A GERMAN CREMATION HALL.

Evening Post, Volume XXII, Issue 61, 10 September 1881, Page 4

A GERMAN CREMATION HALL.

Amid the pleasant fields outside the attractive little city of Gotha, stands the famous Cremation Hall, with the exception of that at Milan, tho only one in Europe. The building itself is handsome, is built on classic models, and faces the ordinary burialgronndj or kirchof. Before describing what I have just seen, I will mention that the cremation hall is one of two and a half years' date only, and was built by an association or Verein of Borne of the most learned and thoughtful men in Germany. Fifty-two persons, five of whom were women, have in this Bpace of time chosen such a form of burial, one body being sent from New York. The cost of the mere process of cremation is About £5 sterling, and tho rt'igioua ceremony can first be read over the body. It is unnecessary to say that the Catholic priest refnses church burial to anyone electing to be cremated. Protestant pastors, on the contrary, willingly accord it. The cinerary urns bear the name of one or two Jews. These are arranged outside the cremation hall in an open portico, and are solid and artistic, bearing the names of the deceased, &o. ; some were richly decorated with fresh flowers. My guide now takes me into the spaoious hall where the religious ceremony, when given, is read, and where the body is laid before its removal to the receptacle underground, where cremation takes place. I may mention that the public are not admitted to the ceremony at any time, only tho nearest relations of the deceased ; and that nothing is seen of the process. We now, not withont a feeling of awe, as well as of deepest interest on my part, descend by a dark winding staircase into the subterranean chambers where the burning is performed. My guide, with much intelligence, explained the process, which is highly elaborate and conducted on scientific principles. We see the hnga preparations in the form of coal, and, tho burning-oven, also on a vast soalo ; finally the receptacle for tlie ashes. Nine hours of preliminary preparation are necessary ; and it must be explained, in order to remove any feeling of repugnance on the part of the reader, that thebodyis not burned in flame, but is reduced to ashes by air heated to 600 degrees Reaumur. Two hours elapse before the ashes are collooted — six pounds being usual in the case of a man, four in that of a woman. As I have before said, the process is not visible, and is so scientific that every element of horror is eliminated The ceremony takes place in silent solemnity, only the necessary officials and one or two near relatives being admitted. I thiiik few visitors will visit this cremation hall withont being deeply impressed in favour of a system co advantageous to the living, and it must be admitted — at least of France and Germany — also advantageous to the dead. Here, as in France, the law compels such quick interment that in many oases it has been known to take place before the breath had left the body. In Algeria 1 have known personally a victim of this misapprehension ; and my German friends will speak to me in warm term 3of the new system as, irrespective of other advantages, preventing premature burial. — Special Correspondent, Pall Mall Gazette.