Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

The Morgue

The Morgue.

This building was completed and handed over to the city authorities in 1903. It is situated at the Southern Cemetery, looks like a small chapel, 30 feet by 26 feet, and consists of four apartments—a waiting room, post mortem room, a coroner's room, and a special room for the reception of bodies. The coroner's room, in which inquests are held, is 17 feet by 13 feet; the post mortem room is the same size, and a special room for placing bodies is 7 feet by 7 feet. The coroner's and post mortem rooms are connected by a glazed sliding door, which, in the case of a body being in an advanced state of decompositon, can be kept closed, and yet the jury be in a position to view the subject. The post mortem room is entered by a separate door leading from without, and is connected with the special room, in order that when a post mortem is necessary bodies may be carried into it. It has cement and concrete flocrs, and, with a plentiful water supply, can be flushed out whenever required, so that a perfect sanitary state exists. In the centre of the post mortem room there is a revolving dissecting table. There are stretchers at the side of the room for bodies, and it is provided with desks, sinks, basins, healing page 97 stores, etc. This and the coroner's room are lighted from the ceiling. The whole building is thoroughly ventilated all round the dado, and fitted with large ventilators along the ridge of the roof.