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CHAPTER VI
CREMATION, ANCIENT AND MODERN
It is not my intention to describe the funeral rites of the ancient Greeks and Romans &c.,176 because the practices of some Eastern nations at the present day somewhat resemble them, and it will consequently be sufficient to refer to some of these. Moreover, descriptions of cremation in classic times may be met with in every encyclopædia. Full details of these ancient forms of sepulture will also be found in numerous antiquarian works.177
For a similar reason I will not describe the burning of the bodies of Williams and Shelley.178 The ceremony was moreover somewhat harrowing owing to the impossibility of obtaining proper materials for the purpose. It will be more interesting to the reader to furnish him with a description of a still later instance of cremation; I allude to the burning of the body of the Rajah of Kellapore at Florence in 1873, and I quote here the description of the affair as given by Dr. Pini in the Gazetta di Milano.
At the hour of midnight the mortal remains of the Indian prince were carried to the banks of the river. The funereal pile consisted of a heap of wood, about five feet square, firmly fixed and secured to the ground by seven bars of iron. A second heap of wood was thrown loosely around. After certain religious ceremonies, the pile was powdered with camphor and other aromatic substances, and the dead rajah was laid upon it. The body was anointed with pure naphtha, the features covered by a mask of some greasy substance, and all the limbs covered with resinous matter, betel-leaves, perfumes, and powdered sandal-wood. The corpse was then covered with more layers of wood, alternated with inflammable substances, and the next of kin to the prince set fire to the pile. Although the flame was fanned by a strong wind, the body was barely consumed at seven o'clock the next morning. At ten, when the fire had almost entirely burned out, nothing remained but a heap of ashes. An Indian priest collected a small quantity from the centre of the heap; the remainder was thrown to the wind, in the direction of the current of the Arno.179
Let us now see how cremation is performed at the present day among the poor in India.180 The Madras correspondent of the 'Medical Times and Gazette' thus describes the mode practised in Madras: —
The actual process of burning here is simple and effective, and well suited for people amongst whom fuel is one of the dearest of the necessaries of life, besides being subject to a tax, which has been greatly mitigated by the present governor. A bed is prepared; it is said in the old books that it should be as long as a man with his arm extended above his head, a fathom wide, and a space deep; it is also said that it ought to be on rising ground, so that the water poured on the ashes may easily run off. On this bed is laid a layer of wood and 'bratties' – that is, cakes of dried cow-dung, which in this country is the most frequent form of fuel. The body, which is brought on an open bier, is laid on this, and covered with fresh layers of wood and bratties. Fire is set to the heap, which is then covered with a thinnish layer of earth. The process, which lasts altogether twelve hours or more, is divisible into two portions: – First, the fire is allowed to char and smoulder, out of the free access of air, till all the heap becomes a glowing red-hot mass, just as in charcoal-burning or ballast-burning at home. But after the fire has penetrated the whole heap it is poked up, the air admitted, and there is a thorough blazing fire, which goes on burning till all the fuel is turned into ashes, amongst which are discernible some of the hardest bones – as the malar, temporal, and shafts of the long bones – semi-vitrefied.
The above describes a funeral of the poorer kind, but in a late number of the 'Bombay Times' appears an interesting account of the burning of the body of Mr. Veneyekras Juggonath Sunkersett, an eminent citizen of that city.
The funeral procession from the house of the deceased was sufficiently large to demand a special report. Not less than a thousand persons figured therein, 'every family in the caste having furnished one or two of its male members to swell the melancholy cortège.' Bareheaded, and dressed in white garments, the procession marched slowly on. First came an array of link-bearers; then, also surrounded by lighted torches, and borne aloft on the shoulders of six men, the corpse was carried, preceded by Brahmin priests chanting a monotonous dirge. Arrived at the burning-ground – a spot to which admittance is made difficult – the body, lying on a bier, was deposited on the ground, the torch-bearers forming a circle around. The bier consisted simply of split bamboo sides and arms, with a rush bottom, and was subsequently broken to pieces and burnt. The object of depositing the bier on the ground was to allow all present to take a last look at the features of their friend and leader. Many simply salaamed, others knelt and appeared to pray, while others indulged in tumultuous ululation.
