HPB-SB-4-21

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vol. 4, p. 21

H. P. Blavatsky Scrapbooks

from Adyar archives of the International Theosophical Society

vol. 4 (1875-1878)

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<Untitled> (When the Baron de Palm left)

When the Baron de Palm left his body to the Theosophicad Society he probably desired that they should get all the fun they could out of it ; but it is doubtful whether he contemplated hanving a hospital-steward dig into the grave and exhibit the body for the delectation of a set of reporters-pulling the skin to show how tough it was, and stabbing the dead philosopher in the thigh, as Falstaff stabbed Percy. Whatsoever amusement naturally accompanies a bonfire the Baron's legatees are entitled to ; but in allowing the remains of their friend to be knocked about, like the skulls by the grave digger in “Hamlet,” they are allowings somewhat too boisterous a spirit to prevail, which will in the end spoil the fun of the funeral.

To-Day`s Burning

To-day Hierophant Orcott will take the very dead body of the late Baron Von Palm to Washington, Pennsylvania, and there solemnly put it in the oven prepared for its reception, apply the torch to the funeral pyre, and gather up the remaining ashes in a genuine Hindoo cremation urn specially presented for the purpose. It will be the second cremation on this continent –that is, since it came under the dominton of our race, fifty years ago the body of Mr. Henry Lawrens, ... South Carolina gentlemen, was reduced to ashes, but the practire failed to become fashionable, and we have kept on burying as of old.

The Baron died last May, and his initial funeral took place in this city with a ..mble of Egyptian ceremonies conducted by a littlo set of people calling themselves Theosophists to whom in his eccentricity he had attached himself during life. Hierophant Olcott presided on the occasion in ... Egyptian style, and after the funeral the body was embalmed, not according to the Egyptian method, in pitch and ..ths, but in carbolic powder. That substance has kept it all this time in good preservation, so that the body to be burned to-day is recognizable in all its features as that of the dead Baron. This Bavarian nobleman was the fortunate possessor of a litile property, and so the provision of his will directing the burning of his corpse can be carried out, spite of the expense, which is considerable. We believe the cremation would have taken place soon after his death if the furnace bad been ready, but it is only now that the process can be gone through with, and that far away in Pennsylvania. However, the delay has enured to the notoriety of the Theosophists, of the Baron, of Hierophant Olcott, and cremation.

This is a free country, and people's dead bodies may here be burned, buried, entombed, embalmed, preserved in spirits, or dissected and set up asskeletons in medical colleges, according as they o..heir friends may desire. A man's body is one of the things he leaves behind him, and if he chooses to provide in his will, as the Baron did, that it shall be burned, nobody has a right to say aught against his so doing. However, the trouble and expense of cremating are at present so great that we advise against the leaving of such directions. It is a long distance to that part of Pennsylvania, and the cost of conveying a funeral party thither, to say nothing of the cost of fuel, is great. Besides, cremation is not our customary way of dealing with corpses, and the present method is not likely to be changed by a man here and there ordering the burnung of his remains. There is something, too, very disagreeable about making a great and peculiar public fuss over a dead body, representing as it does to the friends of the deceased an ludividual held in affection. After many centuries of practics we have grown to attach sacredness to interments, and the burying of the dead is a universal custom. Cremation can never become the custom here unless it is forced upon us by hygienic necessities, and perhaps by law. But if that day ever comes at all it is yet far off. As a mensure of economy in funerals, cremation is urged ; but until it becomes extensvely practised the process must continue to be even more costly than the present method, which indeed is only made burdensome to the poor by reason of merely conventional sin as as to the manner of doing honor to the dead.

Therefore, we cannot attach so much importance to the burning of Baron von Parm's sclentifically preserved body as Hierophant Olcott does. It is simply the sutisfaction of the whim of a man who thought that method of disposing of the dead better than the one we now practise. It is fifty years since we had our first cremation, and the Washington furnace will not be likely to be called into frequent requisition after this burning is over.

..a! Cicero lined with Aristedes

A Polite Disclaimer

To the editor of the Banner of Light:

Sir–Some people, they say, are born great, and some have greatness thrust upon them. I was reminded of this old adage to day, upon hearing that a person named Jesse Sheppard, who calls himself a medium, had boasted that he was a Fellow of the Theosophical Society. He also had the impudence to call me “Harry,” and to intimate that he was a particular friend of mine. May I trespass upon your courtesy so far as to say that both the Society and I repudiate any connection w..tever with Mr. Sheppard ? We may be Theosophists, but really have done nothing to deserve such treatment.

Yours respectfully,

Henry S. Olcott,

Presidest of the Theosophical Society.

No. 71 Broadway, New York, Dec. 20th, 1876.

Burning of the Baron

How Joseph Henry Louis de Palm is to be Cremated

Recention of the Body ar Washington, Pa.–The Crematory and its Surroundings.–Heating the Furnace to a White Heat.

Washington, Pa., Dec. 5.–The body of the late Baron Joseph Henry Louis de Palm arrived here at noon to-day in charge of the executors of the deceased, with Col. Henry S. Olcott and Henry J. Newton, accompanied by Mr. Buckhorst, undertaker, The body was it two envelopes the coffin and an external case of wood, It had been placed in an express baggage car in Jersey City, and no change was made until the arrival at Pittsburgh, when the case was transferred to a car of the Chartiers Valley line and brought hither.

Upow the arrival of the funeral party at the Washington station they were met by Mr. Wills, a son-in-law of Dr. Le Moyne, and under his direction the body was transferred to a hearse and conveyed immediately, and without ceremony, to the crematory, where it is now lying.

The crematory is a small plain brick building, standing near the high road upon land belonging to Dr. Le Moyne. The scenery around consists of hills and woods, now looking somewhat bleak in their winter garb of snow. The spot itself bears the unplesantly suggestive name of Gallows Hill, in consequence of some ecxecutions which took place there and the years gone by.

...

Re-incarnation and Cremation, According to Dall

To the Editor of the Banner of Light:

The Thlinkets (a band or tribe now living in the territory of Alaska) believe in immortality and transmigration, but not in the transmigration of human souls into animals, only from one human body to another. It is not uncommon to hear a poor Thlinket say, when speaking of a wealthy or prosperous family, " If I should die, I should like to be born into that house," or even, " Akh, were I dead, I might perhaps return to the world in a happler condition."

Those whose bodies are burned are supposed to be warm in the other world. Hence to cremate their dead has become with the natives of Alaska, now a part of the territory of the United States, a religious and sacred duty, and is generally practiced. The ashes of their deceased relatives are carefully preserved by the survivors.

T.

Editor's notes