50. Liégey: Jour. de Méd. chir. et pharm., Brussels, 1868, xlvi., pp. 339-342.—Infant, age 8 months, accidentally strangled; it had been placed in its cradle; coverlet over it and held in place by a cord passed across. Some time afterward it was found dead beside the cradle, its head hanging with the right side pressing on the cord. Liégey had the mother replace everything as it had been and satisfied himself that the above statement was correct. When found, the face was pale, eyes and mouth closed; transverse furrow on right side of neck, level of larynx, 3.5 cm. long, one deep; muscles in vicinity congested. Lungs congested. Right side of heart contained clotted blood; left side nearly empty. He concluded that the case was one of accidental strangulation.
51. Friedberg: Gericht. gutacht., p. 240.—New-born child found dead in closet. Mother stated that she had taken the child by the neck and drew it into the world. Opinion given that the child had been accidentally choked to death by the hand.
For other cases, see Tidy, “Med. Jur.,” Cases 15 to 19, 59, and 62; Maschka, “Handbuch,” p. 623.
HANGING.
Hanging is a form of mechanical suffocation by ligature of the neck, in which the constricting force is the weight of the body itself. The French call it “Pendaison” or “Suspension,” preferably the former; the Germans, “Erhängen.” The expression “incomplete hanging” is applied to those cases in which the subject is partially supported; kneeling, sitting, or otherwise. The same expression has also been used for cases which did not prove fatal.
The pathological effects of hanging are partly those of strangulation, to which must be added the effects of the weight or fall of the body, sustained as it is only by some form of ligature around the neck. These additional injuries will, of course, be proportioned to the weight of the body, length of rope, and suddenness of the fall.
In some countries, as the United States, England, Germany, and Austria, hanging is a mode of capital punishment. It is desirable that for judicial purposes it should be divested, as far as possible, of unnecessarily cruel features; the victim should quickly be made insensible, and death be speedy. Many suggestions to this end have been made, among which is that of Haughton. He recommended that the drop be long, say ten feet, so that the cervical vertebræ may be dislocated. He also advised that the knot be placed under the chin. Others advise that it be placed under the left ear; and others yet, as Barker, of Melbourne,[798] near the spine. In any event the rope should be “freely elastic.” G. M. Hammond[799] thinks that the object in judicial hanging should be strangulation, and that the criminal should be pulled up and left to hang thirty minutes; the rope should be soft and flexible so as to closely fit the neck; a weight should be attached to the feet of persons under 150 pounds. Larimore[800] also advocates strangulation instead of attempting dislocation of the vertebræ. Porter[801] suggests that for dislocation the noose be drawn tightly around the neck at the last moment, the knot being either at one side or, still better, in front. Dislocation may be still further assured if a hollow wooden or leaden ball be placed over the knot close to the neck, thus forming a fulcrum to throw the spinal column out of the perpendicular line at the point of pressure.
Hanging is a common mode of suicide, especially in insane asylums and prisons. It is sometimes accidental, and rarely homicidal. It is said to have been attempted for erotic purposes.
The compression of the neck acts in line with the axis of the body; while in strangulation it acts perpendicularly to that axis.