Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/848

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830 MORGUE MORIKE recorded. Notice is sent to the coroner, and if there are indications of a violent death the case is reported to the superintendent of po- lice. Recognized bodies, by permission of the coroner, are removed by friends; those un- recognized are exposed on marble slabs, under streams of water, for 72 hours, or less at the discretion of the warden. Photographs are taken for the inspection of persons in search of missing friends. The clothing is exhibited 30 days, and kept a year. Unrecognized bodies are buried in the city cemetery on Hart's isl- and, and numbers and records permit their identification and removal. In no case is a corpse devoted to dissection. On the first day of each month the warden makes a detailed report of all bodies, identified or not, to the commissioners of public charities and correc- tion. From June, 1866, to Oct. 19, 1874, 1,283 bodies were received, of which more than one half were recognized and removed by friends. Nearly three fourths were bodies of persons drowned, a large proportion of them while ba- thing. From January to October, 1874, there were brought from the rivers to the morgue 127 males and 17 females, of whom 101 males and 11 females were found in May, June, July, and August, leaving but 26 males and 6 females for the five colder months. But in New York, as in Paris and elsewhere, the warm months are selected by suicides who drown them- selves. A considerable number of those who are drowned purposely or by accident or are murdered and thrown into the East or North river, are not recovered, but are carried away by the tide. Of infants dead from neglect or other causes at time of birth, and of foetuses, only a few are taken to the morgue. The morgue in Brooklyn, N. Y., was erected in 1870 at a cost of $25,000, and is the most complete building of the kind in the country. It is in Willoughby street, in the rear of the Jail, and, with every convenience for the ex- hibition and preservation of bodies, contains rooms for post-mortem examinations, a large jurors' court room, which can be used as a chapel for funerals, and residence rooms for the keeper and his family. It is under the supervision of the coroners. The rules and regulations are substantially those of the New York morgue. Minute descriptions of the unrecognized are published in two of the city newspapers. In no case is a corpse given up for dissection till every means of identification has been exhausted. The number of bodies averages 150 a year, more than half of them drowned, and there is in addition an annual average of about 50 dead infants and foetuses. The number of bodies recognized and removed by friends in four years is as follows : 62 in 1871, 91 in 1872. 142 in 1873, and 45 to Sept. 1, 1874. In 1874, to the same date, 101 | bodies, some of them recognized, were buried ' from the morgue at public expense. The morgue in Chicago, 111., is on the grounds of the Cook county hospital, and was opened June 1, 1872. It is in charge of the warden of the hospital, under the supervision of the su- perintendent and medical director of public charities. The rules and regulations are nearly identical with those of the New York morgue. A law which went into effect July 1, 1874, permits the devotion of unrecognized bodies to dissection. The receipt of bodies has been as follows: 70 males and 7 females in 1872, 94 males and 9 females in 1873, and 102 males and 11 females to Oct. 5, 1874. Of these, 32 were infants dead from neglect or other causes at time of birth, and there were in addition 6 foetuses. Of 261 deaths in three years, 105 Were caused by drowning, 52 by railway acci- dents, 23 by suicide, and 81 resulted from other causes; and 212 bodies were recognized. The morgue in Boston, Mass., was opened in 1851, near the Massachusetts general hospital, and is in charge of an undertaker. A coroner is called to determine whether deaths are by violence, suicide, or accident. Bodies are ex- posed 48 hours or longer, and descriptions are recorded, garments exhibited and preserved, and notices inserted in the newspapers, but no photographs are taken. Unclaimed bodies are buried at public expense. Statute law forbids devoting unknown bodies to dissection. Re- ports are made to the city registrar. About 100 bodies are annually received, and about two thirds of them are recognized. No infants are sent to the morgue, unless inquests are necessary; they are delivered to the city un- dertaker for burial. An ordinance adopted in St. Louis, Mo., in September, 1874, provides for the establishment of a morgue in that city. MORHOF, Daniel Georg, a German scholar, born in Wismar, Feb. 6, 1639, died in Lubeck, June 30, 1691. He became professor of poetry at Rostock in 1660, and at Kiel in 1665, pro- fessor of history in 1673, and librarian in 1680. He was a voluminous author, and his principal work, PolyMstor, part of which appeared in his lifetime (Lubeck, 1688), was published complete in 1704, and was for a long time a standard work on universal literature. MORI All, Mount* See JEBUSALEM. MORIER, James, an English author, born about 1780, died in Brighton, March 30, 1849. He studied the oriental languages, spent about six years (1810-'16) in Persia as secretary of legation and minister plenipotentiary, and pub- lished "Travels in Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor to Constantinople " (London 1812); "A Second Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor" (1818); and a series of novels, the most interesting of which is " The Ad- ventures of Hajji Baba" (5 vols., 1824-'8) Among his other works are "Zohrab, or th( Hostage" (1832), " Ayesha, the Maid of Kars r (1834), and "The Mirza" (1841), all illustra- tions of Persian life. MORIKE, Ednard, a German poet, born at Ludwigslust, Wiirtemberg, Sept. 8, 1804. He attended the gymnasium of Stuttgart, prepared himself at Urach and Tubingen for the minis-