Medical Jurisprudence, Forensic medicine and Toxicology. Vol. 1 by R. A. Witthaus et al.

76. _MacLaren: Indian Med. Gaz., 1873, viii., p. 234._—Three cases of

judicial hanging; hung at the same time and cut down and necroscopy begun forty minutes afterward; drop twelve inches. In the first and third there were reflex movements for a few minutes after drop fell. _First man_, age 40; pupils slightly dilated; no protrusion of tongue or eyeballs; mark of cord above thyroid cartilage; no discharge of semen or fæces; ecchymosis under cord, left side; dislocation of atlas from axis; odontoid ligaments ruptured; transverse ligament uninjured. Brain and membranes much congested; clear fluid in lateral ventricles. Lungs collapsed, anæmic; one ounce straw-colored serum (measured) in pericardium; dark fluid blood in both ventricles of heart; liver much congested.