METHODS OF CREMATION. Among the practical methods of cremation which have been attempted may be mentioned, in the first place, the experi ments of Dr. Polli at the Milan gas-works, and those of Professor Brunetti, who exhibited an apparatus at the Vienna exhibition of 1873, and described his results in La eremazione dei cada yen' (Padua, 1873). Polli obtained complete in cineration or calcination of the bodies of dogs by the use of coal-gas mixed with atmospheric air, applied to a cylindrical retort of refractory clay, so as to consume the gaseous products of combus tion. The process was complete in two hours, and the ashes weighed about 5 per cent. of the weight before cremation. Brunetti used an ob long furnace of refractory brick with side-doors to regulate the draught, and a cast-iron dome above with movable shutters. The body was placed on a metallic plate suspended on wire. The gas generated escaped by the shutters, and in two hours carbonization was complete. The heat was then raised and concentrated, and at the end of four hours the operation was over; 180 pounds of wood, costing about GO cents, was burned. In the reverberating furnace used by Sir Henry Thompson, a body, weighing 144 pounds, was reduced in 50 minutes to about 4 pounds of lime-dust. The noxious gases which were undoubtedly produced during the first five minutes of combustion passed through a flue into a second furnace, and were entirely con sinned. In the ordinary Siemens regenerative furnace (adapted by Becalm in Germany for cremation, and also by Sir Henry Thompson) only the hot blast is used, the body supplying hydrogen and carbon, or a stream of heated hydrocarbon with heated air is sent from a gasometer supplied with coal, charcoal, peat, or wood, the brick or iron-eased chamber being thus heated to a high degree before cremation begins. in one arrangement both gas and air are at a white heat before they meet and burst into flame in the furnace. The advantage of the Siemens furnace and gas-producer are that the heat of the expended fuel is nearly all retained by the regenerators. the gas retort ad mits of the production being stopped without much loss. Some difficulty has been felt about keeping the ashes free from foreign material. The Greeks used a shroud of asbestos, the Egyp tians one of amiantb, Sir. Eassie has suggested a zinc coffin—that metal being volatile.
At the Fresh Pond Crematory in New York City the body is removed from Hit coffin, which is burned separately. The body is then wrapped in an alum-soaked sheet to prevent premature ignition of the clothing and placed in a clay retort which is subjected to extreme heat. The retort is perforated to allow the gases which are generated during the early part of the proc ess to escape into a combustion chamber, where they are burned and purified before passing off in the flues. The process of incineration requires from one to three according to the size and condition of the body. The ashes weigh from one-half pound to five pounds. They are gathered from the bottom of the retort, the ashes from the clothing are fanned out, iron removed with a magnet, and the clean bone-ash sealed in a black tin canister. A columbarium or urn hall is provided. lined with niches where the aches may he placed in suitable urns if desired. In this hall the funeral service may be held. At the crematory in Mount Auburn Cemetery, near Boston, Mass., the retorts and incinerating ap paratus were designed and executed by the Tingle Sanitary and Cremation Company of Des Moines, Iowa.
The first municipally owned crematorium in Great Britain was built at Hull, England, and opened for use in January. 1901. The cremating furnace is of the re-generative type and was de signed by the late Mr. henry Simon, former president of the Manchester Cremation Society. It consists of three interior chambers, the two lower of which are surrounded by air-passages. The lower chamber contains a coke lire, and the upper one is for the reception of the body. The fire is lighted several hours before the apparatus is to be used, and is supplied with air in the usual way, so that by the time the apparatus is to be used the air-passages are thoroughly heat ed. Most of the direct air-supply is then cut off, and the partially consumed gas (carbonic oxide) reached, it passes noiselessly, by means of invisi ble mechanical arrangements, through curtains into an intermediate chamber, and the curtain falls behind the coffin as it enters the cremating chamber. The charge for cremating the bodies of residents within the city is one guinea; for non-residents it is three guineas. The cost of the crematorium was about $2500.