JF Ptak Science Books Post 1772
I found this rather, well, remarkable American patent by Albert Vanderlaan for 30 August 1927, which described the inventor's idea for the utilization of human remains. Vanderlaan found it distasteful to have cemeteries, which only served the function of keeping rotting bodies together until they were forgotten, and suggested that we put the dead to work. That is, the dead should be cremated, the ashes mixed with a building material of some sort, and then the whole made into something and put to use.
Vanderlaan's prose is 19th century--perhaps he was instructed in school by an older person educated in 1840 for his own late 19th century education. The sentence structure and vocabulary suggest this--or perhaps he was just a poor writer and found difficult words to stick together. In any event, I thought that the prose sounded (and looked) better if made into a poem, or at least given the structure of a poem. And so here it is. The entire poetized patent is presented without interruption, and all of what follows are the words of Albert Vanderlaan.
Method Of Perpetuating Human Remains And Article Made Thereby.
Prologus
This invention relates to the art of perpetuating human remains
and more particularly
relates to a method therefor and article made thereby.
The ugliest phase of civilized man's career on earth
is not so much his inevitable physical expiration
as the manner in which it became the custom to dispose
of his mortal remains by burial in earth.
No matter how beautiful modern cemeteries literally meaning sleeping places
may have been laid out the horror of slow putrefaction
and of the cold worm that fretteth the enshrouded form remains.
[Many disgusting features are connected with interment in the larger cities and the great mass of sanitary objections are raised against even the most carefully planned cemeteries, where four square yards of surface are allotted to each grave.]
The graves of the multitude are generally obliterated within
a score of years
the bones dug up and disposed of lose a variety of purposes.
[It is evident that under conditions of interment the space of time which obliterates all physical trace of one's past life rarely exceeds a hundred years. Look through the historic churchyards and old cathedrals of Europe crowded with the graves of those who were considered prominent and note that unless their genius had caused the erection of a national monument kept in repair at public expense but very few coats of arms names or inscriptions will give us a clue to the identity of the buried corpse. Granite and marble slabs under foot are worn smooth and the stones in the churchyards and cemeteries are weathered beyond recognition...Cremation helps to correct these indignities and under ideal conditions prevents total obliteration. The ashes of the cremated deposited in cinerary urns of marble clay or metal are usually delivered to the nearest relatives or stored in places especially designated for that purpose. Unless an urn should break or in after years through its own intrinsic value arouse cupidity the ashes will probably be safe.]
Intermezzo
What I propose is to go a big step forward...
and by a simple yet strange to say never practiced process
to safeguard the human ashes forever and beyond
peradventure of mischance against loss or mutilation
My method consists of incorporating the ashes
integrally in material of a permanent character
and molded or otherwise fashioned into an integral object
such as a tile plaque object of art
or in fact an object having any arbitrary size shape and form desired
... ashes may be mixed with clay in suitable proportions
and the mixture molded and fired into suitable forms
which in addition if desired may be covered with colored glazes
thus obtaining further security
as well as lasting embellishment
Finale
By combining my method
with the best available contemporary art
indestructible objects of veneration and beauty
will be created which for thousands of years to come
What could be more appropriate or decorous
than that the ashes of men of genius or enterprise
should be placed in the form of a plaque
in a part of the works to which they devoted their lives
[I have here for instance in mind builders of bridges tunnels dams and other large achievements. For the less conspicuous workers equally appropriate places could be designated those 80 religiously inclined could find a place in their favorite house of worship and the outdoor man's ashes could be placed in the side of a hill or rock overlooking the field of his action. Much productive land which now is set aside for the perpetual preservation of human remains would become available and in my estimation a finer sense of reverence would be developed. Tests have shown that pound of animal ashes will be readily absorbed by a clay tile 6 square by 2 in thickness without in any way affecting the strength or durability of the tile. The weight of animal ashes obtained by cremation is 3 of the live weight so that the remains of a person weighing 200 pounds would yield 6 pounds of ashes which could be assimilated in as few as twelve tiles or in a plaque measuring 1 6 wide by 2 0 in height. By mixing the ashes in slighter proportions the size of the plaques could be enlarged to any dimension desired. It is to be understood that my invention is not limited to the use of clay nor to the lost formation of plaques. As above stated it includes the use of any suitable carrying material and the formation of finished articles in any arbitrary shapes sizes and forms.]
Post Script
Accordingly the scope of the invention is as broad as is indicated in the claims.
Notes:
Photographic credits: all Farm Security Administration, Library of Congress, in order: Walker Evans,Bethlehem graveyard and steel mill. Pennsylvania; Jack Delano, Grave Digging Detail; Lee Russell, Entrance to the cemetery at Penasco, New Mexico; Grave in the cemetery at Santa Rita, New Mexico. Santa Rita is a copper mining town, inhabitants mostly Mexican; Grave. Kempton, West Virginia. The cemetery is on the top of a hill behind the town
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