110 
 
 3. Non-members dying in other parts of 
 
 Switzerland . . . . .130 
 
 4. Non-members dying abroad . . .180 
 (6) For an urn-niche in the interior of the 
 
 crematorium, in accordance with the 
 regulations, for a period of twenty years 10 
 
 (c) For use of a plot (i metre x 40 metres) in 
 
 the cemetery of the crematorium, for 
 twenty years . , .'...- 50 
 
 (d) For those dying in foreign parts, various 
 
 extra charges are fixed by the Cemetery 
 Commission in accordance with the regu- 
 lations of the Town Council. 
 
 XI I. Admittance to the Crematorium. 
 
 To non-members admittance is permitted in the 
 afternoons, on presentation of an entrance-card and 
 payment of i franc per person. 
 
 Members of the Cremation Society have, on pro- 
 duction of their cards of membership, free entry for 
 themselves and any accompanying friends. 
 
 The nearest relatives of those persons whose ashes 
 rest in the crematorium are given several cards en- 
 titling them to free admission.
 
 APPENDIX. 153 
 
 XIII. Membership* 
 
 A member of the Cremation Society can be a person 
 of any trade or profession who makes a declaration in 
 writing of his entering the Society, and who either 
 gives, on joining, a donation of not less than 30 francs, 
 or who pays an annual subscription of not less than 
 2 francs. 
 
 On behalf of the Committee of the Cremation 
 Society : 
 
 The President : Dr. AB. HEIM, Prof. 
 The Secretary : Dr. ENG. CUETI. 
 
 ZUBICH, March 1890.
 
 V. 
 
 REGULATIONS 
 
 OF THE UNITED STATES CREMATION COMPANY (LIMITED), 
 GOVERNING INCINERATION. 
 
 I. APPLICATIONS for incineration must be made at 
 the office of the Company, No. 62 East Howston 
 Street, New York City. 
 
 II. Each application must be made by the person 
 having charge of the disposal of the body, or his re- 
 presentative ; a blank form prepared by the Company 
 must be filled out and filed in the office of the Com- 
 pany. 
 
 III. On the filling out of said application blank, 
 payment of the incineration fee, and presentation of 
 the physician's certificate, stating time, place, and 
 cause of death, an order directing the incineration 
 will be given the applicant. To this order the under- 
 taker in charge of the body must have attached the 
 customary certificate of the Board of Health, and such 
 other permits as may be pre-requisite to a lawful in- 
 terment in the State of New York and the township 
 and country where the Crematory is located. 
 
 Upon the arrival at the appointed hour of the 
 remains at the Crematory, this order, with the said 
 certificate and permits attached, must be delivered to
 
 APPENDIX. 155 
 
 the Superintendent. This rule is imperative, and 
 unless the order is accompanied by the necessary 
 certificate and permits in due form, the incineration 
 will not be allowed to take place. 
 
 IV. Every incineration shall be attended by some 
 relative of the deceased, or representative of the 
 family. 
 
 V. The price of incineration is $35, always payable 
 in advance. 
 
 VI. The body may be conveyed to the Crematory 
 in such a manner as the friends of the deceased may 
 select. Where desired, the Company will convey the 
 body to the Crematory, at an expense not exceeding 
 the usual charge for like service. 
 
 VII. No special preparation of the body or clothing 
 is necessary. The body is always incinerated in the 
 clothing as received. 
 
 VIII. It is expected that the funeral services will 
 terminate prior to the removal of the body to the 
 Crematory ; but where desired, ceremonies or services 
 may be held at the Crematory in connection with the 
 incineration, without any extra charge. 
 
 IX. The coffin in which the body is carried to the 
 Crematory is never allowed to be removed from the 
 building, but is burned after the incineration. 
 
 X. In every instance of death from contagious 
 disease the coffin will be burned with the body, and 
 no exposure of the body will be permitted. 
 
 XI. Incineration may be as private as the friends 
 of the deceased desire. On the day following the 
 incineration the ashes will be deliverable at the office 
 of the Company, in a receptacle provided by it free of 
 cost. 
 
 XII. On one day's notice, bodies coming from a
 
 150 APPENDIX. 
 
 distance will, on their arrival in New York or Jersey 
 City, be received by the Company's undertaker, who 
 will procure, where the relatives desire it, the neces- 
 sary permits and take complete charge of all arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 Further information can be obtained on application, 
 personally or by letter, at the Company's office in 
 New York City.
 
 VI. 
 
 Official Instructions issued by the Cremation Society of 
 
 England. Method of Procedure in Investigating 
 
 the Cause of Death in France. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE Cremation Society of England was formed to objects of 
 promote the objects set forth in the following de- S< 
 claration : 
 
 " We disapprove the present custom of burying the dead, 
 and desire to substitute some mode which shall rapidly 
 resolve the body into its component elements by a process 
 which cannot offend the living, and shall render the remains 
 absolutely innocuous. Until some better method is devised, 
 we desire to adopt that usually known as cremation. " 
 
 The conditions of membership are : 
 I. Adhesion by signature to the above declaration. 
 II. The payment of an annual subscription of one 
 guinea, or a single payment of ten guineas. 
 
 II. 
 
 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS. The crematorium, which 
 is the only one in use in England, is situated in the 
 parish of St. John's, two and a quarter miles from 
 Woking station on the main line of the London and 
 South-Western Railway, which is in communication
 
 158 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Conditions 
 on which 
 cremation 
 may be 
 performed. 
 
 with all the rail way systems having termini in London. 
 In the event of a body having to be brought from a 
 distance, any of the companies will provide a special 
 carriage on the usual notice being given, and convey 
 direct to Woking, where the use of a hearse can be 
 obtained for conveyance to the crematorium. 
 
 The buildings comprise a handsome chapel, com- 
 municating with which are the crematorium and 
 comfortable waiting and retiring rooms. The lodge 
 at the entrance to the grounds is occupied by the 
 Society's attendant, who will show inquirers over the 
 premises daily between ten and five, unless a crema- 
 tion is proceeding or about to take place. 
 
 The arrangements for cremating a body are avail- 
 able to the public on the following conditions : 
 
 r. An application in writing must be made by the executor 
 or nearest friend of the deceased unless it has been 
 made by the deceased person himself during life 
 stating that it was the wish of the deceased to be 
 cremated after death, or that he entertained no 
 objection thereto. 
 
