80 The Rev. S. Haughton on Hanging, considered from 



According to the original form of death-punishment for treason 

 in England, the hanging was used as an anaesthetic, preparatory 

 to the disembowelling (or drawing) that always preceded the 

 quartering of the criminal ; and the present slow process of hang- 

 ing practised by Calcraft and others in England and Scotland, 

 which consists in dropping the patient through three or four feet 

 and allowing him to hang until dead, is the faithful representa- 

 tion of the original process of hanging, which was intended to 

 fulfil a purpose quite distinct from that of speedy execution of 

 the criminal. 



It seems to me unworthy of the present state of science to con- 

 tinue a mode of execution which, as at present used, is extremely 

 clumsy and also painful to the criminal. Instead of the "short 

 drop " generally used, we ought to employ the " long drop," 

 which causes instantaneous death. It has been ascertained by 

 me that the shock of a ton dropped through one foot is just suf- 

 ficient to fracture the anterior articulating surfaces of the second 

 vertebra at their contact with the atlas ; and that this fracture 

 allows the shock to fall upon the medulla oblongata so as to pro- 

 duce instantaneous death. As the result of some consideration 

 bestowed upon this subject, I would recommend the adoption of 

 the following rule : — 



Rule I. " Divide the weight of the patient in pounds into 

 2240, and the quotient will give the length of the long drop in 

 feet." 



For example, a criminal weighing 160 lbs. should be allowed 

 14 feet drop. If local circumstances will not allow of the long 

 drop being employed, the requisite shock should be produced by 

 strapping a shot to the feet, so as to secure the shock of 2240 

 foot-pounds to the medulla. 



Efforts have been made in the United States to give to hang- 

 ing all the rapidity of death by the guillotine without the painful 

 spectacle of bloodshed. This method, which is borrowed from 

 the mode of execution practised on board ship, consists in sud- 

 denly lifting the criminal into the air by means of a great weight 

 attached to the other end of the rope fastened round his neck ; 

 the rope passes over a pulley placed vertically over the patient, 

 and at a given signal the weight falls through a regulated height, 

 lifting him suddenly into the air. Sufficient attention, however, 

 has not been paid, even in that enlightened country, to the con- 

 ditions necessary to be fulfilled in this mode of suspension ; for 

 in many of their executions, the only care that seems to have 

 been taken was to make the falling weight heavier than the cri- 

 minal, so as to ensure his permanent suspension by the neck 

 until death terminated his sufferings. 



The American method of hanging, if properly applied, seems 



