Evening star., 1939-11-18
New District Morque
To Assume Death
Duties Thursday
100000 Structure
To Be Open to Public
On Wednesday
BY JOHN d. LEONARD.

Coroner A. Magruder Macdonald
and his staff next Thursday will
take leave of a drab frame building
on Maine avenue to continue their
duties in the Districts new 100000
Morgue on the grounds of Gallinger
Hospital.
The new building is far cry from
the old Maine avenue quarters,
which since 1904 have been Wash
ington's official house of the dead.
Gone are the ecclesiastical stained
glass windows and churchlike steeple
of the old morgue Instead stands
building which might easily be mis-
taken for a miniature hospital or
the administrative headquarters of
some public agency.
Begun last January, the new
Morgue was turned over to DR.. Mac
Donald a few days ago-a Morgue
where, as the coroner puts it, while
death is tragic enough, an attempt
has been made to surround those in
volved with the least offensive sur
roundings that are humanity pos
sible under the circumstances"
A tour through the 100000 feet of
cubic space in the new flreproof
building reveals a Morgue in the
modern manner.
Drab Rooms Gone.
Missing is the dingy reception lob
by of the old Morgue; the musty
hearing room with its ancient coal
stove which invariably failed to take
the edge off the winter chill; the au-
topsy room with its stone slab; an
tiquated surgical instruments; the
old style refrigeration boxes; the
creaking hand-operated elevator and
other appurtenances of another day.
Instead the new building includes
a modern courtroom for inquests
with seating capacity for $50 per-
sons, an autopsy room finished in
non-glare tile and provided with
modern skylight to assure ample
light; separate refrigeration"
room whose temperature is auto
matically controlled; laboratory
equipped with the most up-to-date
precision Instruments; photo
graphic darkroom and even mu-
scum for interesting medical speci-
mems.
| The walls of the new reception
lobby are lined with aluminium chairs
for witnesses, police and others in
volved in an inquest. To the left are
entrances leading into the offices
of Mr.. Macdonald and his staff.
Rubber Tiling on Floor.
Beyond the lobby and through a
pair of dignifled birch doors is the
hearing room itself. Twenty long
courtroom benches fill the greater
part of the room. Rubber tiling COW
ers the floor. The ceiling is acous-
tically tiled. Ample accommodations
have been provided for the press,
attorneys and Morgue attaches in
an area separated from the specta-
tors bench by railing. The room is
illuminated by indirect lighting.
The receiving room at the rear of
the Morgue is similar to that of
any modern hospital. An entrance
gives off onto the rear courtyard,
which contains a three-car garage.
A drive inclosed by 6-foot brick
wall leads around the entire build
ing.
To one side of the receiving room
is the separate refrigeration room, "
with its ceiling-high tier of polished
steel cabinet doors. Behind each
door is separate compartment.
The room at present has provided
space for 18 bodies. Identifications
may be made from the receiving
room by looking through glass
window in the partition that sep
arates the refrigeration" room and
the receiving room.
Scientific Thing.
On the second floor is the autopsy
room, which resembles an operating
room of any modern hospital. Three
polished steel operating tables, re-
plete with water facilities, stand in
the center of the room beneath a
wide skylight through which the sun
streams in. The gray walls are
half tiled with non-glare porcelain,
which, according to DR.. Macdonald
prevents sehe surgeons eye from
changing its focus when he glances
up from his work. White cabinets
filled with modern surgical instru-
ments replace the butcher knife and
worn instruments which were in use
at the old Morgue.
Also on the second floor Ks the