As the Public Health Act 1875 contains several clauses bearing upon mortuaries, a few words upon this subject will not be altogether inappropriate.

The great and terrible evils arising from the practice of keeping corpses in inhabited rooms by the poorer classes were pointed out by Mr. Chadwick in the year 1843[245] and the following clauses upon this subject and the necessity imposed upon the local authority to provide proper mortuaries are contained in the Public Health Act 1875:

“Any local authority may, and if required by the Local Government Board shall provide and fit up a proper place for the reception of dead bodies before interment (in this Act called a mortuary), and may make bye-laws with respect to the management and charges for use of the same; they may also provide for the decent and economical interment, at charges to be fixed by such bye-laws, of any dead body which may be received into a mortuary (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 141).

“Where the body of one who has died of any infectious disease is retained in a room in which persons live or sleep, or any dead body which is in such a state as to endanger the health of the inmates of the same house or room is retained in such house or room, any justice may, on a certificate signed by a legally qualified medical practitioner, order the body to be removed, at the cost of the local authority, to any mortuary provided by such authority, and direct the same to be buried within a time to be limited in such order; and unless the friends or relations of the deceased undertake to bury the body within the time so limited, and do bury the same, it shall be the duty of the relieving officer to bury such body at the expense of the poor rate, but any expense so incurred may be recovered by the relieving officer in a summary manner from any person legally liable to pay the expense of such burial.

“Any person obstructing the execution of an order made by a justice under this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds” (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 142).

From these clauses it would appear that a mortuary or mortuaries are an absolute essential in every town, although it does not appear necessary to have a separate mortuary for any “body of one who has died of any infectious disease,” but it may be taken to the mortuary which has been provided for the reception of dead bodies generally. It may also be assumed that bodies may be viewed by a coroner’s jury in the mortuary, although a post-mortem examination cannot be made in it, as by the following section:

“Any local authority may provide and maintain a proper place (otherwise than at a workhouse or at a mortuary) for the reception of dead bodies during the time required to conduct any post-mortem examination ordered by a coroner or other constituted authority, and may make regulations with respect to the management of such place; and where any such place has been provided, a coroner or other constituted authority may order the removal of the body to and from such place for carrying out such post-mortem examination, such costs of removal to be paid in the same manner and out of the same fund as the costs and fees for post-mortem examinations when ordered by the coroner (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 143).”

It will be observed that the above clause apparently forbids a post-mortem room being provided at the mortuary, although this would appear to be the most appropriate situation for it, and indeed such a room is frequently provided at or near the mortuary. The reason for this prohibition, especially as it is associated with a workhouse, is evidently to overcome the prejudice which would exist in the minds of the ignorant that the fact of taking a body to a mortuary necessitated dissection: a practice which is looked upon with much disfavour by such persons.

Mortuaries in this country generally consist of one of the following descriptions:

(1.) Elaborate groups of buildings, comprising mortuary chapel, coroner’s room, post-mortem room, dead house, waiting rooms, &c., and the necessary care-taker’s rooms, and offices.

(2.) Mortuaries in connection with infectious hospitals.

(3.) Mortuaries in connection with general hospitals.

(4.) Mortuaries at cemeteries or licensed burial grounds.

(5.) Dead-houses provided by the sanitary authority.

In arranging for the erection of a dead-house or mortuary in any town, the surveyor may find the following particulars and suggestions of some use to him:

A mortuary must be provided in the grounds or near all cemeteries that are in active operation, but in addition to these, others ought to be erected in central positions of the town, so that bodies can be easily conveyed there, not only with a view to meet the objections mentioned in the opening of this chapter, but also to avoid the unseemly practice at present so largely in vogue of taking any cases of sudden death, suicide, accidental drowning, violence or accident, &c., that may occur, to the nearest public house, there to await identification and the coroner’s inquest.[246]

It has been computed that for every 50,000 of the population of any town, a mortuary should be provided.

In Frankfort mortuaries have been for some years in existence; they are simple buildings, with a separate room for each corpse, intended not only to prevent bodies from being kept in private houses, but also to lessen the chance of any person being buried alive. The following is a plan of one of these institutions:

To prevent the chance of burying any person alive, each corpse as it is placed in its little dead-house has a ring placed upon its finger; this ring is attached to a string which is in communication with a bell which hangs in the attendant’s room, who is there night and day, a window communicates with each dead-house, so that on the alarm being given he is at once ready to render assistance.

In Paris, as is well known, all bodies that are found are placed in the “Morgue” behind “Notre Dame,” where they are publicly exhibited, thus assisting identification, although the exposure of bodies in this manner is not very attractive.

In preparing designs for a group of buildings such as are set forth in the first on the list which I have given, the following requirements should be considered:

The Mortuary Chapel should be of such dimensions as are suitable for the requirements of the district, bearing in mind that if an epidemic of a fatal character was to unfortunately break out, it could either provide accommodation for the extra strain upon it or be capable of being easily extended. It should be designed so as to combine the characteristics of a chapel with the most perfect sanitary arrangements.[247] The walls should be of stone and are better lined with cement or glazed tiles, and everything should be kept as flush as possible so as to avoid projections on which dust could accumulate, the whole being easily and readily cleansed and disinfected. The floor may be of asphalte or other impervious material, and be well drained, great care being of course taken to exclude rats.