 2. Two certificates from duly qualified medical men are 
 required relative to the cause of death, one at least 
 of whom must have attended the deceased. These 
 the Society obtain direct, and it is therefore neces- 
 sary, in making application for cremation, that their 
 names and addresses be given in full. 
 
 These must satisfy the Council of the Society, or 
 their representative, and in some rare or doubtful case 
 an autopsy might be desirable. 
 
 III. 
 
 DIRECTIONS FOR ARRANGING CREMATION. Imme- 
 diately on death, notice thereof, with the names and
 
 APPENDIX. 159 
 
 addresses of the two medical men, should be sent to 
 the office of the Society [8 New Cavendish Street, 
 Portland Place, W.], the address of which can be 
 found in the London Directory, or a letter or telegram 
 addressed to the Cremation Society, London, W., will 
 be at once forwarded to the office by the postal 
 authorities, after which the local undertaker should 
 be instructed to supply a suitable shell the best 
 material being light pine. 
 
 It cannot be too clearly understood that it is most NO heavy 
 undesirable to encase the body in a heavy or costly used. 
 coffin ; a light pine shell is the best receptacle for the 
 purpose of cremation. There is no reason why for 
 the funeral service a simple shell should not suf- 
 fice, and it may be covered with cloth at very small 
 expense, if preferred. When, however,, it is intended 
 to hold a funeral service in public and with some 
 degree of ceremony, before cremation, a more ornate 
 coffin may be used if desired, but it should contain 
 the shell described, which can be afterwards removed. 
 
 Upon receiving notice of the death, the application- Form of 
 form is sent to be filled in by the executor or the ap 
 nearest relative of deceased, and this should be re" 
 turned to the Society with the sum of 6, the charge 
 for the cremation, services of attendant, use of chapel 
 and waiting-room, as well as a simple urn for the pre- 
 servation of the ashes. At the same time the applicant 
 must state if it be desired that the local clergyman 
 (who has kindly consented to act when desired) should 
 officiate at the funeral service in the chapel, as, in the 
 event of his services being required, a fee of one 
 guinea must be paid to him direct at the time. Any 
 other person appointed by the friends may take the 
 service if preferred.
 
 160 APPENDIX. 
 
 The medical In the meantime, our form of medical certificate 
 
 forms. 
 
 has been sent to the medical attendant of the deceased, 
 who, after filling in and signing it, must forward it 
 to the other medical practitioner, and each receives 
 express instructions in relation to his duty. If the 
 latter is also satisfied that the statements made relative 
 to the cause of death are correct, and that there are 
 no circumstances likely to render exhumation of the 
 body necessary, he will certify to that effect. 
 
 The cremation, if the death has occurred in London 
 or the suburbs, usually takes place on the third day 
 after the day on which notice is given at the Society's 
 oflice. If the remains are lying in the country, the 
 cremation would take place a day later. 
 
 The most convenient times for cremation are as 
 follow : 
 
 Train leave Waterloo. Hour for Cremation. 
 
 9.30 A.M II A.M. 
 
 11.45 A - M l -3 P - M - 
 
 2.45 P.M 4.15 P.M. 
 
 Upon the arrival of the body at the crematorium, if 
 there is a funeral service, it is at once proceeded with, 
 at the conclusion of which the undertaker and his 
 assistants convey the remains into the crematorium, 
 where they may be followed by one friend of the de- 
 No inspee- ceased ; but no inspection of the process is on any 
 process account permitted. The operation usually occupies 
 about one hour and a half to two hours, at the con- 
 clusion of which the ashes are gathered together by 
 the Society's officer and placed in an urn for preserva- 
 tion. Scrupulous care is taken to maintain them in- 
 tact and pure for this purpose. 
 
 The urn The urn containing the ashes may be left in one of 
 
 destination, the niches in the chapel for one calendar month from
 
 APPENDIX. 161 
 
 the date of the cremation, free of charge, to enable the 
 friends to secure a suitable permanent resting-place ; 
 if it be left beyond that time, a fee of five shillings per 
 month is required, but the Society will not be respon- 
 sible for it beyond one year from the date of cremation, 
 unless special arrangements for permanent deposit 
 there are made. 
 
 For this purpose the Society has provided orna- 
 mental stone niches, constructed within the building, 
 which can be acquired, according to their size, as a 
 " single tomb " or " family vault," and is about to pro- 
 vide increased space, for the purpose of preserving the 
 ashes. 
 
 The price charged for these niches can be obtained 
 on inquiry at the office. 
 
 For those who desire the ashes to be buried in the 
 grounds of the crematorium a special portion has 
 been railed off and cultivated, in which an urn can be May be 
 buried for the fee of one guinea, within a given space, grounds? 
 and preserved intact. 
 
 '\V. 
 
 This form is prepared to enable those who prefer Form for 
 cremation to burial to record in precise terms their desire lo^W 
 wishes and directions in relation thereto. 
 
 This form should be signed, dated, and witnessed 
 in duplicate. One copy should be deposited with the 
 signer's executor or next of kin, and the other sent 
 to the Secretary of the Cremation Society of Eng- 
 land, by whom it will be preserved and regarded as 
 confidential.
 
 162 APPENDIX. 
 
 / In ri-liy u-press to my sun-Ivors my earnest desire that on my 
 decease my binli/ x/ml/ be cremated according to the system em- 
 ployed by the Cremation Society of England, and under tin 
 arrangement* made by t/ie Society for the purpose. 
 
 Signal tire 
 
 Date. 
 Wttnttted l/'i 
 
 -Signature. 
 Address . 
 
 Dale. 
 
 N.B. It should be borne in mind that the above is only u 
 request, and cannot be enforced against any perxon. It is there- 
 fore very necessary that the executor or executors should, 
 at the same time, express their willingness to carry these 
 instructions out. 
 
 V. 
 
 Payment Attention is called to the following " Minute of 
 t'o'cnfurc 6 Council " which has been recently passed : 
 
 cremation 
 
 after death. "in the event of any person desiring, during life, to be 
 
 cremated at death, the Society is prepared to accept a donation 
 from him or her, of ten guineas, undertaking in consideration 
 thereof to perform the cremation, provided all the conditions 
 set forth in the forms issued by the Society are complied 
 with." 
 