During the time occupied in these last farewells, the men attached to the burning-ground had been busily employed in erecting the funeral-pyre; and the corpse was at length lifted off the bier, and placed on the pile. Officiating Brahmins then anointed the body with a mixture of which the principal constituent was ghee. Hard by was piled a heap of fragrant sandal-wood, split into thin faggots, and these the relatives of the deceased laid one by one upon the body, the priests all the while reciting prayers for the dead.181 This ended, the servitors of the dead-ground built up the pyre to its proper height with common firewood. All being ready for the final ceremony, the Brahmins lit a small fire of sandal-wood, and, having consecrated it, gave a flaming brand to each of the kinsmen present, whose duty it was to light the pyre. Then the flames shot up into the air, a canopy of smoke overhung the spot, and all was over. The mourners dispersed, and by midnight nothing remained of our well-known citizen but a handful of white ashes and a few calcined bones.
During the past year the remains of the Hon. Narayan Wassadeo, a member of the Legislative Council of Bombay, were solemnly burnt on the burning-ground at Sonapore, and the ceremony is thus described in the 'Times of India,' Aug. 6, 1874: —
The body was placed, after it was recovered from under the ruins, on the floor of a large apartment at the rear of one of the wings of the house; and the female members of the family, seating themselves around it, gave themselves up to uncontrollable grief. The unhappy widow was overwhelmed by the dreadful calamity which had befallen her. A great number of the leading members of the European and various native communities called and took a last look at the remains as they lay covered with a white robe, the lower part of the face being alone exposed.
The procession started at about 7 P.M. The bier, composed of two long pieces of bamboo, with a couple of cross-pieces, and covered with a rich white shawl, was upheld by the deceased's eldest brother and three of his most intimate friends and relatives. The sacred fire, which had been kindled with due ceremonies at the house, was carried in front in a brazen vessel by the deceased's son. The funeral was largely attended, not only by members of his own caste, but by those of other castes and denominations. When the procession reached Sonapore the bier was placed on the ground while the pyre was being constructed. Men with short crowbars made six holes in the earth, and in each of these was placed a rough piece of timber about four or five feet high. The posts, ranged two and two, were about a yard distant from each other. Three logs about six feet long each were placed on pieces of wood between each pair of uprights, so as to allow a free draught under the whole. A number of smaller logs were placed on these large ones, and were covered with sandal-wood, which made a sort of bed for the reception of the body. While this was being done, a number of torches of sandal-wood were being carefully ignited by the deceased's son at the sacred fire, which he had brought with him for the purpose. Prayers were said while the ignition was in progress. All being ready, the bier was brought to the side of the pyre, and the body was divested of all covering, except a cloth around the loins. It was then lifted on to the pyre, which was by this time between three and four feet high. The upright posts confined the body on either side, and prevented the possibility of its rolling off. Small blocks of sandal-wood, of various lengths – from six inches to two feet – were placed lightly on the body. The deceased's son then took a brazen vessel full of water, and carefully sprinkled a circle on the earth around the funeral pile. He next seized a brand from the sacred fire, and applied it to some dried leaves, or similar combustibles, placed under the pyre. That did not set fire to the pyre, however, and was not intended to be more than a compliance with the ceremonial; the brand was red, but not blazing, and a spark or two only fell from it. The relatives were then, as is usual in such cases, led away from the pyre by the friends around, so as to spare their feelings as much as possible. When they were taken a few yards off, and their backs turned to the pyre, large logs, similar to those at the base, were placed over the body, which now became completely concealed – all but the feet, which were left exposed either by accident or design. The friends applied matches to the sandal-wood brands, and, when they blazed up, set fire to the combustibles. Owing doubtless to the dampness of the ground, and occasional drops of rain, it was a matter of some difficulty to get the mass to burn. Cocoanut oil was thrown on the wood, and screens were held by men so as to regulate the draught; and, after a long interval, the pyre blazed up fiercely. In three hours only a handful of ashes remained of him who was but that morning the influential leader of the Hindoo community, full of life and hope.
