SPEC. I. C. Asphyxia sufAsphyxy from hanging or drowning. foeationis. suffocation by hanging, is that, from the inexpert manner GEN. VIII. in which the rope is usually applied, and the necessary admission of a certain portion of air to the lungs, the heart is, for some time, able to contract feebly, and to keep up a feeble circulation, while the pressure of the rope on the jugulars prevents a ready return of the blood from the head, and consequently accumulates it in all the vessels of the face; and hence, the more inexpertly this operation is performed, the more turgid these vessels must become, and the more apoplectic the general appearance. Same apoplectic ap pearance sometimes It is the same, as we shall presently have occasion to notice more fully, with persons who are exposed to the action of carbonic acid gass or other mephytic vapours, so far lowered or intermixed with respirable air as to render them incapable of destroying life instantly; in which cases there has not only been sometimes a feeble choke-damp. prolongation of the circulation, but even a stertorous breathing, and many other symptoms of apoplexy, of which we shall have to speak further under the next variety. produced in the influence of various narcotie poisons. There are some of the narcotic poisons that seem to And under act in the same manner. Given in a full dose they destroy the life instantly, but in an under-dose the circulation is continued feebly, and apoplectic symptoms ensue. Thus, according to Mr. Brodie's experiments, infusion of tobacco when injected into the intestines, and the upas antiar, when applied to a wound, have a power of rendering the heart insensible to the stimulus of the blood, and thus suddenly stopping the circulation: while alcohol, the juice of the leaves of aconite, the woorara, essential oil of almonds, whether applied to wounded surfaces or taken internally, produce death by destroying the functions of the brain, while they act only indirectly on the circulation. Illustrated In like manner, De Haen gives one instance of аро- from De plectic signs discovered on the dissection of a criminal Haen. who had been publicly executed by hanging; in which the pia mater was found unusually florid, the vessels of the brain turgid, and some degree of scrous effusion had GEN. VIII. SPEC. I. « C. A sphyxia suf focationis. Asphyxy from hanging or drowning. Where the occlusion of the trachea same effect always follows what cause. Hanging when dex taken place under the tunica arachnoides: but in this case he found, also, that the lungs were equally overloaded, and that the rope had not pressed upon the trachea, but upon the part lying between the scutiform cartilage and the os hyoides, and consequently that the compression had been imperfect *. But, except in cases where the occlusion of the trachea has not been entire, the patient who suffers from asphyxy is entire, the produced by hanging, is as void of apoplectic symptoms as he who suffers the same disease from drowning. In the dogs hanged by way of experiment by De Haen †, ever be the and cut down as soon as they were dead, and in those drowned by Dr. Goodwin, there was an equal absence of apoplectic signs: and, in truth, wherever an executioner does his duty completely, the death is too sudden to allow of accumulation as its cause. By the double effect, however, of stopping the circulation, and obstructing the passage of the air, the public punishment of hanging, when dexterously conducted, is probably attended with very little pain. It has been said of late, that another, and indeed a chief cause of the suddenness of the death hereby produced is to be found in a luxation of one of the upper vertebræ. Such an effect may take place at times upon our public scaffolds, on which the hardened criminal jumps from the gallows to produce a rapid result, but it is rarely met with in the private retreat of the more timid suicide. terously ef fected accompanied with but little pain, and why. Whether there be a luxation of one of the upper vertebræ. Victims of sometimes recovered That a total obstruction to the respiration, moreover, the law why is the chief cause of death on hanging, is clear from the cases in which the asphyxy has been cured by inflation after being of the lungs after the unhappy wretch has been cut down; and from one or two instances in which the individual has escaped death from an ossification of the trachea; of which we have a few curious examples in Bonet, and cut down. Rat. Med. continuat. Tom. I. part II. 8vo. † Abhandlung über die art. des Todes der Ertrunkenen, Ernhenkten, und Erstikten. Wien. 1772. Connexion of Life with Respiration, or an experimental Inquiry into the Effects of Submersion, Strangling, &c. Lond. 1788. GEN. VIII SPEC. I. a C. A sphyxia sufAsphyxy focationis. Fallopius*; and more particularly from the case of Inetta de Balsham, stated by Dr. Plott in his Natural History of Staffordshire: who having been hung, in the reign of Henry VI., according to the due form of law, was cut down alive, after suspension from nine o'clock on Mon- from hangday till later than sun-rise on the ensuing Tuesday; in drowning. consequence of which she received the king's pardon. Examples. Dr. Plott ascribes this extraordinary escape, and with great reason, to an ossification of the larynx: "She could not", says he, "be hanged, upon account that the larynx or upper part of her wind-pipe was turned to bone."