Cremation : the treatment of the body after death / by Sir Henry Thompson.

  • Stephen James Fitzjames, Sir, 1829-1894.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cremation : the treatment of the body after death / by Sir Henry Thompson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    {The foregoim/2)a2m-having appeared in the 'Contemporary'of Janiuiry, 1873, a reply from Mr, Holland took place in February; the following paper, defending his original statements, was published by Sir Henry Thompso-a in the March nimher of that journal!] CREMATION: A REPLY TO CRITICS AND AN EXPOSITION OP THE PROCESS. I CONFESS that it is not without some surprise that I find my proposal to substitute Cremation for Burial as a sanitary reform formally opposed in the last number of the ' Contem- porary ' by a member of the Medical Profession. From the general public, on' account of its natural and tender sympathy with ancient customs, especially when hallowed by religious rite, I had expected adverse criticism. From those who are interested, or believe themselves to be so, in the celebration of funereal pomps and ceremonials of all kinds, a jDrotest was also not unlikely to be heard. In all this, however, I have been mistaken. So far from encountering opposition, I have received encouragement and support from all classes to an extent which would have been to me almost incredible had I not witnessed it. Clergymen are anxious to demonstrate how few are the words requiring change in our Burial Service to render it wholly applicable to Cremation. The public Press has all but unanimously spoken favourably of the scheme, demanding only to be assured on certain grounds of possible objection, with which presently I shall have to deal. Persons ui all ranks and stations of life write me to say there is nothing they would more gladly obtain than the assurance that then- wish to be burned after death could be realised without difficulty. And, lastly, I am bound to say that the much—perhaps too much—abused undertaker, with a knowledge of the world and a breadth of view for which some might not have given
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