Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 27.djvu/526

508 modify Dr. Haughton's rules by substituting, say, 1,260 foot-pounds for 2,240. If the neck of the criminal be small and delicate, or the rope very fine, then it would be well to calculate on a lower basis—say, 1,120 foot-pounds. Thus, a man weighing 140 pounds would require a drop of nine feet ($$1{,}260 \div 140 = 9$$), and one weighing 120 pounds should have ten feet and a half ($$1{,}260 \div 120 = 10\tfrac12$$). The rope should not be too thick nor too elastic, otherwise the abrupt shock will be broken, and the advantages of the long drop lost; but, on the other hand, it should not be too thin nor too inelastic, as then there is not merely the risk of the rope breaking, but also of snapping the head off the culprit. The rope should be of the finest and best hemp, pliable, and capable of bearing a strain of at least a ton and a half. About three fourths to seven eighths of an inch in diameter will be found a convenient thickness, and every rope should be tested before being used. I have been told by the master of a ship that, if in the manufacture of the rope the hemp be run through oil, it makes the rope much more pliable. It would certainly prevent it from becoming stiff when exposed during a wet morning. The iron hooks and couplings to which the rope is attached should be inspected on each occasion.

There has been a great difference of opinion regarding the position of the ring; Professor Haughton recommends that it be placed under the chin, while Dr. Barker, of Melbourne, would have it on the nape of the neck. When the ring is placed in the latter position, the chin naturally falls forward on the sternum, and the rope has no leverage action whatever to assist in dislocation; and, moreover, the noose does not tighten well on the neck, but the ring lies against the occiput; so this position is not only the worst for producing luxation, but also for strangulation. When the ring is under the jaw or chin there is a leverage of several inches, the head is thrown back or to one side, and the noose firmly constricts the neck. In the stretching of the rope the noose tightens several inches; if, therefore, the ring be placed under the angle of the lower jaw on either side, and directed forward, it will be drawn under the chin in the act of tightening. The noose should be placed as high in the neck as possible, and drawn just sufficiently tight to prevent it slipping out of position while the body is falling.

If those in authority would lay down a few simple rules as to the manner in which executions should be performed, then it would not require much science to carry them out. These rules might perhaps also have the effect of relegating the executioner more into obscurity, and dispel all illusionary ideas as to his being the possessor of a mystic craft, or one to be fêted by the populace and interviewed by the press in order to satisfy a morbid public taste.—Lancet.