 In consideration of the above payment the Crema- 
 tion Society undertakes on the decease of a sub- 
 scriber also to send an agent when required, without 
 further charge, to the family residence, if within 
 twenty miles of Charing Cross, for the purpose of 
 supplying information and making all the necessary 
 arrangements. By this means survivors, who may
 
 APPENDIX. 163 
 
 naturally anticipate considerable difficulty in comply- 
 ing with the request on the part of the deceased to 
 be cremated, may be spared all trouble and anxiety 
 as to the manner of carrying it into execution. When 
 the distance is more than twenty miles, information 
 will be supplied by letter, or an agent sent for a very 
 moderate charge. 
 
 All necessary forms, ready for filing up, can be 
 obtained on application at the Society's offices, ^Vb. 8 
 Cavendish Street, Portland Place, W. 
 
 J. C. SWINBURNE-HANHAM, 
 
 Hon. Sec. 
 January 1891.
 
 164 APPENDIX. 
 
 FORMS NECESSARY TO BE DULY FILLED 
 
 UP WHENEVER CREMATION IS 
 
 DESIRED. 
 
 FORM No. 1. 
 
 APPLICATION FROM EXECUTOR OR THE NEAREST 
 RELATIVE OF DECEASED. 
 
 I, (.Mime) _ 
 
 (Addres*}_ 
 
 ( Occupation) hereby request 
 
 the Cremation Society of England to undertake the crema- 
 tion of the body of _ 
 
 and I certify that the deceased expressed no objection 
 (orally or in writing) to being cremated after death. 
 
 Medical certificates of the cause of death are or will be 
 forwarded. 
 
 (Signature) 
 
 IMPORTANT. This form, when filled in, is to be returned 
 to the Office of the Cremation Society, the address of the 
 medical man who has attended the deceased being required 
 as soon as possible. 
 
 jfotc. When no medical certificate is enclosed, an autopsy 
 must be made and certified by a medical officer appointed 
 by the Society, and at the expense of the applicant or of 
 the estate of the deceased.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 1C5 
 
 '3J3i[ uSis [JIM. 
 
 
 
 
 , 
 
 
 ^nupua^iv [coipaK 
 
 
 
 
 
 oc 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ -s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 c .** 
 
 BJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 s g 
 
 Q r> 
 
 C 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 v 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 o 3 
 
 " -8 
 
 ^ <i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 
 W -s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 
 H Js 
 
 CQ Jq 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 <j4 W 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 
 "2 ^ 
 
 o g 
 
 
 
 
 
 rt fl 
 
 3 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 O ^) 
 
 6 H 2 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 c 
 
 
 2 ^ 
 
 
 ^ 1- 
 
 5 
 "\ 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 -5 
 
 
 
 73 :^' i .i; s "< 
 
 cs < a, ^ N ^ 
 
 "ho 
 
 W O 2Q _ 
 
 T3 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 to "c. ^ 
 03 
 
 "*** * ""C 
 
 
 ^ fe ^ ^> 
 
 p 1 i 1 1 
 
 PH j 3 3 a 
 
 o s M 
 
 fi H 
 
 
 ssion or Occu^ 
 
 '. last saw 1: 
 
 ; of death ^ 
 
 Time from 
 attack till 
 death. 
 
 * * L. 
 
 I'l 
 
 1 H ?. 1 f ? ^ 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 "** 
 
 ^* f *^j ^^ ' ^3 ^ 
 
 
 
 o 1 t 
 
 'C ^ 
 
 49 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 ^2 H . >S 
 
 2 - 
 
 x 
 
 
 
 .^ ^t 
 
 cS 
 
 *r 
 
 t s 
 
 B I i 
 
 9 
 
 .-i 
 
 JZ 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 'o 
 
 ll 
 
 b/i -^ ^ 
 
 S ~ * 
 
 a 
 
 = 
 
 ^ < 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 2 
 
 H 
 
 ;?
 
 166 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 SJ.HI uiis HIM 
 
 CU 
 
 B 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 ^0 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 - 
 
 I 
 
 'c 
 
 '5. 
 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 K 
 
 
 E 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 a 
 
 Q 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 hi 
 
 C 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 I/. 
 
 I 
 
 S 
 
 0) 
 
 's 
 O 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 O 
 B 
 
 1 
 
 $ 
 
 JS 
 1 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 " 
 
 c 
 
 
 * 
 
 'o 
 
 
 O 
 
 cs 
 
 H 
 
 ^s 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 ^.^ 
 
 3 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 ^-' 
 
 I 
 
 8 
 
 B 
 
 
 1 
 
 ^r 
 
 
 T3 
 
 ii 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 (D 
 
 V 
 
 w 
 
 
 jt 
 " 
 
 s 
 
 .= 
 
 
 <B 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .3 
 
 * 
 
 
 _~ 
 
 a> 
 
 7- 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 
 o" 
 
 1 
 
 cremat 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 8 
 1 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 G 
 
 G 
 
 o 
 
 
 .^ 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 
 J9 
 
 T3 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 g O 
 
 
 *i 
 
 3 
 
 CD 
 
 X 
 
 "" 
 
 
 c:- 
 
 O 
 .S 
 
 S 
 
 a> 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 ^. 
 
 'S 
 
 I 
 
 t. 
 
 1 
 x 
 
 j= 
 
 X 
 
 
 HH 
 
 deceas 
 
 circuno 
 
 circun 
 
 i 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ,_; 
 
 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 *"* 
 
 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 i 
 
 6 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 S * 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 'i? ^ 
 
 
 
 
 s ^ 
 
 
 
 
 & 
 
 
 
 
 1 s 
 
 
 
 
 S s 
 
 ^ bo 
 
 >* C 
 
 ^ -a g 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 'I s 
 
 CM t- 
 
 o .5 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^a be 
 
 
 
 
 v 
 
 t>c '55 
 
 
 
 
 
 T in 
 
 
 
 
 p0 
 
 ' cS 
 
 
 
 
 
 aj _^ 
 
 J 
 
 
 o 
 
 5 5 s 
 
 jsj 
 
 
 5 
 
 -^ o 
 
 c 1 
 
 55 
 
 " X 
 ^j -w 
 
 s i 
 
 s;- 
 
 '5 
 
 > ' > 1 
 
 
 * * A 1 
 
 5 I 
 
 s 
 
 CO O 
 
 " 
 
 c? 
 > E^ 
 
 O
 
 Al'PENDIX. 167 
 
 ESTIMATE OF EXPENSES 
 
 Connected with the conveyance of a body from London 
 that is to say, from any part not distant more 
 than four miles from Charing Cross to the 
 Crematory, Woking. 
 
 d - 
 
 For a pine shell with ordinary lining . i 10 o 
 
 N.B. More expensive shells and coffins can 
 be provided, but the Society strongly recom- 
 mends the simplest form for the purpose of 
 cremation only. 
 