The ventilation must be perfect, the building should always be of low temperature even in the hottest days of summer. All the group of buildings should, if possible, be surrounded by a free belt of air. Their position should be isolated with respect to other buildings, and of course it is highly necessary that they should be as far away as possible from any dwelling-houses, a disused burial ground being sometimes selected as a convenient site. The furniture of a mortuary chapel should consist only of trestles or of brackets against the walls upon which to rest the shells containing the corpses.

The Dead-house should be a room smaller than the mortuary chapel, but its construction may be the same. It is here that all bodies should be brought uncoffined for the purpose of awaiting identification, or preparatory to post-mortem examination, or of bodies of those who have died from dangerous contagious maladies, and rendering immediate removal necessary; these are placed upon slabs provided for the purpose, which may be of slate, zinc, or other suitable material. In conjunction with the dead-house should be

The Post-Mortem Room, which requires plenty of light; it must also, like the mortuary chapel and dead-house, be thoroughly ventilated and drained and be easily cleansed. Its furniture must consist of the necessary post-mortem table of slate, zinc, or wood covered entirely with lead: this table must slightly dish towards the centre and be drained into a pail or on to a grating. Plenty of water is essential, conveniently laid on, and the room must be fitted with good arrangements for gas or other means of artificial lighting. Some method is also necessary for the purpose of heating water whenever it is required.

The Coroner’s Court may be simply a large room with convenient seatings and tables for the coroner and his jury, accommodation being also provided for the press, witnesses, &c. with the necessary retiring rooms and offices.

In addition to the above requirements the following accommodation should also be provided:

A caretaker or resident attendant should have accommodation at or near the main group of buildings.

A Laboratory and Weighing Room should also be provided in connection with the post-mortem room; and a Store Room for spare shells and disinfectants, &c.

If possible also it is well to provide a Hearse House; and in connection with the mortuary establishment, the disinfecting of bedding, clothing, &c., which have become infected, should also if possible be carried on.

Before, however, proceeding to discuss the question of disinfection I will give the following drawing of a mortuary chapel, &c., as proposed by the late Dr. W. Hardwicke, the well-known Coroner, in a valuable paper upon the subject of Public Mortuaries which he read before the Royal Institute of British Architects in the year 1869:

I am, however, not aware that any public mortuary even of this size has yet been actually carried out in this country, greatly as they are needed.

With reference to the question of disinfection, which as I stated can be conveniently taken in connection with that of mortuaries, the following is the clause of the Public Health Act 1875 which deals with it:

“Any local authority may provide a proper place, with all necessary apparatus and attendance, for the disinfection of bedding, clothing or other articles which have become infected, and may cause any articles brought for disinfection to be disinfected free of charge (38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, s. 122). See also 38 & 39 Vic. c. 55, ss. 120 and 121.”

The first duty here involved is to provide a proper place for this purpose, and this place cannot be better than that of the mortuary, so as to centralize as much as possible the spots to which infection has to be carried, and the necessary attendant can also here be found, as well as convenient places to put the hand carts, &c., presently described.

The next duty is to provide the necessary apparatus, which is now done almost exclusively by the action of heat. This is sometimes effected by building brick-work chambers which can be heated up to about 350° Fahr. after the doors are closed, by means of coal or coke furnaces. Within these chambers are moveable horses on which are placed the articles to be disinfected: these are exposed to the necessary heat for varying times according to the nature of the articles, the horse is then drawn out, when the articles should be thoroughly washed with a disinfecting soap and returned to their owners. Great care is necessary in this operation to ensure evenness of heat, as otherwise the clothes, bedding, &c., may be scorched and injured, and the local authority will then have to make compensation.

A more convenient form of disinfecting machine, and one that is less costly to work and more even in its temperature, is one that can be heated by gas, this is sometimes effected by the use of an iron box with counter-balanced lid into which the articles are put, heat being applied by means of gas jets burning underneath. A more elaborate and effective method has however been patented, and is now manufactured by Messrs. Goddard and Massey of Nottingham, which is known as Dr. Ranson’s system. The following drawing shows the arrangement of this machine, and some of the advantages claimed for it are as follows:

Its heat is maintained automatically within certain limits in all parts of the chamber, and has great drying power, which is important, as securing from the long period of time at which this steady heat can be maintained, that penetration into bedding and other bad conductors which is so desirable to secure the necessary destruction of all disease germs or chances of after inoculation:

There can be no doubt that where a machine is not required to be constantly at work gas is the cheapest and most convenient heat-producer that we have.

It is of course necessary that the infected bedding and clothing should be fetched from the owners’ houses in such a manner as will lessen the risk of spreading infection as much as possible, and for this purpose it is necessary for the local authority to keep a covered hand-cart which should be lined with tin and closed hermetically. It should be sufficiently large to take a mattrass, and be of light construction, so that one man can draw it when full.

Before concluding my remarks on disinfection, it is well to state that plenty of carbolic acid should be kept in a mortuary. Sheets saturated with carbolic acid are used to wrap around the dead bodies of infected persons, and sawdust saturated with carbolic acid is also freely used, besides large quantities of that excellent disinfectant, “Sanitas.”