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24
Let us then hear no more criticism about the alleged heavy cost of
cremation; it is a fable.
If you wish to consider cremation, write to Mr. G. A. Noble,
Secretary of the Cremation Society of England, 52 New Cavendish
Street, W. 1, and ask for any information and he will send you literature.
The Cremation Society has no monetary interest in any shape or form;
there is no vested interest.
The next objection brought against cremation is that it affords a
splendid opportunity for the poisoner to escape from his crime. What
a foolish objection that is. Look at death certification as we know it
to-day tor purposes of ordinary burial. Has it ever struck you that the
vast majority of death certificates for burial are signed by medical men
who have not seen the body of their late patient, the dead body I mean?
They accept the word of the relatives that the patient has died. No
wonder there is a Society for the prevention of Premature Burial.
Under the present system of Death Certification, a hopelessly obsolete
system, it is not necessary for the doctor to see the body before he signs
the death certificate. Sir William Willcox, the Home Office toxicologist,
says that there have been instances in which death certificates have been
given where the person has not been dead, where the friends have thought
he was dead and have gone to the doctor for a certificate and have got
one. This lax system of death certification would not prevent the burial
of persons who had been poisoned. Still, the body is there, in the grave,
for examination if suspicion arises later. The record of notable crimes
shows that in many recent poisoning cases a death certificate had been
filled in and nothing would have happened had it not been that some
interest, financial or otherwise, had led some other people to raise complaints
and make inquiries and so an exhumation has been ordered.
The whole death certification position at the present time is very
unsatisfactory, and the governments of the country have been greatly
wanting in their duty. As far back as 1893, a Select Committee
enquired into and reported on Death Certification, yet nothing has
been done. The medical profession and medical press have complained
year after year and no one has taken any notice.
Now what do we find in the way of certification before cremation?
There is a far more stringent system here than in the case of earth
burial. Two doctors' certificates have to be signed, one by the family
doctor and the other by an expert or specialist with special qualifications.
These two form a great safeguard against the concealment of crime.