The above two cremations may be regarded as sumptuous ones, and far above the means of the common people. With the latter an incomplete burning was often performed with revolting results. Descriptions of these failures have frequently been given by travellers of more or less veracity. The matter was lately taken into consideration by the English authorities, and this has led to the suppression of such imperfect cremations.
By the order of Sir Cecil Beadon a cinerator was erected at Calcutta for the burning of human bodies; and various regulations were issued with the view of abolishing the ancient system of imperfect cremation. The funeral pyre was not absolutely prohibited within the limits of the city; but the disgusting custom of throwing partially-consumed bodies into the river was at once put down. Sir Cecil Beadon also forcibly suggested that all bodies should be taken outside of the city, to be burned in some suitable place set apart and enclosed for the purpose. Against this excellent proposition a fearful outcry was raised, and the municipality was induced to confine the suggested improvement to building the cinerator on the site of the old burning-ghât, on the banks of the Hooghly. At first the Hindoos objected to use the cinerator; but, on finding that it involved no interference with their religious rites or feelings, they partially acquiesced in its use. The cinerator built at Calcutta was not quite a success; but the bodies were consumed to ashes, and the fumes carried away through a tall chimney or stack.182
I am informed by the Sanitary Commissioner of Madras, that the Cinerator183 erected by the authorities is scarcely ever used, but he is of opinion that if the Siemens principle of a furnace were exhibited before the educated Hindoos they would very probably adopt it.
Here is another extract explanatory of the reform just alluded to.
From the Health Officer's Report to the Bombay Municipality we find that the cost of fuel for cremation is exceedingly heavy; and that a body cannot be consumed under four hours. 'On more than one occasion bodies have not been totally consumed, the relations having brought too scanty a supply of firewood.' In this document we also find a recommendation 'that a cinerator be erected at the burning-ghât, which would be at the disposal of the poor on the payment of a small fee. By this means the Hindoo community would get accustomed to it, and would see its advantage. A body would be put in at one end of a closed vessel, which in its transit through the cinerator would be exposed to intense heat, and after a certain time drawn out and opened. The ashes of the deceased would alone remain, which could be carried away and kept.'
As it may prove interesting to some reader, I will now give a description of a cremation ceremony of the very highest class, as performed in Siam, in which country, as has been stated elsewhere, only those dead are buried whose survivors cannot pay the fees of the priests. It is said to be from the pen of a lady184 who was a resident for several years in that country, and is an extract from a paper of hers which appeared in a late number of 'Lippincott's Magazine.'
Burning is now, and has been for centuries, the universal custom in Siam – preferred, it is supposed, because of the facility it affords for removing the precious dust of the loved and lost. In old, aristocratic houses I have seen arranged in the family receptacle massive golden urns, containing the ashes of eight, ten, or twelve generations of ancestors; and these are cherished as precious heirlooms, to descend through the eldest male branch.
The time, expense, and character of a burning depend mainly on the rank and wealth of the parties, though the ceremony is always performed by the priests, and always within the precincts of a temple. The only exception is in seasons of epidemics or when the land is laid waste by famine. Among the better classes the dead body is laid unmutilated, save by the removal of the intestines, in a coffin, and it is more or less carefully embalmed, according to the time it is to be kept. If the deceased belonged to a private family of moderate means, the burning takes place from four to six days after death; if he was wealthy, but not high-born, the body may be kept a month, but never longer, while the remains of a noble lie in state from two to six months, according to his rank; and for members of the royal family a still longer period intervenes between the death and the burning. But, whatever the interval, the body must lie in state, and the relatives make daily prostrations, prayers, and offerings during the whole time, beseeching the departed spirit to return to its disconsolate friends.
When the time for the funeral has arrived, the body is laid in a receptacle on the summit of a stately pyramid, the form and material of which indicate the wealth and position of the deceased. It is thickly gilded, and the receptacle lined with plates of solid gold when the body has belonged to one of royal lineage and well-filled coffers. The last is quite as essential as the first to a gorgeous Oriental funeral, since for rank without money an East Indian has ever the most profound contempt.