 When required for service in church also, it 
 may be covered in black, or colour, from two 
 guineas upwards. An ornate coffin may be em- 
 ployed for this purpose, provided the body 
 occupies a shell, to be removed for cremation 
 afterwards. 
 
 Delivery of shell at residence within limit 
 
 named, with attendants . . . 0150 
 
 Hearse, driver, and man in charge from 
 the residence to Woking, about thirty 
 miles . . . . . . 5 10 o 
 
 Men's attendance at residence, to place 
 
 body in hearse, if required . . 0150 
 
 N.B. If the shell is sent and the body is 
 removed to the hearse at the same time, this 
 charge is not incurred. 
 
 -8 10 o
 
 168 APPENDIX. 
 
 - 
 If the hearse and horses are sent by rail 
 
 which saves much time, and is often 
 t-onvenient for those who desire to 
 attend including one man besides 
 the driver, an extra guinea is incurred i i 
 For each additional man to the above 
 named for removing the body at 
 Woking,as may be necessary, whether 
 sent by road or rail . . . .015 
 
 N.B. The above-named terras are those 
 charged by well-known firms of undertakers at 
 the West End of London. 
 
 OFFICES OF THE CREMATION SOCIETY 
 
 OF JEXGLAXD, 
 8 New Cavendish Street, Portland Place.
 
 API'ENDIX. 
 
 THE FORMS ADOPTED IN FRANCE, 
 
 And invariably filled up by the officers appointed, in 
 every case of death occurring either in Paris or 
 in the Departments before burial or cremation is 
 permitted. 
 
 Form No. i is sent by the municipal authority to 
 the official medical examiner, requiring him to verify 
 the fact of the cause of death. 
 
 Form No. 2 is the certificate which, after examina- 
 tion of the body, the medical examiner leaves with 
 the family, who send it to the municipal authority. 
 Permission to bury can then be obtained. 
 
 Form No. 3 is the record which is made by the 
 medical examiner and preserved by the authorities.
 
 170 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 g 
 
 H 
 55 .2 
 
 
 
 
 
 T3 
 
 > 
 
 w 
 
 
 
 
 tf 
 
 C 
 
 S of 
 
 
 -O 
 
 
 ta 
 
 S 
 
 Rj 
 
 
 
 
 D 
 
 
 02 4 
 
 
 
 
 -1 
 
 Qd 
 
 22 ft 
 
 
 'O 
 
 
 4 
 
 g 
 
 H H 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 5 
 
 O 
 
 >jr <u 
 
 
 HD 
 
 
 _c 
 
 ^3 
 
 M o ~ 5 
 
 - 1 ^ H S 
 
 i 1 l " 
 
 
 serait d 
 sise 
 
 E 
 ^ 
 
 H 
 
 '2 
 * 
 si 
 
 S 
 
 " 
 i S 
 
 "c ** 
 
 55 H g OQ 
 
 
 
 o c 
 
 5-3 * 
 
 J 5 ?3 
 
 o 
 : 
 
 V 
 
 -" i 1 s 
 
 ^1 III? 
 
 u. 2 w - ^ g I 
 pi s Ji "S 
 o a ' * a. e 1 
 fe S \ B s5*1 
 
 Ms 5 o * 
 
 K-. M . O C 
 
 i 
 E 
 
 a 
 c 
 _s 
 
 i 
 
 S 
 
 4 
 
 S 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 > 
 i 
 i 
 
 i 
 > 
 p 
 
 i 
 
 2 
 I 
 
 t 
 
 E 
 
 te maison, de se fain 
 d'en indiquer les can; 
 
 __iL_ . a 
 
 D " 02 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 
 - J W S 
 PH PH W ^ 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 W -3 5 g 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 ^ S "I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 p'i 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 
 ^^ oQ rt o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 "ik *^ 
 
 & J *"^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 C 
 
 h ~ 
 
 W S 
 
 a j 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 'T 
 
 
 S -g JS 
 
 ?"C-2 t 
 
 -fai s 
 
 > > 
 
 O w 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 W < 
 
 < 
 
 t3 
 
 Jj 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 " 
 
 03 
 
 <! 
 
 ,j 
 
 -S 
 
 
 H 
 
 M 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 . 02 
 
 
 a 
 
 <ri 
 
 u 
 
 3 
 
 Q 
 
 
 PREFECTURE 
 SEINE 
 
 SECRETARIAT Gl 
 
 DIRECTION 
 (leg 
 ifFAIRES MUNI 
 
 o 
 ft 
 1. 
 
 S 
 
 Verification de 
 MANDAT DE ^ 
 
 N nu CAIJXET_ 
 
 L
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 171 
 
 
 s 
 
 *. s 
 
 t & 
 
 g> . 
 
 s 
 1 1 
 
 -* 45 03 OS 
 NU y, . 
 
 _> C t3 C 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ -" C o> 9 
 
 r^ *^ (3 
 
 
 
 
 
 .5P 
 
 5 a 
 
 c 9 ** c 
 
 C5 O S 
 
 1 1 F * 
 
 <D O 
 
 ,_, pj Cj g 
 
 
 
 
 
 T3 ^ "pn 
 
 
 
 
 
 g O H 
 2 *v E* 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 S * 
 
 &s 
 
 C O T3 
 
 S o <u 
 
 
 a 
 
 "s 
 
 'C 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 .. S o 
 QJ T3 4) 
 
 C - 
 
 1 5 B 
 
 
 
 ! si 
 
 o 25 
 
 ' H 
 
 I 1 ! 
 
