lt, had collected these subjects for
his investigations, in the house of a surgeon, the affrighted neighbors
had complained to the police, who had caused them all to be transported
to the Morgue. A police ordinance of August 17, 1804, directed that this
establishment be suppressed, and that all bodies drawn from the river or
found elsewhere should be taken to the new Morgue on the Marche-Neuf, in
the quartier de la Cite. The object of the municipal administration was
to secure the recognition of the greatest number possible of these
remnants of humanity, and for this purpose they were exposed, for three
days at least, behind a glass screen protected by a rail, on inclined
tables of black marble, the heads reposing upon a raised piece covered
with leather. There was provided a room for the autopsies, containing
two dissecting-tables; another for the washing of the garments found on
the dead, and a third for those bodies recognized or in which
decomposition had proceeded too far to permit of their public exposure.
Two attendants were always on duty to receive any bodies that might be
brought, at any hour of the day or night.

[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE CEMETERY OF PERE-LACHAISE.]

In 1809, it was proposed to transport the Morgue to a site between the
Pont Saint-Michel and the Petit-Pont, but in 1830 it was enlarged and
improved where it stood; in 1864, it was transferred to its present
locality, behind Notre-Dame, between the Pont Saint-Louis and the Pont
de l'Archeveche. The bodies were still exposed nude, with the exception
of a leathern apron across the loins, on twelve black marble slabs, to
the public gaze, with their garments hanging over them; to preserve them
as long as possible, they were exposed to a constant sprinkling with
fresh water. When recognized, or when they could no longer delay, they
were carried into the adjoining _salle du depot;_ adjoining was the
_salle d'autopsie_, and, on the ground-floor, the _salle des
conferences_, in which the accused were brought before and after being
confronted with the bodies of their supposed victims. Some of these
arrangements are still preserved in the present institution; but, since
the establishment of the _appareils frigorifiques_, or freezing
machines, in 1881, the length of time during which a corpse may be
preserved has been greatly extended, from one month to years, according
to various claims. In the _salle d'exposition_ the temperature is
maintained at a