Both requisites were fortunately united in the person of the queen-mother of King Pra-Nang-Klau. At the funeral of this aged queen there was such a display of Oriental magnificence as rarely falls to the lot of Western eyes to witness. The embalmed body lay in state under a golden canopy for eight months; the myrrh, frankincense, and aromatic oils used in its preparation cost upwards of one thousand pounds, and the golden pyre above twenty thousand. The hangings were of the richest silks and velvets, trimmed with bullion fringe and costly lace, and the wrappings of the body of pure white silk, embroidered with pearls and precious stones. Incredible quantities of massive jewellery decked the shrunken corpse, and a diadem of glittering gems cast its prismatic radiance over the withered features. Tiny golden lamps, fed with perfumed oil, burned day and night around the pyre, while every portion of the vast saloon was decorated with rare and beautiful flowers, arranged in all the various forms of crowns, sceptres, temples, angels, birds, lanterns, wreaths, and arches, till Flora herself might have wondered at the boundless resources of her domain. Day and night musical instruments were played, dirges wailed forth, and prostrations perpetually performed; while twice every day the king, attended by his whole court, made offerings to the departed spirit, beat his breast, tore his hair, and declared life 'utterly unendurable without the beloved one.'
All this was kept up for eight months, and then the scene changed for one of festivity. For thirty days, during most of which time I was present, there was a succession of levées, concerts, and theatricals, with feats of jugglery, operas, and fireworks; and then the embalmed body, surrounded by perfumes and tiny faggots of sandal-wood, was consumed by fire, and the ashes collected by the high-priest or his deputy in a golden urn, and deposited, with other relics of royalty, in the king's palace.
How very different from the above is a cremation amongst the North American Indians (the Cocopa tribe), on the Colorado river! Here is an account of one published in a late New York paper by an eyewitness, Professor Le Conte.
A short distance from the collection of thatched huts which composed the village, a shallow ditch had been dug in the desert, in which were laid logs of the mezquite (Prosopis and Strombocarpus), hard and dense wood, which makes, as all Western campaigners know, a very hot fire with little flame or smoke. After a short time the body was brought from the village, surrounded by the family and other inhabitants, and laid on the logs in the trench. The relatives, as is usual with Indians, had their faces disfigured with black paint, and the females, as is the custom with other savages, made very loud exclamations of grief, mingled with what might be supposed to be funeral songs. Some smaller faggots were then placed on top, a few personal effects of the dead man added, and fire applied. After a time a dense mass of dark-coloured smoke arose, and the burning of the body, which was much emaciated, proceeded rapidly. I began to be rather tired of the spectacle, and was about to go away, when one of the Indians, in a few words of Spanish, told me to remain, as there was something yet to be seen. An old man then advanced from the assemblage, with a long pointed stick in his hand. Going near to the burning body, he removed the eyes, holding them successively in the direction of the sun, with his face turned towards that luminary, repeating at the same time some words which I understood from our guide were a prayer for the happiness of the soul of the deceased. After this, more faggots were heaped on the fire, which was kept up for perhaps three or four hours longer. I did not remain, as there was nothing more of interest, but I learned on inquiry that after the fire was burned out it was the custom to collect the fragments of bone which remained, and put them in a terra-cotta vase, which was kept under the care of the family.
From these old-world practices – for they are old-world practices, although performed at the present day – we will now turn aside to examine into the modern and improved systems of cremation. The extracts which I shall make will be mostly from the work of Dr. De Pietra Santa.185 First of all come the experiments made by Dr. Polli at the gas works in Milan.
In a cylindrical retort of refracting clay, used for the distillation of coal-gas, was placed the body of an unfortunate poodle dog, drowned for contravention of the muzzle laws promulgated by the police. The dog weighed twenty-two and a half pounds. The apparatus was heated by a crown of flames issuing from a perforated circular tube. In order to render combustion as active as possible, the coal-gas was mixed with a certain quantity of pure air. Our readers will recollect this addition of atmospheric air is the principle of the Bunsen burner, which ensures perfect combustion of coal-gas, and produces a maximum of heat with a minimum of light. The cremation lasted several hours, producing a thick smoke, &c. After carbonisation, the skilful chemist succeeded in obtaining complete incineration, that is to say, the calcination of all the solid parts of the body, which weighed one pound fourteen-and-a-half ounces.
