ANIMAL MECHANICS. 



13 



equal to that of the criminal will be sufficient to cause im- 

 mediate death ; for in this case, 



Qh- 2240 = 2240 ; 

 and therefore, by equation (4) 



P=Q. 



For all heights intermediate between h and 2J1, the weight 

 P must be found from equation (4), and it will always lie be- 

 tween Q and infinity. 



In practice, twice the height of the " long drop" would al- 

 ways be found convenient, and therefore the following Kule 

 for producing instantaneous death by the American method is 

 confidently recommended : — 



Kule II. — " Having found from Rule I. the height of the 

 English long drop, use twice this height and a weight equal to 

 that of the criminal in the American method."* 



* I have searched in vain for well-authenticated instances of fracture of the cer- 

 vical vertebrae produced by the usual method of hanging. Among the longest drops 

 thit I can find recorded by competent witnesses are two observed by Dr. Charles 

 Croker King, when Professor of Anatomy in the Queen's College, Galway. 



Case I. (a) — A young man named Hurley was executed in Galway at 6-25, p.m., 

 on the 27th August, 1853, for the murder of a young woman in Dunsandle Wood. 

 The rope used was ten lines in diameter ; the knot was large, formed of three turns 

 of the rope ; and, on the noose being tightened by the executioner, corresponded to 

 the occipital protuberance. His weight was 10J stone, and he was allowed to drop 

 7^ feet. These data give us as follows : — 



Work done = 147 x — = 1102 ft. lbs. 

 2 



In this case, as Dr. King remarks, " there was no dislocation or fracture of the 

 vertebral column, or injury of the ligaments or of the spinal cord." 



Case II. (6)— On the 1 ith May, 1858, Patrick Lydon was hanged in Galway for 

 the murder of his wife. Lydon was a small man, only 5 ft. 5 inches in height ; the 

 diameter of the rope was 10 lines; his weight was 9^ stone, and the drop 11 ft. 

 Hence we find — 



Work done = 133 x 11 = 1463 ft. lbs. 

 In this case, " that portion of the anterior common ligament of the spine which 



(a) " Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science," vol. xviii., 1854, p. 86, et seq. 

 (6) Ibid., August, 1863. 



