Ashes To Ashes A Cremation Prelude

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1875 edition. Excerpt: ...of martyrs, or many worthy people who have been reduced to ashes by great public conflagrations, such as the burning of Eome under Nero? No sane persons believe that we shall rise with the old framework of bone and the particles of flesh which have been dispersed by death through a thousand new forms of organic life. Those who plead for the survival of our individual selves after the shock of death, simply mean that life, instead of being the mere product of force and matter in certain combinations, is the subtle thing which builds itself a mortal tabernacle by the aid of force and matter, and can survive again and again the shock which destroys that special envelope called the human body, using new elements for self-expression adapted to the altered conditions of another life. This is the utmost that the advocates of Kesurrection must now be permitted to claim, and our German physiologists have denied them even that. "But even if the old literal Eesurrection doctrine be held, Cremation cannot affect it. For any power capable of recalling and arranging the atoms of a body consumed in one hundred years by earth, air, and water, could equally collect and re-arrange the atoms which, in one brief half-hour, have been dispersed by fire. "Fourthly, that the exhalations from Cremation are unwholesome. Hindoo Cremation and the old heathen funeral pyres doubtless were; but not the modern crematory, as I have described it. "Fifthly, it is argued that future palaeontologists would have no skulls to examine, if we burned all our bones. The objection is farcical. But in fact, however prevalent Cremation may become, some people are certain to be buried still in all ages and countries; and secondly, in all civilized museums skulls and...

Excerpt from Ashes to Ashes: A Cremation Prelude T was a melancholy autumn night. I I had strayed on to the beach, and stood watching the foamless but still heaving waters as they lifted up great masses of tangled sea-weed and shells, torn from the rocks during the late storm. I The last glimmer of lilac from the sunset had faded out upon the sea. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

The Encyclopedia of Cremation is the first major reference resource focused on cremation. Spanning many world cultures it documents regional histories, ideological movements and leading individuals that fostered cremation whilst also presenting cremation as a universal practice. Tracing ancient and classical cremation sites, historical and contemporary cremation processes and procedures of both scientific and legal kind, the encyclopedia also includes sections on specific cremation rituals, architecture, art and text. Features in the volume include: a general introduction and editorial introductions to sub-sections by Douglas Davies, an international specialist in death studies; appendices of world cremation statistics and a chronology of cremation; cross-referencing pathways through the entries via the index; individual entry bibliographies; and illustrations. This major international reference work is also an essential source book for students on the growing number of death-studies courses and wider studies in religion, anthropology or sociology.

Shows how some of the ideas about the afterlife presented by spiritualism helped to shape popular Christianity in the period.