Satisfied with the result of this experiment, which proved the possibility of reducing the carcase of an animal to ashes by ordinary coal-gas, Dr. Polli proceeded with a second and more complete experiment. One improvement was the disposition of a vertical retort in such manner as to consume the gaseous products of combustion. This is easily effected by placing at the upper orifice of the retort a second ring of gas jets. On this occasion better arrangements were made for carrying out the principle of the Bunsen burner, with the result of producing the complete incineration of a dog weighing forty-two and three-quarter pounds in the space of a couple of hours. On this occasion the solid residue weighed only two pounds and some ounces.
Few have given more time and study to practical cremation than Professor Brunetti. This gentleman sent a case of apparatus to the Vienna Exhibition, and records his conviction – arrived at after five experiments upon human bodies – that the total incineration of a corpse and the complete calcination of the bones by fire is, under ordinary conditions, impossible. He has tried various combustibles, gas retorts, closed vessels, and the open air, and has arrived at the conclusion that special apparatus is indispensable to the success of any attempt at perfect cremation. His apparatus consists of an oblong furnace built of ordinary, or, still better, of refracting brick, and furnished with ten side openings, in order to give the power of regulating at will the draught, and consequently the intensity of the fire. In the upper part is a cornice of tiles, destined to support an iron framework, above which is the dome-shaped roof, furnished with cast-iron shutters, which may be opened or closed by means of regulators, to shut in the flame and concentrate the heat. The body to be incinerated is placed upon a thin metallic plate, suspended by stout iron wire. The operation may be divided into three sections. Firstly, the kindling of the body; secondly, its combustion; thirdly, the incineration of the soft parts, and the calcination of the bones. Wood having been piled up in the furnace and lighted, the body catches fire at the end of half an hour. A considerable quantity of gas is now evolved, and the moveable shutters come into operation. The body then burns freely, and, if the pile of wood have been deftly arranged, complete carbonisation ensues at the end of a couple of hours. The shutters are then opened, another sheet of metal is lowered over the carbonised mass to concentrate the heat still more, and the wood is renewed. By means of this apparatus, and at the cost of 160 or 180 lbs. of wood, complete cremation is achieved in two hours more. When the furnace is cold, the residue is collected and placed in a funereal urn. The last experiment of Dr. Brunetti was made upon the body of a man who died, at the age of fifty, of chronic bronchitis.
A description of a Siemens apparatus as constructed for use in Germany is given by Professor Reclam in an article entitled 'Die Feuerbestattung' in the 'Gartenlaube.' A sketch of it in action, partly copied from this article, is given in Plate I.
It consists of (1) a gasometer for the manufacture of the gas necessary to heat the furnace; (2) the furnace itself, with a regulator and a space for burning; (3) a chimney to take away the smoke &c. We may conceive a large, beautiful dead-house built for the purposes of cremation. In the midst, but invisible to those present, is a furnace. The funeral procession arrives at the house, and enters it the same as the churchyard is now entered. When the coffin has been placed on the tressel, and the usual ceremony ended, it is let down into the grave and disappears. In a short time after it is let down the covering of the furnace is removed, and replaced when it has received the coffin.
The process of cremation is effected by means of heated air. The gasometer is put in action by the consumption of coal, charcoal, peat, or wood. The gas thus produced is conducted through a pipe provided with a regulating-valve, where, meeting with a stream of air, also under regulation, it is converted into a flame. This flame extends through the room which has the regulator, so that the brick material which is piled up there is heated to white heat, and kept to this. The flame still continuing, supplies heat till the furnace or place for the reception of the body is heated to a weak red heat, when the flame escapes through a pipe into the chimney.
As soon as the furnace is in the condition thus described, the process of cremation goes on. The covering of the furnace is removed by the man who superintends the burning of the bodies. It is put back again, and the body subjected to the action of the red heat for a longer or a shorter time, according to its physical condition. After this is done the gas-valve is closed, and the air in consequence goes through the regulator into the place for burning. It is here heated in the regulator nearly to red heat, in which condition it comes to the bodies already, in some measure, dried, so that decomposition soon follows. The bones are decomposed by the action of the heat, while the carbonate dissolves, and the lime remains as dust. To collect this dust an instrument is provided, that it may be placed in a jar, or any other vessel, and preserved by the relatives of the deceased.186
The most perfect apparatus, however, yet devised for the reduction of a body to ashes is that adopted by Sir Henry Thompson. From his work upon cremation I take the following description, which will be always studied with interest. This extract will fitly conclude these quotations.
