In the early stages of the world’s history, when there was plenty of available land, interment was of course a very cheap process, and therefore often resorted to by the poorer classes, but persons of intelligence and education always preferred incineration as the better method of disposing of dead bodies. [Illustration: A ROMAN COLUMBARIUM.] In the gradual growth among scientists of the belief that cremation is preferable to the present system of inhumation, is seen another instance of modern civilization borrowing the ideas of the far-distant past. The pendulum by which the world’s age is measured swings in an immense arc. Now, after thousands of years, the views of the leaders of human thought are swinging back to that expressed by some of the earliest peoples. Incineration is a most ancient practice. It has always been a matter of difficulty to ascertain the origin of ancient customs. In the case of cremation the historians have not been able to discover the date when it was first practiced. The history of ancient cremation, however, can be traced to nearly 2000 years before Christ. Incineration is regarded by some authors as the outcome of the sun-worship of the Phœnicians. Their solar god (Helios)—the Melikertes of the Greeks—was represented by them as burning himself, whereby they wanted to indicate the ever-returning solar year. Among the ancient nations, the sun was especially revered and worshipped by the Persians, Egyptians, and the Sabian Arabs. At Heliopolis, Phœnicia, and Palmyra, Syria, there were celebrated temples consecrated to the sun. In some of the countries mentioned, horses which were, on account of their celerity, regarded as symbols of the sun were sacrificed to this celestial body. Some authors ascribe the origin of cremation to the self-immolation of Hercules. Dr. Le Moyne, the founder of the first crematorium erected in the United States, asserted that the first authenticated case of burning the dead was the proposed incineration of Isaac, and that, although it was not consummated, it was fully authorized by the Deity. In consequence he argues that cremationists stand in the shadow of the Lord, and that any one who opposes them commits a sacrilege. I do not believe that incineration, as some of its antagonists have imputed, had its origin in a heathen religion, but I am quite certain, from existing evidence, that it was originally resorted to upon sanitary grounds, and as a means to protect the living against corruption. It may be possible that incineration owes its origin to the ancient nomadic tribes that burnt their dead and carried the ashes with them. Among agricultural peoples, those who died in war, and while hunting, were sometimes consigned to the flames, either because the grave would not protect them from wild animals, or because it was desired to return the ashes to the relatives, who would keep them sacred.