Quote

Ironic how the building itself is dead and being "autopsied."

I love the saying

Speechless...this is freaky shit...

Such a morbid thing to see, sometimes i wonder what the hospitals intensions were of the patients. This certainly could not promote a heathly well being. Maybe they wanted to keep them insaine so that they could warrant more funding from the government, lol.

I don't remember seeing this on the set of "Dr. Quincy, Medical Examiner" or whatever it was called, starring Jack Klugman. We used to just call it Quincy

I finally got to go..didnt get to the autopsy area..its locked from the staircase, and of course the elevator is not powered. I think the intentions of the hospital was just to watch over the patients and try out different methods of "curing" their disease. I believe this because, they did force injections that caused convulsions n seizures.
They put them in Tubs of ice water..it wasnt "nice"

[Thump]
[Thump]
[Thump]

Oh my God!

Can we put him in a tub of ice water???? PUHLEASE?!?!?!

Only if we claim it's hydrotherapy. ;-)

Sure.. I'll even fill out all the forms

Do you have a source for attributing the saying to Giovanni Morgagni?

Let Conversation Cease.
(so that we may listen)
Let Laughter Flee.
(so that we may take this seriously)
This is the Place Where Death Delights To Help
the Living.
(Let the dead speak so that we may learn from them in order to help the living)

Perhaps that line of thought helps to remove some of the morbidity from the quote and the location of the quote.
The dead speak of their diseases to the living, and the wrongly dead scream out the cause of death.
Ask any Medical Examiner worth their salt, about the things that they have heard the dead speak of.

i was wondering what the rest of that sign said when i was there, thanks for the info

Please note that what I wrote in Parenthesis, is not part of the quote in the least. It is a translation of sorts, so that people will hopefully lose the cruel and unusual thoughts from their heads.

well we tried to figure what it ays and we got something close to your translation

poetic

Comments of creepy and freaky are so usless, and shows the intelligence of the observer.

scary

this is very scary and makes me shiver

Think Dr. G. should use this quote at the beginning of her show, instead of the warning about "graphic nature." The MEs were probably more compassionate than some of the staff.

Yeah, damn those nasty staff, anyhow! >:-(

[Anyone have some aspirin for the poor old Doc?]

I understand the true meaning of the quote, but what is ironic is that it very well CAN be thought of as quote with bad intentions.

"This is the Place Where Death Delights To Help the Living."
The death helps the living part sounds like it could also mean that death helps the living...well..die. I can't really explain it any better than that, and I know it is not the TRUE meaning of the quote but I can understand where some of the freaked out people are coming from. It may not be simply because of the words involved and the location of the poem, it could have a double meaning if you think of it in that way. But don't all poems?

Not to be a clever clogs but I learned this translation a bit differently. We learned this to translate as Let idle talk be silenced. Let laughter be banished. Here is the place where death delights to succour life.

Also worth mentioning "Taceant colloquia.
Effugiat risus." is actually a shortening of the original line which reads Praesent aegroto taceant colloquia, effugiat risus, namque omnia dominatur morbus. Which translates into:In the presence of the sick, all conversation should cease, laughter should disappear, because disease reigns over all.

A variation of this phrase is to be found in anatomy suites and autopsy theatres. I myself have seen may different forms of this.

Thanks Kate!

People fail to realize that the dead, whether from disease, old age or whatever, become tools that the living learn from.

We would have never learned the treatments for polio, TB, cancer, diabetes and mental illness (there are more but I won't list them all) if it weren't for the fact that people died.

The dead speak. They just have to be around the right people to hear them.
I don't mean ghosts either.
Ask any ME, and they will tell you all about what they have learned from those who are no longer living.

This just look's ''creepey'' becasue it too of course has decayed over time!! it now is like a mockerey of death!

Motts got it right with his statement!

Most people watch way to many movie's and take them as the truth!!!

GROW UP!!!!!

Lyric, That is exactly why I want my body donated to medical science.

The BODY FARM! :-)

http://www.avionnewspa...w.avionnewspaper.com

Well, you know, you COULD donate your body to science now... I AM a doctor... (right Lynne?)

So, Dr Sketch, you are telling me you want my body! ;-)

The Body Farm! Wow! I guess this is where my kid will end up during some of her schooling, let's jsut hope that they don't ever allow her to learn from ~Me.

yeah know, I have seen this same picture on a different site,in color, I believe that the wall is green, and the black and white give it a much more errie effect, Motts, is there a reason they posted this up on the wall, I know it is a morgue, but come on, or was this the medical examiners way of putting a light spin on the whole thing????

my friends and i tried to sneak in tonight however there was a security guard going around every few minutes. how did you manage to not get caught-where did you park your car etc.

