Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/523

505 by suffocation is inhumanly painful, unnecessarily prolonged, and revolting to those whose duty it is to be present." Those who speak of the painless nature of death by strangulation arrive at this conclusion from the fact that many cases of suicide are not completely suspended, and that if they wished they could easily relieve the constriction by assuming the erect posture, and in other cases of recovery from attempted suicide by hanging there is no recollection of any suffering. It should be remembered, however, that there is a great difference between the mental attitude of the suicide and one who is about to suffer the extreme penalty of the law. In the former case he is regardless, and perhaps also not very sensitive, of a little suffering, while in the latter every nerve is braced up to resist the inevitable result. Moreover, in those cases of recovery the loss of recollection of suffering does not prove that there was none. It might almost as well be said that, because in many cases of recovery from meningitis there was no remembrance of any suffering, therefore there was none. No doubt, the pain in hanging can under no circumstances be very acute, yet when we see a culprit heaving his chest and almost raising the whole body in his struggles for breath we must conclude that there is at least a considerable amount of mental torture.

While death from asphyxia as ordinarily brought about by the short drop is a barbarism which should not be tolerated in this humanitarian age, yet it might be accomplished without much suffering. If this mode of death be determined upon, then the constriction should be complete, and the compression of the blood-vessels, both veins and arteries, and if possible also the nerves, is of even more importance in the production of rapid unconsciousness than the occlusion of the windpipe. In accomplishing this object the position of the noose is of importance; it should never be placed over the larynx, as the rigidity of that organ prevents complete compression and also shields the blood-vessels. Below the larynx would perhaps be the best position, but then there would always be the danger of the noose shifting up to the least desirable spot, therefore the most suitable position would seem to be between the hyoid bone and lower jaw. The rope should be thin and pliable, and not very elastic (a silk rope would perhaps be the best), the ring should be placed under the lower jaw, and the drop should be long enough to compress windpipe, blood-vessels, and nerves. If a half-inch silk rope were used I should think a drop of from four to six feet, according to the weight of the prisoner, would be sufficient. As to deaths from cerebral hyperemia, and its combination with asphyxia, they are merely modifications of the latter form of death, and result from incomplete constriction, the windpipe not being quite occluded, while the venous return is obstructed, but not the arterial supply. They are thus rather slow forms of death, and consequently not desirable. Death from syncope may be associated with any mode of hanging, but is perhaps most frequently connected with the long