8 



ANIMAL MECHANICS. 



Digression on the Art of Hanging. — Death is caused by 

 hanging in one or other of the three following methods : — 



1. By apoplexy, caused by pressure on the jugular veins; 



2. By asphyxia, caused by stoppage of the windpipe ; 



3. By shock of the medulla oblongata, caused by fracture 

 of the vertebral column. 



In the first two cases, death is preceded by convulsions, 

 lasting from five to forty-five minutes, which are caused by 

 the cessation of the supply of arterial blood to the muscles. In 

 the third case, death is instantaneous and painless, and is un- 

 accompanied by any convulsive movement whatever. 



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 hanging, practised by Calcraft and others in Eng- 

 land and Scotland, which consists in dropping the patient 

 through two or three feet, and allowing him to hang until 

 dead, is the faithful representation of the original process 

 of hanging, which was intended to fulfil a purpose quite distinct 

 from that of the speedy execution of the criminal. 



It seems to me unworthy of the present state of science 

 to continue a mode of execution which as at present used is 



tion of this precept. I do not even find how long the sentence, to be ' hanged by the 

 neck till you are dead* has been in use. 



" ' It is clear,' says Blackstone, 1 that, if upon judgment to be hanged by the 

 neck till he is dead, the criminal be not thoroughly killed, but revives, the 

 sheriff must hang him again, for the former hanging was no execution of the sen- 

 tence.' But, strangely enough, we find in the 'Vision of Piers Plowman' a passage 

 which seems to show that the opposite of this either was, or was believed to be, the 

 established rule in his time : — 



" ' It is noght used on earthe 



To hangen a felon 



Ofter than ones, 



Though he were a tretour.' M 