 
 
 a> 
 
 
 S 
 
 ! j i 
 
 
 
 ^& 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 t2 "" 
 
 h & 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 = M 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 O 03 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 0} c2 05 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .S 8 - ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I | s 
 
 o .a 2 
 
 t c3 03 g .. 
 
 a 
 
 S 
 o 
 
 
 
 | 
 
 -ce 
 
 \a> 
 
 
 a> 
 
 s, 
 
 2 a 
 
 PI as y 
 
 c S " 
 
 B S 
 
 ^ ^ -3 
 
 M OJ *QJ 
 
 P-i 02 O 
 
 N 
 
 i 
 
 s
 
 172 
 
 APPENDIX.
 
 APPENDIX. 173 
 
 FORM No. 3. 
 
 REPUBLIQUE F K A N g A I S E, SECR , TARIAT 
 
 LIBERTE, fGALITE, FRATERNITE. GfiNfiRAL 
 
 PREFECTURE DE LA SEINE. Service de la 
 
 Statistique 
 
 VILLE DE PARIS.-MAIRIE DU micipale 
 _ ARRONDISSEMENT. 
 D E C E S 
 
 NOTICE STATIST1QUE IMPERSONNELLE 
 
 A remplir en meme temps que le certifteat de visite, eta H DE L'ACTE : 
 
 d^poser a la Mairie. 
 
 NOTA. Le medecin de 1'Etat civil peut biffer les mots con- 
 traires au cas qu'il a sous les yeux, ou ecrire oui ou faire une 
 croix apres le mot conforme. II est prie d'ecrire le nom de la 
 profession exercee, en faisant suivre ce nom d'un o, s'il s'agit 
 d'un ouvrier, ou d'un p, s'il s'agit d'un patron, et aussi de 
 mettre an a; a la suite des questions auxquelles il ne peut 
 repondre. Le degro de salubrite est apprecie et non demande. 
 
 Mois d_ i88_ 
 
 ADULTES ET ENPANTS AGES DE 5 ANS ET AU-DESSUS. 
 
 Sexe du decode 
 
 Cf-lihataire 
 
 Marie 
 
 Date ou duree du mariage 
 
 Veuf et depuis quand ?. 
 
 Age de 
 
 Departement d . 
 
 Date du deces : le du mois d 
 
 <u /Quartier 
 S I Rue 
 
 etage. 
 Q ^Salubre insalubre.
 
 174 APPENDIX. 
 
 /Nombre d'enfants morts et vi- 
 vants issus du manage. 
 
 a 
 
 Q 
 
 Nombre d'enfants siiivants . 
 w / Oncle et niece 
 
 ,!, g a, ! Tante et neveu_ 
 fee a ' J Cousins germains 
 
 o V Issus de cousins germaine 
 
 DudecedejP atron 
 
 ouvrier 
 
 J . De 1'upouz survivant 
 
 E 
 
 I ouvrier_ 
 
 Du pere (patron, ouvrier) 
 
 1 De la mere (patronne, ouvriere) 
 ,-*- (interne . 
 
 ( extern e 
 un lycee 
 
 3 * un college 
 
 *~< J ** 
 
 I une ('cole communale 
 iune ecole libre ._ 
 
 Addresse de 1'institution : 
 Rue 
 Vaccine ; non vaccine 
 
 ENFANTS AU-DESSOU8 DE 5 AXS. 
 
 Sexe du decede _ 
 Legitime ___ illegitime. 
 Reconnu /par le pere 
 
 (par la mere _ 
 
 Non reconnu ___ 
 Age de _ 
 No a - 
 
 Departement d 
 
 Date du deces ; le du mois de 
 
 o /Quartier 
 
 | I Rue n" 
 
 Stage. 
 ft VSalubre - insalubre
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 175 
 
 V 
 
 T3 
 
 o> g 
 o 5 
 
 cc; 
 o> a 
 
 'in " 
 
 Au sem 
 
 Au biberon 
 
 Par allaiteinent mixte. 
 Pa la mere 
 
 Dans la famille par une 
 nourrice 
 
 Hors de la famille 
 
 Enfant garde dans la famille . 
 
 La creche 
 
 La salle d'asile 
 
 La garderie ou ecole enfantine . 
 
 Adresse de la residence hors de la famille 
 Eue_ _n 
 
 Profession ] Du P^ re (patron, ouvrier)^ 
 
 I De la mere (pat ne , ouv re ) 
 
 Age ( Du pere 
 
 I De la mere 
 
 Degre 
 
 de 
 parente 
 
 Oncle et niece_ 
 Tante et neveu 
 
 Vaccine _ 
 
 Issus de cousins germains. 
 non 
 
 Le decedc etait-il premier ne ? * . 
 
 MOBT-N3 ET EKFANTS MORTS A VANE LA DECLARATION 
 LE NAISSANCE. 
 
 Sexe- 
 
 6tat civil : legitime 
 
 Date de 1'accouchement : le- 
 as /Quartier 
 1 ] Rue 
 
 -illegitime _ 
 -du mois d 
 
 I 
 
 Salubre. 
 
 _insalubre_ 
 
 -I Artificiel. 
 
 vAvec seigle ergote 
 
 * Ce renseignemcnt ne doit etrc demaud<5 que pout les cnfants au-dessous 
 d'un an.
 
 176 APPENDIX. 
 
 Mi-re: primipare plnripare 
 
 I Dans le famille 
 
 g | Chez urn! sage-femme. 
 
 "^ JH j Chez un medecin 
 
 .2 | |Autre: (Hopital, prison, 
 hotel meuble, voie pub- 
 
 I 
 H 
 
 lique, etc.)- 
 
 Duree de la gestation 
 
 A respire pendant 
 
 N'a pas respire. 
 
 'C'^ <3~ 
 
 I Encore vivant. 
 Decede 
 Mort-ne 
 
 [Encore vivante. 
 Fille -, Decedee 
 
 /Vivant 
 
 g e e 3 / I lvalu 
 
 ^ .2 * v g -2 I Garcon J D-'cedi' 
 
 ( Mort-ne . 
 
 Fille -j Decedee 
 
 ( Mort nee 
 
 f Du pere (patron, ouvrier) 
 P P ' 
 
 Ape (Da pere 
 g 
 
 De la mere. 
 
