Cremation of the Dead: Its History and Bearings Upon Public Health

"Cremation of the Dead: Its History and Bearings Upon Public Health" by William Eassie is a late 1800s study on burning bodies and its possible public health advantages compared to burying them. The story looks at how cremation was done throughout history, pushing for it to come back because of health problems with burying. It starts by saying why the author wrote the book and how people got interested after he gave a speech on it, making him want to look into it more. Eassie makes it clear that cremation isn't new, that many societies did it in the past for cleanliness, and that the reasons for it are more important than ever. Social and religious reasons against cremation are discussed, with the author saying they are often based on wrong ideas about old customs and beliefs about death. The book gets ready to look closely at different ways, past and present, of dealing with dead bodies, stressing how important it is to rethink how we bury people to protect public health.