Before the Civil War-era doctor Thomas Holmes found a way to embalm the bodies of soldiers journeying home, most funerals were done at home and in simple pine boxes. There were no metal caskets or concrete burial vaults, and there was certainly no embalming with toxic fluids.

Today, the $25 billion-a-year mortuary industry offers a service that is a person’s third-largest personal expense, after a house and car.