 ^ Oncle et niece 
 Tante et neveu 
 
 _ 
 
 1 Cousins germains ___ 
 J [parente ( Issus de cousins ge rmains. 
 
 Duree du mariage (en aniK-es) 
 Y a-t-il eu un f Nom et sexe 
 accoucheur (Domicile - 
 
 Maladie cause de mort_ 
 
 Correspondant au numero_ de la nomenclature (Voyez 
 
 au verso). 
 
 f aign 
 
 Cette maladie a-t-elle etc | chronique
 
 APPENDIX. 177 
 
 Accidents terminaux 
 
 Y a-t-il eu opC-ration chirurgicale ? . 
 
 Nom et domicile du medecin traitant 
 
 Le traitement a-t-il etc effectue par le service des secours 
 
 domicile ? : 
 
 Fait a Paris, le 18 , i\ 
 
 heure du 
 
 Cachet de la Mairie Le medecin de Vfitat civil. 
 
 OVu: 
 Le Maire du e arrondissement, 
 
 The following schedule gives a very complete list of tue 
 various maladies or injuries among which the cause of 
 death may in almost any case be found ; the number cor- 
 responding thereto is employed to denote it in the record . 
 Form No. 3 : 
 
 NOMENCLATURE DES CAUSES DE 
 MALADIES GENEKALES. 
 
 N i. MALADIES PIDMIQUES. 
 
 1. Fievre typho'ide. 
 
 2. Typhus. 
 
 3. Scorbut. 
 
 4. Variole. 
 
 5. Rougeole. 
 
 6. Scarlatine. 
 
 7. Coqueluche. 
 
 8. Diphterie et croup. 
 
 9. Grippe. 
 
 10. Suette miliaire 
 
 1 1. Cholura asiatique. 
 
 12 Cholera nostras. 
 
 13 Autres.
 
 178 APPENDIX. 
 
 N I. AUTRES MALADIES GJ5XJ5RALES. 
 
 14. Infection purulente et septicemie. 
 
 15. Morve. 
 
 1 6. Farcin. 
 
 17. Pustule maligne et cliarbon. 
 
 1 8. Rage. 
 
 19. Fievre intermittente. 
 
 20. Cachexie palustre. 
 
 21. Pellagre. 
 
 Ja. des poumons. 
 b. des m<5ninges. 
 c. du peritoine. 
 j d. d'autres organes. 
 'e. generalisee. 
 
 23. Scrofule. 
 
 24. Syphilis. 
 
 a. de la bouche. 
 
 1. de 1'estomac, du foie. 
 
 c. des intestins, du rectum. 
 
 25. Cancer -i 
 
 d. de 1'uterus. 
 
 e. du sein. 
 /. de la peau. 
 autres. 
 
 26. Rhumatisme. 
 
 27. Goutte. 
 
 28. Diabete (sucre). 
 
 2q. Goitre exopbtalmique. 
 
 30. Maladie bronzee d'Addison. 
 
 31. Leucemie. 
 
 32. Anemie, chlorose. 
 
 33. Autres maladies generates. 
 
 34. Alcoolisme (aigu ou chronique). 
 
 35. Intoxications professionnelles. 
 
 36. Absorption de gaz deleteres (suicide excepte). 
 
 37. Autres empoisonnements (suicide excepte).
 
 APPENDIX. 179 
 
 MALADIES LOCALES. 
 
 N 3. MALADIES DU SYSTEME XERVEUX ET DBS 
 ORGANES DBS SENS. 
 
 38. Encephalite. 
 
 39. Meningite simple. 
 
 40. Ataxie locomotrice progressive. 
 
 41. Atrophie musculaire progressive. 
 
 42. Congestion et hemorrhagie cerebrales. 
 
 43. Kamollissement cerebral. 
 
 44. Paralysies sans cause indiquee. 
 
 45. Paralysie generale. 
 
 46. Autres formes de 1'alienation mentale. 
 
 47. Epilepsie. 
 
 48. Eclampsie (non puerperale). 
 
 49. Convulsions des enfants. 
 
 50. Tetanos. 
 
 51. Choree. 
 
 52. Autres maladies du systeme nerveux. 
 
 53. Maladies des yeux. 
 
 54. Maladies des oreilles. 
 
 N 4. MALADIES DE L'APPAREIL CIRCULATOIRE. 
 
 55. Pericardite. 
 
 56. Endocardifce. 
 
 57. Maladies organiq-ues du coeur. 
 
 58. Angine de poitrine. 
 
 59. Affection des arteres, atherome, gangrene, seche, 
 
 anevrisme, etc. 
 
 60. Embolie. 
 
 61. Varices, ul ceres variqueux, hemorrho'ides. 
 
 62. Plebite et autres affections des veines. 
 
 63. Lymphangite. 
 
 64. Autres affections du systeme lymphatique. 
 
 65. Hemorrhagies. 
 
 66. Autres affections de 1'appareil circulatoire. 
 
 N 5. MALADIES DE L'APPAREIL EESPIRATOIRE. 
 
 67. Maladies des fosses nasales. 
 
 68. Affection du larynx ou du corps tbyro'ide.
 
 180 APPENDIX. 
 
 6g. Bronchite aigue. 
 
 70. Bronchite chronique. 
 
 71. Broncho-pneumonic. 
 
 72. Pneumonic. 
 
 73. Pleuresie. 
 
 74. Congestion et apoplexie pulmonaires. 
 
 75. Gangrene du poumon. 
 
 76. Asthme. 
 
 77. Autres. 
 
 N 6. MALADIES DE L'APPAREIL DIGESTIF. 
 
 78. Affections de la bouche et de I'arri&re-bouche. 
 
 79. Affections du pharynx et de 1'oesophage. 
 
 , i Ulcere de 1'estomac. 
 go. ) Affections de , , ,, . 
 
 I . J. Autres affections de 1 estomac (cancer 
 
 e * j 1'estomac 
 
 excepte). 
 
 Diarrhee infantile, athrepsie. 
 Diarrhee et entente. 
 Affections de / Dysenteric. 
 1'intestin "i Parasites intestinaux. 
 
 I Hernies, obstructions intestinales. 
 ' Autres affections de 1'intestin. 
 
 )/ Ictere grave. 
 I Tumeurs hydatiqnes. 
 Affections du ,,. . 
 -.Cirrhose. 
 Calculs biliaires. 
 y _. ^Autres affections du foie. 
 
