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

 vis viva lost during the shock is (16) 



but since the work lost is half the vis viva lost, if we substitute 

 for v 2 its value, 2gh, we find 



work lost = =p^% (1 - e 2 ) h (17) 



For the ropes usually employed, e may be regarded as a very 

 small fraction, and e 2 may be totally disregarded. The work lost 

 is expended in causing shock to the neck, and should therefore 

 be equal to at least 2240 foot-pounds. 



In a case of hanging that came under my own observation, 

 the criminal weighed 160 lbs., and was allowed to fall through 

 14 feet 6 inches, which, allowing for some elasticity in the rope, 

 would correspond with 2240 foot-pounds of shock ; in this 

 case the superior articulating surfaces of the second vertebra 

 were fractured near their posterior border (the fracture of the 

 bone extending to the foramina for the vertebral arteries), but 

 the odontoid process and its transverse ligament were so strong 

 that neither of them was injured. Death in this case was as 

 instantaneous as it would have been had the transverse ligament 

 given way instead of the bone; for the shock reached the me- 

 dulla, and its consequence was immediate and painless death. 

 In hanging, the rope supports the atlas and presses it against 

 the occipital articulations, while the second vertebra tends to 

 fall with the body; and it follows from this, that either the 

 odontoid process and its transverse ligament must give way, or 

 the second vertebra be broken across at its superior articulating 

 surfaces ; in either case death will be immediate. The height 

 of the criminal just mentioned a few days before execution was 

 5 feet 9J inches, and after death be was found to measure 5 feet 

 11 inches; having been elongated by \\ inch by the "long 

 drop" of 141 feet. 



From the foregoing it therefore appears that a shock to the 

 neck of 2240 foot-pounds is just sufficient to cause immediate 

 death ; substituting, therefore, 2240 foot-pounds for the work 

 lost in the preceding equation, we tind 



or, solving for P, 



From this equation it follows that, unless QA be greater than 



P 3340Q 



*~ QA-2240 (18) 



