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39
unless in case of emergency, the room to medical men be open
for the purpose of post-mortem examinations from six a.m. to
nine p.m.
Removal by the Police of bodies "found drowned" to the
mortuary.—In consequence of an order issued by the police
authorities, prohibiting the police from what had hitherto been
their practice of removing drowned bodies from the river to the
public mortuary, serious delay was experienced in this parish,
while elsewhere the operation of the new order had caused delay
and exposure which had been described as a grave public scandal.
The Public Health Committee was aware that the withdrawal of
the police from such service was founded on a strict interpretation
of the law ; but they submitted that the demands of public
decency in such cases should be paramount, and that the duty
should be discharged in the most expeditious and decorous manner
possible, by the authority upon whom the investigation for purposes
of identification, and possibly of prosecution, would devolve.
The Committee therefore recommended that a communication
be addressed to the Commissioner of Police urging that the order
in question may not be further acted upon and that the former
practice may be reverted to.
I understand that this has now been virtually agreed to by the
Commissioner.
Disinfection.
During the year Formic Aldehyde vapour has been tried for
disinfection, and with success., but the vapour is most irritating
to the eyes.
It may be generated in special spirit "Alformant" lamps, which
are constructed so as to volatilize tablets of "paraform." A more
trustworthy method is by using the "Autoclave," a somewhat
complicated apparatus, by which the gas is generated outside the
room, and introduced by means of a tube passed through the
keyhole. The action of Formalin is rapid; it does not attack
metallic surfaces, except iron; and is harmless to leather and to
nearly all colours. In a strength of 1 per cent, vapour it is a
germicide to most organisms. At the same time it must be
regarded as almost entirely a surface disinfectant.
A new covering was ordered by the Committee for the disinfector,
and the same was supplied at a cost of £9 19s.