 93. Peritonite inflammatoire (puerperale exceptee). 
 
 94. Autres affections de 1'appareil digestif. 
 
 95. Phlegmon de la fosse iliaque. 
 
 N 7. MALADIES DE L'APPAREIL GfiNITO-URINAIBE ET DE 
 SES ANNEXES. 
 
 96. Nephrite. 
 
 97. Maladie de Bright. 
 
 98. Perinephrite et abces perinephrique. 
 
 99. Calculs renaux. 
 
 100. Autres maladies des reins et annexes. 
 
 101. Calculs vesicaux. 
 
 1 02. Maladies de la vessie. 
 
 103. Maladies de 1'uretre (abct-s urineux, etc.). 
 
 104. Maladies de la prostate.
 
 APPENDIX. 181 
 
 105. Maladies du testicule. 
 
 1 06. Metro-peritonite. 
 
 107. Abces du bassin. 
 
 108. Hematocele peri-uterine. 
 
 109. 1 j Metrite. 
 
 no. I Maladies del Hemorrhagies (non puerperales). 
 in. j" 1'uterus I Tumeurs (non cancereuses). 
 
 112. J I Autres maladies. 
 
 113. Kystes et autres tnmeurs de 1'ovaire. 
 
 1 14. Autres maladies des organes genitaux. 
 
 115. Maladies non puerperales de la mamelle (cancer excepte). 
 
 N 8. AFFECTIONS PUERPERALES. 
 
 1 1 6. Accidents de la grossesse. 
 
 117. Hemorrhagie puerperale. 
 
 118. Autres accidents de 1'accouchement. 
 
 119. Septicemie puerperale. 
 
 1 20. Metroperitonite puerperale. 
 
 121. Eclampsie puerperale. 
 
 122. Phlegmatia alba dolens puerperale. 
 
 123. Autres accidents puerperaux. Mort subite. 
 
 124. Maladies de la mamelle puerperales. 
 
 N 9. MALADIES DE LA PEAU ET DU TISSU CELLULAIRE. 
 
 125. firysipele. 
 
 126. Gangrene. 
 
 127. Anthrax. 
 
 128. Phlegmon, abces chaud. 
 
 129. Autres maladies de la peau et de ses annexes (cancer 
 
 excepte). 
 
 N IO. MALADIES DES ORGASE8 DE LA LOCOMOTION. 
 
 130. Maladie de Pott. 
 
 131. Abces froid et par congestion. 
 
 132. Fractures. 
 
 133. Autres affections des os. 
 
 134. Luxations. 
 
 135. Tumeurs blanches. 
 
 136. Autres maladies des articulations. 
 
 137. Amputation. 
 
 138. Autres affections des organes de la locomotion.
 
 182 APPENDIX. 
 
 N II. NOUVEAU-NfiS DE O A. 8 JOUB8. 
 
 139. Dcbilite congenitale, ictere et sclereme. 
 
 140. Vices de conformation. 
 
 141. Dt-faut de soins. 
 
 142. Autres. 
 
 N 12. -VIELLESSE. 
 
 143. Dobilitu senile. 
 
 N 13. MORTS V1OLENTES. 
 
 'a. Par le poison. 
 
 b. Par asphyxie. 
 
 c. Par strangulation. 
 
 d. Par submersion. 
 
 144. Suicide J e. Par armes a feu. 
 
 /. Par instruments trenchants. 
 g. Par precipitation. 
 ft. ficrasement. 
 ?'. Autres. 
 
 145. Traumatisme accidentel. 
 
 146. Brulure. 
 
 147. Isolation et congelation. 
 
 148. Inanition. 
 
 149. Autres.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 AFRICA, 9. (See Egypt) 
 
 AMERICA, ancient, 28-31 ; modern see United States, Mexico, 
 
 Brazil and Argentine Republic 
 ANCIENT LAW, 1-34 
 ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, 90 
 AKYANS, beliefs and customs of, 1-5, 11-13, 24 
 ASHES, protection and conservation of, 47, 51, 56, 69, 79, 108, 109, 
 
 137, 142, 143, 150, 155, 159, 160 
 
 ASIA see China, Persia, Inaia, Israel, Islam, Christendom 
 ASSYRIANS, 5 (foot-note') 
 AUSTRALIA see New South Wales 
 AUSTRIA, 71-77 
 
 BADEN, 68 
 
 BELGIUM, 82-83 
 
 BIBLE, references to cremation in, 31 
 
 BILL, Disposal of Dead Regulation, 100, 102 
 
 BODY, no property in, 98, 99, 116, 118, 109 ; right of possession of 
 98, 116, 117, 109; duty of burying, 117, 127, 129; right to cus- 
 tody of, 1 1 8 
 
 BOHEMIA, 77-78 
 
 BRAHMANIC LAW, i, 12 
 
 BRAZIL, 90 
 
 BRITAIN, mortuary customs in, 2 
 
 BUDDHISM, influence of, i, u 
 
 BURNING a body, when a misdemeanour, 100, 101, 123, 132, 133
 
 184 INDEX. 
 
 CARTHAGINIANS, 2 
 
 OASES cited, Dawson r. Small, 98 ; Gilbert v. Buzzard, 126 ; Lloyd 
 '. Lloyd, 99 ; Reg. v. Fox, 90, 117 ; Rexr. Lynn, 99, 128 ; Reg. 
 '-. Price, 99, 122-134; Reg. v. Scott, 118; Reg. v. Sharpe, 
 98, 99, 115, 121, 128, 131 ; Reg. v. Stevenson and another, 101, 
 102 ; R. v. Stewart, 129, 130 ; R. v. Van, 129, 130 ; Stag . 
 Punter, 98; Williams v. Williams, 96-99, 115-121, 130, 131 
 
 CERTIFICATES of death, 95, 106, 107, 108 ; necessity of, for burial, 
 95i IO 3 IO 4> 1 06 ; for cremation, 104, 105, 106, 107 ; medical, 
 46, 47, 48, 55, 123, 140, 141, 145, 79, 81, 95, 103, 106, 107, 108, 
 115; civil, 46, 136, 79, 82, 138, 139, 140, 145, 147, 148, 154 
 
