CREMATION.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 64, 14 August 1874, Page 3

CREMATION.

A very able and interesting: paper upon " Cremation " was read (says the Melbourne Daily TelegrapJC) before the South Melbourne Literary and Debating Society on last Thursday evening, by Mr P. B. Lincolne. Mr Lincolne traced the system of cremation as practised by the ancients, and argued that its adoption recommended itself from a sanitary point of view, as the present system of burial was highly injurious to persons residing in the immediate vicinity of the public cemeteries, and instanced London and Paris as cases in which the mortality was very great in consequence of the inhalation of noxious gases arising out of the mass of decomposing bodies. The essayist also urged that, from motives of economy, the system should be adopted, as, in consequence of the absurd conformity to the costly forms of burial at the present day, many families are thrown into almost ruinous expense. Mr Lincolne anticipated that considerable opposition would be given to the system of cremation, until the public mind had been educated to see its stern necessity, in consequence of the almost sacred reverence for the associations of the grave, and also from a repugnance to the burning of dear- and loved relatives and friends. The essayist anticipated that those objections would be overcome when the interests of the living would have to be considered as of paramount importance to any notions we may at present hold with regard to the sanctity of the burial ground. A very large number of members were present, most of whom took part in the discussion which followed, and, with one exception, declared themselves in favour of cremation as being more desirable than the present form of burial.