Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/522

504 of the pharynx, completely closing it. The most important agent, however, in this kind of death is the compression of the larger vessels and the cervical portion of the vagus nerve, the upper portion of the carotid being pressed against the transverse processes of the cervical vertebræ before it branches off into the external and internal carotids, and the inner coat of the vessel being ruptured. The jugular veins are compressed at the same time, and the brain can neither receive any more blood nor allow that which it contains already to flow away; its irritability is therefore extinct. The very important part which both the vagus and the vessels take in causing death by hanging is clearly shown through the following observations: 1. Loss of consciousness following immediately the compression caused by the rope at the moment when the noose is drawn tight by the weight of the body. The truth of this assertion is proved by the fact that no person who commits suicide by hanging ever attempts to rid himself of the rope which throttles him, although he might do so easily by standing upright, as the body is not always suspended above the surface of the ground. 2. The rapidity with which death ensues and the beating of the heart stops. The few struggling respirations which generally occur in asphyxia shortly before death have not been observed in persons who have been hung. It is also well known how difficult it is to restore such patients to life. Death by hanging is, then, complex. It results from the occlusion of the respiratory tubes, from the sudden interruption of the passage of blood into the brain, and possibly from arrest of the circulation determined by the compression of the vagi nerves." These observations of Professor Hoffmann obviously refer to cases of constriction of the neck without dislocation of the vertebræ, and show how death should take place rather than how it does in cases of the short drop. The constriction of the neck is not usually so complete as he has assumed; the carotids are not completely obliterated, as shown by the pulse in the temporal artery, and by the gradual increasing congestion of the head—owing to the obstruction to the venous return—until at last the tongue is protruded out of the mouth; nor is the vagus much pressed upon, as evidenced by the long continuance of the heart's beats in many cases. It shows rather a paucity of reasoning to infer immediate loss of consciousness because no suicide "ever attempts to rid himself of the rope which throttles him." A suicide is a very unlikely individual to change his purpose during the short period which elapses between suspension and loss of consciousness.

Dr. Taylor states that "death from hanging appears to take place very rapidly, and without causing any suffering to the person. Professor Tidy, also, speaks of the painless nature of death from hanging; while Professor Haughton, in his paper read before the Surgical Society of Dublin, says that "the old system of taking a convict's life