 CIIILPERIC III., prohibition of cremation by, 34 
 
 CHINA, 3, ii 
 
 CHRISTENDOM, 32-34 
 
 CHRISTIANS, embalmed, 33 ; cremated, 33 
 
 CORONER, jurisdiction of, 101, 123 
 
 CREMATION, origin of, i, 2 ; suppression of, 34, 124 ; re-introduc- 
 tion of, 35 ; regulation of, 44-47, 50, 54-57, 59, 61, 62, 79, 80, 81, 
 ^9 93 ; necessity of regulating in England, 96, 100, 102, 103, 
 104; suggestions for new regulations, 105-110; inquiry into, in 
 House of Lords, 95 ; compulsory, 39, 40, 82, 86, 91 
 
 CREMATION SOCIETY OF ENGLAND, foundation of, 94 ; correspond- 
 ence with Home Office, 94-96 ; deputation to Home Secretary, 
 95 ; opening of crematorium, 102 
 
 CYRUS, attempts to cremate Croesus, 8, 10 
 
 DARIUS, favourable to cremation, 9-11 
 DEATH, registration of, 95, 103-108, 169-182 
 DENMARK, 78, 79 
 DRUIDS, mortuary customs of, 2 
 
 EGYPT, 3, 33, 34 
 
 ETHIOPIANS, 3 
 
 EXECUTORS, power of disposition of body, 74-77, 98, 117, 119, 
 110-113 ; right to the possession of body, 98, 117, 118 ; duties 
 as to burying, 117 
 
 EXHUMATION as evidence of crime, 41, 42, 102-105 ; when a misde- 
 meanour, 128; results of, 104, 105
 
 INDEX. 185 
 
 FRANCE, 35-48 ; regulations for conduct of cremations in, 45-47 
 FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR, cremation on battlefields, 39 
 FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN, 62, 63 
 
 GAUL, mortuary customs in, 2, 34 
 
 GERMANS, 2 
 
 GERMANY, 2, 57-71 
 
 GOTH A, 57, 58; description of apparatus at, 135; regulations for 
 
 conduct of cremations at, 135-138 
 GOTHS, 2 
 GREKCE, 23, 24 
 
 HAMBURG, 56-61 ; crematorium at, limitations of its use, 60 
 HEIDELBERG, establishment of crematorium at, 68 ; regulations for 
 
 conduct of cremation in, 139-146 
 HINDU LAWS AND CUSTOMS, 11, 12 
 HOLLAND, 83, 85 
 
 INDIA, ancient, 11-23 ; modern, 9>-92 
 
 INDIANS, American, mortuary customs of, 28-32 
 
 INQUESTS, avoidance of, 101, 123, 124 ; number of, in comparison 
 
 with that of exhumations, 104, 105 
 ISLAM, 32 
 ISRAEL, 31, 32 
 ITALIAN BURIAL LAW, 54 
 
 ITALIAN POLICE REGULATIONS for conduct of cremations, 54-57 
 ITALY, 49-57 
 
 JAPAN, 92 
 
 JEWS, influence of Mazdeism, 32 
 
 JUSTINIAN, Twelve Tables of, 26, 27 
 
 LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES, disposition of body by, 36,46, 55, 57, 75, 
 
 76, 89, 116, 129, 130, 131, 154 
 LYCURGUS, laws of, 24 
 LYONS, cremation in, 48
 
 186 INDEX. 
 
 MAHOMMEDANS, 32 
 
 MANES, worship of, 28 
 
 MANU, laws of, 12, 17-19 
 
 MAZDEISM or MAOISM, 3-11 
 
 MEDES, laws of, 12, 17, 18, 19 
 
 MEDIA. 5 8 
 
 MEXICO, 90 
 
 MODERN LAW, foreign. 35-93 : English, 94-113 
 
 NAPOLEON, mode of burial prescribed by, 38, 39 
 NETHERLANDS see Holland 
 NEW SOUTH WALES, 93 
 
 PARTS, cremation in, 47 
 
 PARSIS, 4 (foot-note}, 7 
 
 PEPIN-LE-BREF publishes edict against cremation, 34 
 
 PERSIA. 3-11 
 
 PORTUGAL, 86 
 
 PROPERTY IN A BODY, 98, 115, 116, 117, u 8 
 
 PRUSSIA, 6 1, 62 
 
 PRUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, opposition to cremation of, 62, 63, 64, 65 
 
 REGISTRATION of death, 61, 78, 95, 100, 103, 104, 105 
 
 RELIGION, influence on cremation, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7. 8, n, 13, 24, 25, 32, 
 
 33. 34, "4 
 
 RIG-VEDA, 5, 12, 14, 15, 22 
 ROMAN LAW, 25-27, 112, 113 
 ROME, 24-28; cremation under Romans, 124 
 
 SAT/ or SUTTEE, 18-23, 91-92 
 
 SAXONY, 58 
 
 SCANDINAVIANS, mortuary customs of, 2 
 
 SLAVS, mortuary customs of, 2 
 
 SPAIN, 86 
 
 SPARTANS, 24 
 
 SWEDEN, 79-80 
 
 SWITZERLAND, 81-82 
 
 SYLLA, action of, in regard to cremation, 24
 
 INDEX. 187 
 
 TALMUD, 31 
 
 TESTATOR, disposition of body by, 44, 54, 55, 57, 74, 75, 76, 77, 79, 
 
 81, 90, 99, 118, 1 10, in, 112, 113, 136, 140, 147, 162 
 TRANSPORT OF BODIES, 46, 47, 53, 55, 60, 72, 83, 138, 145, 149, 154, 
 
 167, 168 
 
 UNITED STATES, 86-89 ; Cremation Company, Limited. Rules, 154 
 
 VENDIDAD, laws of, 5, 6, 10 
 VISHNU, Institutes of, 1 6 
 
 WURTEMBERG, 66-68 
 
 ZEND-AVESTA, 3-11 
 ZOROASTER, 3, n 
 
 ZURICH, 8 1 ; action of government of, 81, 82 ; regulations for con- 
 duct of cremations in, 147-153 
 
 I'KINTED BY BALLANTYNB, HANSON AND CO. 
 LONDON AND EDINBURGH
 
 University of California 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY 
 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 Box 9! 
 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 
 Return this material to the library from which It was borrowed. 
 
 UCLAYRLILL 
 
 DUE?4fcf 1 82006