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should medical men and clergymen see fit to inculcate the
propriety of removal of the dead, in suitable cases. Medical
men can by certificate secure the removal of an infectious body,
or of a body in an offensive condition from decomposition, on the
Order of a Justice, under Section 27 of the Sanitary Act, 1866.
The Royal Commission on the Housing of the Working
Classes recommended provision of additional mortuaries. What,
however, is more required, at present, is power to compel removal
of the dead to existing mortuaries, when necessary. The Commissioners
recognize this fact by the further recommendation that
" in the event of a death from infectious disease the body should
forthwith be removed to a mortuary in cases where it would otherwise
be retained in a room used as a dwelling by others." They
think it desirable, moreover, "that in any case where the body
lies in a room which is used by other persons, it should, in the
same manner, be removed" (Report, p. 31).
Inquiry having been made as to the proportion of bodies
admitted at the Mortuary on the request of friends, to those
brought in by the police, or removed on the order of the Coroner,
the subjoined statement was prepared with regard to 100 bodies
consecutively deposited.
BODIES ADMITTED.
1. At the request of relatives of the deceased 30
2. At the request of Undertakers (bodies principally
of parishioners removed from hospitals) 18
3. At the request of the Coroner (Inquest cases)-
Cases of sudden death 15
Cases of violent death 3
— 18
4. Brought in by the Police Found dead 19
Accident cases 7
Suicides 5
— 31
5. Deaths due to infectious disease 3
100