Awesum quote

Interesting how this can apply to forensic science in such an ironic way....pathologists must love this saying.

Thought inspiring quote.
I have told my husband and children that donating one's body is not only intended for those who have no means to provide an expensive, showy funeral. It is an honorable thing for individuals to do!
I have told my kids, that a Mass could still be said, and that after all that can be learned from a cadaver is learned, the remains are returned to the family to be buried, so there is a place the family can go to pray and visit.
I have made my wishes clear and written it all down!
I am assuming that the medical community would want a slightly chubby, 50'ish Mom, whose drapes don't match the carpet!

I think it's a brilliant saying, not morbid in the slightest. We are a society that shuns death, hoping that if we ignore it, it will go away somehow. Unfortunately, that is not true. We all die- this is simply a fact of life. Medical personnel are more acutely accepting of this then most. It is a saying that commands us to respect and learn from those who have gone on before.
And if you think that little saying is morbid, I invite you to research Victorian death customs during the 1800's...since life was more fragile for our ancestors, death became something that they not only recognized, but honored with elaborate rituals and rules.

Jim -- See the Romanian Journal of Legal Medicine, vol. 12, issue 1, page 3 (2004), citing Morgagni as the source of this quotation (and noting that it was inscribed on the wall of the NYC morgue).

Oh, yeah: it's at http://www.legmed.ro/f...4-1/00-EDITORIAL.pdf

i have been there many of times and have seen this quote yet it is whole there is no letters missing.... to me the whole place is a bit odd...

That image would make a great wallpaper!

lol myspace feen?

Brilliant. I love it.

WOW!

Looks amazing, and an awesome quote.

This also appears in 'From Potters End' a forensic pathology book by Patricia Cornwell in which she says it is on the wall in a morgue. amazing quote. love it.

Both my step parents worked in building 25 from 1955 to 1975. I worked as an assistant cook in building 25 from 1963 to 1964 under a head cook by the name of Schreck. Looking at this stuff brings back wierd memories!!!

I am glad to see so much sense here, but the intermingling profound stupidity gives this site a bitter taste at times. Motts does excellent work!

I was here! A couple of friends and I were curious and decided to walk around, and we found ourselves in this morgue. We weren't looking for this particular part or anything, we didn't even know it existed, but we just happened upon it. Obviously we were really suprised and freaked out. Just a word of warning to anyone who was thinking about doing the same thing: BE CAREFUL! There are homeless people who live in the abandoned parts of these buildings and they might not take kindly to strangers intruding into their "home".

Motts, u go here again? recently?

Wow these pictures are amazing, really shows the history behind pilgrim state I always pass by there to go work early in the moring when its still dark outside, and i just get the shivver and cold down my back everytime

I feel like I've heard this before......kinda like a memory....strange...

I dunno... It seems rather cryptic to me....

great quote.....gives people the real feeling of went went on here

I just read a book about Pilgrim. The quote is a summery of how desperate and lost the patients of Pilgrim State Hospital were. The patients suffered chocking back their truth as any statement other than they were doing fine - brought severe consequences. Laughter left this place because it was over all a living hell. Your only hope was to be good, don't talk about your problems, tell the doctors your medicine or electric shock therapy was working and pray that they would let you out of there. Death was no stranger to the patients and often they got well as a way to escape death. Doctors believed by punishing patients it releaved their feelings of guilt. Patients were given 150 volts of electricity without anastesia, as well as being kept bound in a camisole, in a cold tub for hours, a sedative pack which were lined with wet sheets and blankets and the use of "scotch Douche" which is spraying patients with alternating forceful warm and cold sprays. Many people also died from syphillus, TB and other common illnesses. This is not a stoic statement....it is just SAD.

My mother had a nervous breakdown when I was born. As I was growing up,everything was a secret. I found out she was put in Pilgrim State in mid 1950's. I think she is alive still,but not doing well. I made contact,but it was like meeting a stranger. She tried to see me when I was young,but it didn't work out. It's sad that maybe the next time you see your mother will be at her wake. Such tragedy and loss. These pictures haunt me and send me back in time. A time I never had and a time that was lost forever. May she be well and know that I always loved her and looked for her. This is too much for me. I need to let it go, but I can't and probably never will. If there is a God,please watch over her and bring her comfort. Life rejected my mother...so sad.

I love the quote.. Being an anatomy teacher, I am planning to put this quote in front of dissection hall of our college..

I would think this quote would help the M.E.s WHY they were there, day after day, doing a gruesome job. Kind of a little pep talk, in a way.

The asbestos crews seemed to destroy a lot. If it is sealed inside the walls where no one can get to it, its not a problem. Its only a problem when it will be disturbed or exposed to the elements and the asbestos becomes air born.