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the body. That is to say, the jury, accompanied by the
Coroner's officer, proceed to the room where the corpse
lies, and inspect it. Now, this view is a relic of olden
times, when skilled evidence of the cause of death was
not usually forthcoming, and an inspection of the body
was, in many cases, the only means by which a jury
could arrive at their verdict, how the deceased person
came by his death. In the present day, with medical
evidence available, such view is entirely unnecessary,
and is, moreover, not devoid of certain grave disadvantages.
In the first place, it is repulsive, and often
dangerous, since the subject of the inquest may have
died of some contagious disorder; and, secondly, it is
usual, in order to save the time of the Coroner and jury,
to hold the inquest at the public house nearest to the
place where the dead body lies, as the Coroner has
only power to order the removal of bodies to the
public mortuary when a post-mortem examination is
requisite in order to ascertain the cause of death.
The Jury are usually summoned to be present some
little time before the Coroner is expected, and while
waiting for him they hang about the bar of the public
house, and are under great temptation to pass away
the time by taking "friendly glasses" with each other.
Should the Coroner be late (for it is utterly impossible
to accurately gauge the time each inquest will take,
and there are frequently several held upon the same day,
at places widely remote), idleness and opportunity will
probably cause the friendly glass to be repeated, and,