+ It has hence been occasionally proposed to save a criminal condemned to the gallows by introducing a silver canula into the trachea. It is commonly reported that such an attempt was in agitation among the friends of the unfortunate Dr. Dodd, but we have no reason to believe it was then, or ever has been actually tried. ing or Whether possible to save life by a silver canula. experiments of Monro. The following experiment, however, as related by Dr. Decisive Curry, is almost demonstrative as to the immediate organ through which the attack of death is received in hanging. It was performed at Edinburgh, many years ago, by the senior Dr. Munro, and in the language of Dr. Curry "clearly proves that the exclusion of air from the lungs is the immediate cause of death. A dog was suspended by the neck with a cord, an opening having been previously made in the wind-pipe, below the place where the cord was applied, so as to admit air into the lungs. In this state he was allowed to hang for three quarters of an hour, during which time both the circulation and breathing went on. He was then taken down without appearing to have suffered much from the experiment. The cord was now shifted from above to below the opening made into the wind-pipe, so as to prevent the ingress of air into the lungs, and the animal being again suspended, he was completely dead in a few minutes."+ Asphyxy from submersion has been very generally ac- Whether in * Bonet. Lib. VII. Sect. XII. Obs. II. Fallop. Tom. 1. Obs. vi. + Hist. Observations, p. 71. asphyxy from sub mersion water rushes into the SPEC. I. a C. A sphyxia suf focationis. Asphyxy from hanging or drowning. lungs, and GEN. VIII. counted for, even by many who have regarded it as an effect of suffocation, by supposing the suffocation produced by a rush of the water into the cavity of the lungs which prevents the access of air, and consequently of respiration. This idea, first, perhaps, advanced by Galen, has been in modern times adopted by Haller, Goodwin, Ponteau, and indeed most physiologists, and attempted obstructs the to be supported by various experiments on drowned cats. It is now well ascertained, however, that in many cases of death from drowning not a drop of water enters into the lungs; that where it does enter, the quantity is, for the most part, very small; and that, whether small or large, it passes the trachea after death instead of before it, and consequently cannot be a cause of death. breathing? Glottis how closed in The immediate cause, as in the case of suspension, is necessarily suffocation. The glottis is extremely irritable; the acsubmersion. cess of the surrounding water produces a rigid or entastic spasm upon its muscles; and the rima is as completely closed against the entrance of air, as in the case of a cord round the throat. And hence, the suffocation often produced by a very small substance of any other kind accidentally thrust into or stimulating its aperture, as a minute crust of bread, a hair or blade of grass, a peach or even a grape stone; to which last Anacreon is well known to have fallen a victim. Further illustrated. How long life may be restored after hanging or drowning; during suffocation dependent on various circumstances. How long the living principle' may, under these circumstances, remain attached to the animal frame, and afford a chance of recovery, is not ascertained, with any degree of accuracy, even in the present day: and the answer to the question must, in a considerable measure, depend upon the degree of irritability, or perhaps the idiosyncrasy, of the individual. Mr. Brodie is reported to have asserted in his Lectures before the College of Surgeons that "when the action of the heart has ceased after the suspension of the breathing, or even has become so feeble as no longer to be able to maintain the circulation, it can never be restored by artificially inflating the lungs". This may be true: but we have innumerable proofs of a natural restoration of both these organs to healthy action after such action has ceased for many minutes; perhaps GEN. VIII. for many hours in Catalepsia or Trance, as we shall have occasion to observe presently. SPEC. I. a C. Asphyxia suffocationis. Asphyxy from hangin or drowning. recovered It has been known, however, from a very early age, that torpitude from drowning may be induced and continue for some minutes, without much danger: since this, as we have already observed, was a common practice among the Greeks and Romans for the cure of lyssa*; and was carried by Van Helmont so far that he would not suffer the individual to be raised from under the water till the psalm Miserere had been solemnly chaunted, which was the measure of time he allowed. If the Submersion submersion have not exceeded five minutes, and no blow generally against a stone, or other violence have coincided, persons will usually be found to recover without much difficulty. After a quarter of an hour, recovery is not common, and after twenty minutes or half an hour, it is nearly hopeless. Divers, from habit, are able to remain under water for three minutes; but, according to Dr. Edwards of Paris, this is the longest period t. Young animals require less change of respirable air than those that are old. Dr. Edwards has known puppies live under water fifty-four minutes, though their voluntary motions had ceased in four minutes alone. from if not five minutes. Sometimes more than if a quarter of an hour: rarely if half an hour or twenty minutes. The first report of the establishment for the recovery Illustrated. of drowned persons, at Paris, divides the cases that had occurred to it into three classes, the first of which includes those that were restored to life, and comprehends twentythree instances. Of these one recovered after having been three quarters of an hour under water; four after having been half an hour, and three after a quarter of an hour; the rest after a still shorter period. Of twelve dogs, drowned by De Haen for the purpose of experiment, not a single one was recovered though only confined under water for a few minutes. It is very possible, however, Vol. 111. Cl. IV. Ord. III. Gen. 1. Sp. VIII. + De l'Influence des Agens Physiques sur la Vie, &c. Paris, 8vo. 1824. Détail des Succès de l'Etablissement que la Ville de Paris a faite en faveur des Personnes Noyées, &c. Paris 1773. |