No resuscitations are reported from any of these places, except in the case of Ernest Wicks, a boy two years old, who was found lying on the grass in Regent’s Park apparently dead, and resuscitated in St. Marylebone Mortuary (after being laid out on a slab as dead) in September, 1895, by the keeper, Mr. Ellis, assisted by Mrs. Ellis. When the doctor arrived, the child was breathing freely, though still insensible. The child was taken to the Middlesex Hospital, and was reported by the surgeon to be recovering from a fit.
HOSPITAL MORTUARIES.
The London mortuaries stand well in the estimation of the authorities, medical practitioners, and the people, on account of their usefulness and convenience in relieving hotels and private houses of the dead pending funerals, and in cases of deaths from infectious diseases, as well as from accidents and acts of violence (amongst which suicides are included) which require investigation. In consequence of this, there is a disposition on the part of the authorities to enlarge and improve the older and smaller ones, and to introduce the later conveniences. Those in St. Marylebone and St. Luke’s are the latest examples, and could, with comparatively little outlay, be rendered creditable and useful establishments. First of all, they require the means of resuscitation, such as are in use at the Royal Humane Societies’ Depôts, and at the German mortuaries; also baths, couches, plants, flowers, and mural ornaments, with a skilled nurse or caretaker, and a medical practitioner either on the establishment or within telephone call. A fundamental regulation should be added to the standing orders that, when there is no sign of decomposition, bodies should be treated not as dead but as sick needing attention, and to be kept under careful observation. Such simple and inexpensive alterations, gradually introduced by County, Parish, and District Councils, would, in the course of time, bring about a greater respect for the dead, with proper consideration for the apparently dead, besides increasing the feeling of the sanctity of human life. In the course of time these improvements would educate the public, and lead to the erection of new and handsome structures of beautiful design, with appropriate artistic decorations, such as are to be found in Munich and other parts of Germany.
The Medical Times, September 5, 1896, p. 569, says:—
“In a recent issue of the Nursing Record, there is an interesting article on hospital mortuaries by a special commissioner.... At Guy’s the mortuary only contains room for one body. There is a bier, covered by a cradle and a red and white washing pall, and over this is a shelf, on which are placed a cross, fresh flowers, and candles. At St. Bartholomew’s the mortuary itself is certainly not a place where one would care to find one’s dead. The bare, white-washed walls, the sloping floor, the black lidless shells, covered by white sheets, would depress most people even if they had no special interest in them. That this is felt to some extent by the hospital authorities is evident from the fact that, when a member of the staff dies, they do their best to make other arrangements for the disposal of the body until it is removed from the hospital. There is an hospital not named [continues the Medical Times] where the only place available as a mortuary is the wash-house. It would appear that the managers of metropolitan hospitals do not believe in the reality of death-counterfeits, and therefore make no arrangements for resuscitation.”
MORTUARIES IN THE PROVINCES.
With the object of ascertaining the utility of these establishments, the author wrote to the clerks or other officials in all the larger towns in the United Kingdom, fifty in number, requesting copies of the regulations, reports, etc. To these communications twenty-four replies were received. Of these, only three sent copies of reports, furnishing particulars of the number of bodies received, and the number of inquests and post-mortems; three sent copies of regulations; and the remainder do not publish either reports or regulations. One, however (Poplar), states that the by-laws in use are approved by the Local Government Board. The Chief Constable at the Town Hall, Salford, writes, July 26, 1896—“There are three mortuaries in the borough, but a separate record of the bodies laid in the mortuaries is not kept, and no papers exist respecting them.” Mr. Hagger, the Vestry Clerk of the Parish of Liverpool, says—“I know of no public mortuary in Liverpool which is considered to be of such importance as to call for anything in the shape of periodical reports.” Mr. R. Davidson, Governor of the City Parish Poorhouse, Glasgow, writes, July 27, 1896—“I have never had any reports relating to the mortuary here.” Mr. J. Jackson, Chief Constable, Sheffield, writes, July 29—“We have never had papers or reports connected with it (the mortuary), except the ordinary rules and regulations for preserving decency, cleanliness, etc.” Similar replies were received from Manchester, Swansea, Scarborough, Wigan, Bristol, St. Mary’s (Islington), Dundee, and Catford. Mr. Robert Clinton, Master of the Bethnal Green Workhouse, writes, July 30—“That their mortuary has not been the subject of any reports,” and continues, “The subject of persons being buried alive is a very important one, and should arouse the interest of every intelligent person. Some method ought certainly to be devised that will prevent anyone being subjected to so horrible a fate.”
IRELAND.
The following extracts are from the report by Dr. J. E. Kenny, M.P., Coroner for the City of Dublin, received in January, 1894:—