83. Another criminal hung at the same time had dislocation of cervical vertebræ.
84. Fenwick: Canada Med. Jour., 1867, iii., p. 195.—Man executed; drop six feet; second cervical vertebra torn from attachment to third; medulla torn across; hyoid bone and tongue torn from thyroid cartilage; general congestion of viscera; lenses normal; eyes congested; clot between sclerotic and choroid coats left eye.
85. Dyer: Trans. Amer. Ophthal. Soc., 1866, p. 13.—Man, age 24; weight one hundred and seventy-four and a half pounds; drop three feet; knot under left ear; for two minutes at intervals, slight motion of abdomen, like effort at respiration, and at same time knees drawn up a little. Death speedy and quiet. Cut down at end of thirty minutes. Necroscopy thirty-five minutes after drop. Body and head moist and warm; emission of semen; face livid; upper lid discolored; abrasion of skin under right ear; deep red mark around neck. Eyeballs not prominent; eyelids closed; corneæ dull; pupils a little dilated. Both lenses fractured. Brain normal; spinal cord normal. Heart empty.
86. Dyer: Same Trans., 1869, pp. 72-75.—Man hung. One eye showed fracture of lens, the other lens showed fine lines. A second case showed dislocation of a cataractous lens. A third showed fissure of lens.
87. Green: Same Trans., 1876, p. 354.—Man hung; drop seven or eight feet. Died quietly and without struggle. One-half to one hour after drop fell, eyes were examined. No lesion of capsule or lens.
88. Keen: Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., 1870, lix., p. 417.—Two criminals hung; drop five feet. Hyoid bone fractured in one; no fracture of vertebræ in other.
89. Clark: Boston Med. and Surg. Jour., 1858, lviii., p. 480.—Execution of Magee. Man, age 28; weight 130 pounds. Drop seven to eight feet. No struggle nor convulsion. Urine discharged at once. Seven minutes after drop fell, heart-beat one hundred; nine minutes, ninety-eight; twelve minutes, sixty and fainter; fourteen minutes, not audible; twenty-five minutes, body lowered. Face purple; pupils dilated; eyes and tongue did not protrude. Mark of cord just above thyroid cartilage, a deep oblique furrow except a small space under left ear; knot over mastoid process. Forty minutes, cord and strap removed; body, especially face, became paler. Necroscopy a little over an hour after drop fell. Body pale; skin mottled; small ecchymosis just above line of cord right side. Right sterno-mastoid muscle torn. Hyoid bone fractured; spine not injured. No seminal discharge. Ninety minutes, pulsation in right subclavian vein; heart-beat, eighty per minute; thorax opened, heart exposed; right auricle showed full and regular contractions and dilatations. The spinal cord was then divided. One hundred and twenty minutes, heart-beats forty per minute. These pulsations of right auricle continued at intervals for three and a half hours longer; readily excited by point of scalpel. Heart normal; left ventricle contracted; right ventricle not so; no coagulation. Brain normal; lungs collapsed; liver and spleen congested; mucous membrane of small intestine pinkish; other organs normal. In the discussion, Dr. Gay thought the absence of cerebral congestion was due to the circulation continuing in the left carotid.
90. Hofmann: Wien. med. Woch., 1880, xxx., pp. 477-480.—Man, a criminal, hung; after hanging ten minutes, the body was cut down. Examination half-hour after drop fell. He was resuscitated and partly regained consciousness, but died three days afterward of œdema of lungs after repeated severe convulsions. He had tumors of the neck which probably interfered with the compression of the trachea. See also Allg. Wien. med. Zeit., 1880, xxv., p. 161, and Wien. med. Blät., 1880, i., pp. 423-430; translated in Ann. Mal. Oreill. and Larynx, Paris, 1880, vi., pp. 99-112.
91. Kinkhead: Lancet, and 701-703.—Cases of hanging. In one, the body of the third cervical vertebra was broken across and the two pieces separated; in another case dislocation of second and third cervical vertebræ.
92. Nelson: Southern Clinic, 1885, viii., pp. 198-202.—Two colored men hung; drop five feet. In one there was atlo-axoid dislocation.