The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-08-24
MORGUE WANTED
Matter Discussed by the
Board of Health.
DR.. ~. s Emersor's R-port to Mar.
shall Brown on the Subject Meets
with Approval

The establishment of an institution
OF vital need was brought up at yes
iterday's meeting of the Health Board
This innovation is a morgue. There
was not single member who did not
express an opinion in favor of a suit
able repository for the dead. The need
Of it is repeatedly emphasized. there
being a case in point no later than last
week. The question has been brought
up before but has each time been de-
ferred
DR.. \. b. Emerson, police surgeon.
has again instituted the crusade. He
is eminently fitted to talk on the sub
| ject on account of his official capacity
The following report which was sent
to Marshal Brown some time ago was
Iread yesterday, and met with the hear
ty concurrence of the Health Board:
Permit me to call attention to a mat
ter which concerns department I'M
der your control, and which also af-
fects the public health.
| allude 10 the lack of proper
morgue in this growing town of Homo
lulu. 1t is daily becoming more evil
dent that there is a growing necessity
for q suitably equipped morgue, to
which all dead bodies needing identifi-
cation, examination and investigation
by the Coroner, as we'll as by medical
man, may and should be brought for
such examination.
The grounds on which this need is
based may be summed up as coming
under these heads:
First Public health.
Second For the better securing OF
justice.
Third. For the due protection of the
medical men who may make the neces
sary examination, and in the interests
of medical science, which demands that
all such examinations should be con-
Quoted under such circumstances as
shall be favorable to scientific accuracy
and precision, without putting the doc
tor to unnecessary labor or exposing
him to needless risk.
Fourth. In the interest of common
decency, which demands that no unbe
coming exposure should be made of the
dead body Of any person.
Other reasons no doubt exist; but it
seems to me that the above suffice. 1t
would be easy to enlarge on the rea-
sons above stated. AS 20 the interests
of public health, it hardly needs more
than mention that security ia this re-
gard cannot be perfect or satisfactory
under the present haphazard lack of
system. As to the securing of justice,
it is easy to see that any cause which
makes an impeachment to scientific ac-
curacy must act unfavOrably to the OBJ
tanning of justice, and that such is the
liability under the present methods is
sufficiently evident. In the case of a
body that has come to its death under
suspicious OF pestilence or some disease
against the spread of which it is i'm
portant and necessary to take the
strictest precautions, that it may not
gain a foothold in the community, one
might we'll dread the possibilities that
now exist.
The occurrence Of a death under I'M
usual circumstances only this week, IN
which it was necessary to perform an
autopsy in the open court of the Sta
ton House, is an illustration in point,
and emphasizes several of the reasons
[ have given for the need of a morgue.
If established, a morgue should be To-
Gated at a point within easy reach OF
peril the hssth of the officers or pris-
oners there doing duty or confined. 1t
would seem as If it should meet, also,
the following conditions:
First. Provide accommodations for
the exposure of at least two bodies at
the same time.
Second Be furnished with ample IA
cilities for lighting and ventilation, as
well as for the due record of all oper-
ations that may be there performed.
Third 1t is essential that 1t should
be provided with the means for cleans
| ing and disinfecting both of the living
Generator and of the bodies of the dead
that may be there operated upon.
| Fourth. Provision should also be
made to allow the public, or such per-
| sons as are deemed worthy, or as 1t IS
thought best to be admitted, to view
the bodies there placed for purposes OF
identification.
! The effect of establishing well-ap-
lnointed morgue in this town cannot but
react favorably upon the ends of JUS
Itice. health and morals, and are well
worthy the consideration of the GOV
eminent of this Republic; and such an
establishment would certainly place II
lin a more favorable light in the eyes
not only of the greater Republic, OF
which we have become, or are soon &c
Ibecome. an integral part, but also OF
the world, with which our relations
Iare rapidly becoming more intimate.
AS a result OF conversations with
commemorative medical men in this
town. find that the views, in general
as above stated, are held by them all