Morgue

Morgue, a building in Paris, just behind the cathedral of Notre Dame, where the dead bodies of persons unknown, found either in the river (Seine) or in the streets, are exposed to public view for three days. The corpses are put under a glass case, on sloping slabs of marble. When a corpse is identified, it is handed over to the relatives or friends of the deceased, on payment of costs and dues; otherwise it is interred at the expense of the city. The number of bodies yearly exposed in the Morgue is about 300, of which five-sixths are those of males.—There are morgues in Berlin, and in Boston, New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Chicago, and other American towns.