A powerful reverberating-furnace will reduce a body of more than average size and weight, leaving only a few white and fragile portions of earthy material, in less than one hour. I have myself personally superintended the burning of two entire bodies, one small and emaciated, of 47 lbs. weight, and one of 144 lbs. weight, not emaciated, and possess the products – in the former case weighing 1¾ lb.; in the latter, weighing about 4 lbs. The former was completed in twenty-five minutes, the latter in fifty. No trace of odour was perceived – indeed, such a thing is impossible – and not the slightest difficulty presented itself. The remains already described were not withdrawn till the process was complete; and nothing can be more pure, tested by sight or smell, than they are; and nothing less suggestive of decay or decomposition. It is a refined sublimate, and not a portion of refuse, which I have before me. The experiment took place in the presence of several persons. Among the witnesses of the second experiment was Dr. George Buchanan, the well-known medical officer of the Local Government Board, who can testify to the completeness of the process.
In the proceeding above described, the gases which leave the furnace-chimney during the first three or four minutes of combustion are noxious; after that they cease to be so, and no smoke would be seen. But these noxious gases are not to be permitted to escape by any chimney, and will pass through a flue into a second furnace, where they are entirely consumed; and the chimney of the latter is smokeless – no organic products whatever can issue by it. A complete combustion is thus attained. Not even a tall chimney is necessary, which might be pointed at as that which marked the site where cremation is performed. A small jet of steam, quickening the draught of a low chimney, is all that is requisite. If the process is required on a large scale, the second furnace could be utilised for cremation also, and its product passed through another, and so on without limit.
This plan, however, has been thrown into the shade by subsequent experiments: —
By means of one of the furnaces invented by Dr. Wm. Siemens, I have obtained even a more rapid and more complete combustion than before. The body employed was a severe test of its powers, for it weighed no less than 227 lbs., and was not emaciated. It was placed in a cylindrical vessel about 7 feet long, by 5 or 6 feet in diameter, the interior of which was already heated to about 2,000° Fahr. The inner surface of the cylinder is smooth, almost polished, and no solid matter but that of the body is introduced into it. The product, therefore, can be nothing more than the ashes of the body. No foreign dust can be introduced, no coal or other solid combustible being near it: nothing but heated hydrocarbon in a gaseous form, and heated air. Nothing is visible in the cylinder before using it – a pure, almost white, interior – the lining having acquired a temperature of white heat. In this case the gases, given off from the body so abundantly at first, passed through a highly-heated chamber, among thousands of interstices made by intersecting firebricks, laid throughout the entire chamber, lattice-fashion, in order to minutely divide and delay the current, and expose it to an immense area of heated surface. By this means they were rapidly oxidised, and not a particle of smoke issued by the chimney; no second furnace, therefore, is necessary by this method to consume any noxious matters, since none escape. The process was completed in fifty-five minutes; and the ashes, which weighed about 5 lbs., were removed with ease.
After such brilliant results – results at once expeditious, cleanly, and economical – well might Sir Henry Thompson challenge Mr. Holland187 'to produce so fair a result from all the costly and carefully managed cemeteries in the kingdom,' and safely might he even offer him twenty years 'in order to elaborate the process.'
'O Earth! to thee we commend our brother: of thee he was formed, by thee he was sustained, and unto thee he now returns.
'O Fire! thou hadst a claim on our brother during life: he subsisted by thy influence in nature: to thee we commit his body, thou emblem of purity; may his spirit be purified on entering a new state of existence.
'O Air! while the breath of life continued, our brother respired by thee: his last breath is now departed, to thee we yield him.
'O Water! thou didst contribute to the life of our brother: thou wert one of his sustaining elements: his remains are now dispersed, receive thy share of him who has now taken an everlasting flight.'