Father, mother, son and daughter, one by one, as
death had overtaken them, had been brought thither, bound so as to keep
in death the attitude that had marked them when at their rest in life,
and there they bore their silent but impressive witness to the
beneficent action of the unmoist air that had stayed decay and kept them
innocuous to the living that survived them. In Peru, instances of this
simple, wholesome process abound on almost every side; upon the elevated
plains and heights, as also beside the sea, the dead of Inca lineage,
with the lowliest of their subjects, are found in uncounted numbers,
testifying that in their death they did not injure the living, because
desiccation saved them from decomposition; and a recent traveller has
vividly described the scene that a battlefield of the late war presents,
and that illustrates the same process, where, though years have passed
since the last harsh sound of strife was heard, the fierce and bitter
combatants still seem eager to rush to conflict or to sink reluctant
into the embrace of death. And all these instances furnish conclusive
proof that decomposition can be controlled, and that its loathsome and
unwholesome transformations can be prevented, if only the simple
conditions are secured that have already so extensively effected this
result. That these conditions can be secured no one can doubt, for,
every-day, in almost every clime, by processes familiar and available to
man, the atmosphere has moisture added to it or taken from it; and the
extraction of the moisture from a portion of the atmosphere is all that
is required to introduce the process of Peruvian desiccation into the
sepulchres of Chicago or New York.

It will naturally be further asked: "Is this all that has been done to
demonstrate the efficiency and availability of desiccation for the
dead?" To this the answer would be sufficient that the evidence that has
been adduced is ample, and that, at once, in perfect confidence as to
the result, mausoleums might be erected, with provision for the
withdrawal of the moisture from the atmosphere, and for the passage of
the desiccated air through the sepulchres in which the dead should rest.
So little is involved, and so much has been accomplished without the
application of any human skill, that it seems inevitable that, as soon
as the resources of modern architecture and sanitary science are drawn
upon, the desired result will be at once attained. But, to mak