he could to accomplish the burning with efficiency and decency:
though the whole story makes one feel the great physical difficulties
that stand in the way of carrying out cremation successfully. The
advocate of urn-sepulture, however, is quite aware of this, and
he proposes to use an apparatus by which they would be entirely
overcome. It is only fair to let him speak for himself; and I think
the following passage will be read with interest:--

On a gentle eminence, surrounded by pleasant grounds, stands a
convenient, well-ventilated chapel, with a high spire or steeple.
At the entrance, where some of the mourners might prefer to take
leave of the body, are chambers for their accommodation. Within
the edifice are seats for those who follow the remains to the last:
there is also an organ, and a gallery for choristers. In the centre
of the chapel, embellished with appropriate emblems and devices,
is erected a shrine of marble, somewhat like those which cover the
ashes of the great and mighty in our old cathedrals, the openings
being filled with prepared plate glass. Within this--a sufficient
space intervening--is an inner shrine covered with bright non-radiating
metal, and within this again is a covered sarcophagus of tempered
fire-clay, with one or more longitudinal slits near the top, extending
its whole length. As soon as the body is deposited therein, sheets
of flame at an immensely high temperature rush through the long
apertures from end to end, and acting as a combination of a modified
oxy-hydrogen blowpipe, with the reverberatory furnace, utterly
and completely consume and decompose the body, in an incredibly
short space of time. Even the large quantity of water it contains
is decomposed by the extreme heat, and its elements, instead of
retarding, aid combustion, as is the case in fierce conflagrations.
The gaseous products of combustion are conveyed away by flues; and