(Correlation of Brain Ca.pac'dn "'"^ I utell'ujence. 26o 



che(iuos. and fui- Juipirv. as also for dninkenness and associatiii}; 

 with jirostitutcs. Vet in tliu lacu of this jiartitularly black record, 

 metlical witnesses went into the witness box some years later to 

 testify tf( the <onvict"s sanity and responsibility. 



Of Keenly and Syine it is unnecessary to speak, because we liave 

 already pointed out that in our opiniiui even the coriected (•<il)ic 

 (iqiacity reading is too high, due to the fact that the casts wej-t.-, in 

 these instances, taken with the fiair unshared. 



In almost cvrrv (Uie of these ciiniinals tiie cause of the downfall 

 is almost invariably the same, drink and sexuality, with or with- 

 out an associated insanity, or ;ii all events, lack of will power. 

 What .some of those criminals, who aic shown in our tables to possess 

 a sutlicient amount of l)rain, might have become with suitable 

 opportunity and a m(ue lia]))Mly ih-vised system of education, it is 

 impossible to sav. but thi-re seems no scientific reason to doubt 

 that given educational opp<n-t unit ies, and witli the avoidance of 

 alcolioi they might have developed into useful members of the com- 

 munity. 



The last ])oiiit to wliieh we wish to icfer is the (piestion of /^o.vV 

 mortem oedema aftei- jmlicial (h-aih by luinging. There is no 

 question that sucli oedema is |)resent in many, though not in all. 

 of the cases herein dealt witli. It was perfectly obvious to us 

 when measuring the ca.sts, and that obsei-vation has since been 

 confirmed by our colleague. Dr. ('. 11. Mollison, from personal 

 observation on the cadavera of ]iersons who have died from death 

 by hanging. Now there is no (|uestion that in some of the judicial 

 hangings death is instant aiieous. In the lecords of the Melb(uirne 

 Gaol there is a photogra])h <if the atlas or first cervical vertebra 

 taken from a criminal Avlm had been hanged. This vertebra is 

 fractured clean across, and must, therefoi-e, by pressure of the 

 dens of the epistropheus ujxm the inedulla, have produced instan- 

 taneous death. The bloful ])ressure would fall almost to zero, and 

 there couhl not ])ossil)ly \,c any /yo.v/ umrlrin oedema. 



On the other hand, should the vertebra not be fractured, death 

 may not be instantaneous, liut of a more lingering character, in 

 which i-ase oi-dema would naturally be pi'esent. It is j^erfectly 

 true that in jtidiiial hanging, the i-oi>e and knot are adjusted with 

 the exprt'ss object of ]u-odueiiig. with the "drop," fracture of 

 the vertebra referre(l to and instantaneous death. Yet our I'ecords 

 show that this may oidy oecasioiially be the case, and that in other 

 instances death inay be of a moic lingering character. 



It seems to us. on the evidence at oiir disjiosal. that the physiology 

 of judicial deatli ])y ]ian;:ing is but imperfectly known, and it 



