must not forget that an humbler partner has her detail expenses, which are like the numerous items of an attorney's or an apothecary's bill. Happy, thrice happy, the wedded he who can answer all these demands; and who, being previously aware of them, has nothing to suffer from surprise, inability, or female upbraiding; whose well-stocked purse dreads not these ambush attacks, and whose even mind and temper can meet the lengthy weekly, or monthly account(annuals suit the great alone ;) or THE ever popular subject (Blackwood's Mag.) HINTS TO JURYMEN.* Hang ing" furnishes another highly metorious chapter. The authors are of opinion, decidedly so, that the immediate cause of death, in the case of a hanged man, is suffocation. There has been a great deal of dispute as to this matter among medical writers lately, and, if we may presume to offer an opinion, it is not yet settled. Dr. Paris admits, however, that there are often other injuries besides that of stopping the breath; as for example, Pressure on the Vessels -which is thus discussed. "1. Pressure on the Vessels. - The red and living hue of the face of persons killed by hanging, very naturally induced a belief that Apoplexy was the immediate cause of death; while it is evident that the pressure on the jugular veins must necessarily so prevent the return of blood to the heart, as to produce an accumulation in the vessels of the brain. Dr. Hooper has a preparation of the brain of an executed criminal, in which blood is seen extravasated among the membranes; and various other cases have occurred, where dissection has clearly demonstrated the existence of those vascular congestions and sanguineous effusions, upon which apoplexy is supposed to depend; but this merely goes to prove that apoplexy occasionally takes place from hanging; it does not establish the fact of its being the common cause of death on such occasions. Gregory made the following experiment to shew that it is to the interception of air that death is to be attribut * This was the opinion of Boerhaave and Morgagni. M. Portal also coincides with them, and observes that the examination of the bodies of execut ed criminals formerly carried to him at the Jardin ed: After having opened the trachea of a dog, he passed a slip knot round the neck, above the wound; the animal, though hanged, continued to live and respire, the air was alternately admitted and easily expelled through the small opening; but as soon as the constriction was made below the orifice, the animal perished. Mr. Brodie hang ed a dog, and as soon as it became insensible, the trachea was opened below the ligature, upon which he breathed, and his sensibility returned. "2. Pressure on the Nerves of the Neck. -Although the pressure of a ligature on the nerves of the neck cannot be considered as the immediate cause of death in hanging, yet Mr. Brodie has very justly observed, that if the animal recovers of the direct consequences of the strangulation, he may probably suffer from the effects of the ligature upon the nerves afterwards. Mr. Brodie passed a ligature under the trachea of a Guinea-pig, and tied it tight on the back of the neck with a knot; the animal was uneasy, but nevertheless breathed and moved about; at the end of fifteen minutes the ligature was removed; on the following morning, however, the animal was found dead. On dissection no preternatural appearances were discovered in the brain, but the lungs were dark and turgid with blood, and presented an appearance similar to that which is observed after the division of the nerves of the eighth pair; I do not, observes Mr. Brodie (Manuscript Notes), positively conclude, from this experiment, that the animal died from an injury inflicted upon the nerves of the eighth pair, but I think that such a conclusion is highly probable; and it becomes an object of inquiry whether a patient having recovered from banging, may not, in some instances, die afterwards from the injury of the par vagum. "3. Fracture of the Spine and Dislocation of the Neck. The death of a hanged person may occasionally take place by the des Plantes for his lectures, has confirmed him in this idea. * Concluded from p. 81. luxation of the cervical vertebræ, and the veral men who recovered their life af consequent injury of the spinal marrow; this effect will be more likely to happen in heavy persons, and where the culprit suffers on a drop that precipitates him from a considerable height. It is said that Louis discovered that of the two executioners in Paris and Lyons, one dispatched the criminal condemned to be hanged by Inxating the head on the neck, whilst those who perished by the hands of the other were completely strangled. "An animal, when first suspended, is observed to make repeated but ineffectual attempts to inspire; violent convulsions of the whole body then ensue, but which are not to be considered as the indications of suffering, for they arise in consequence of the dark-coloured blood having reached the brain and spinal marrow; and the animal at this period is necessarily insensible; hanging does not occasion a painful death. "The lips, nose, and all those parts in which the hue of the blood can be observ ed, exhibit a dark colour; the countenance is distorted, the eyes protruded, and frequently suffused with blood, the tongue is also forced out of the mouth, and sometimes wounded, although it has been observed that this phenomenon will entirely depend upon the position of the rope, for that when it presses above the thyroid gland, the tongue will be pushed back, in consequence of a compression upon the 08 hyoides, whereas, if the pressure be applied under the cricoid cartilage it will have the effect of thrusting out the tongue. Blood is sometimes discharged from the ears. The fingers are usually bent, the nails blue, and the hands nearly closed; and the whole physiognomy exhibits a highly characteristic appearance. 'But see, his face is black and full of blood, gling, His hands abroad display'd, as one that grasp'd And tugg'd for life, and was by strength subdu'd. Henry VI. Part ii. Act iii. s. 2.", The master of our authors, M. FoDORE, is a great deal fuller as to this subject. It would appear that it has been a very common thing in France, for criminals to recover after being hanged; and he has been enabled from their reports, to prove distinctly, that of all deaths there cannot be a more easy one than that of the gibbet. We make no apology for turning to Fodoré's work and translating a few paragraphs, which we wonder the English authors before us did not embody in their own work. "CASALPIN," says M. Fodoré, "affirms, that he had been informed by se ter execution, that the moment the knot was fastened they fell into such a stupor, that they were sensible to nothstupor, ing whatever of what followed. Wepter, talking of a man and a woman who had also survived the gibbet, says, that the woman remembered nothing at all, and was in all respects like one that had suffered and revived from a stroke of apoplexy; and that the man who could tell something of what happened, only said, that he felt not the least pain after the noose was drawn, but remained entirely deprived of sensation, just as if he had been cast into a deep sleep." Morgagni also speaks of a man who had not been thoroughly hanged; and who told him, that "for a moment he saw some blue lights dancing before his eyes, and then instantly lost all feeling and sense, the same as if he had been buried in the profoundest slumbers." Lord Bacon tells an anecdote about this matter, not less interesting than singular. He knew, personally, a gentleman, who took a strong fancy for ascertaining whether hanged men did or did not suffer a great deal, and who made the experiment on himself. Having put the cord round his neck, he leaped from off a low stool, which he had thought he could easily recover again at pleasure; but the instant deprivation of all sense rendered this impossible. would have ended tragically, but that a friend came accidentally into the room and cut him down ere it was too late. This strange curiosity satisfied him, however, that that species of death involves no pain whatever."-M. Fodoré goes on to tell a story of his own, in every part similar to this of Lord Bacon's. A fellow-student of his hung himself up one day after dinner, that he might satisfy his medical curiosity as to the fate of the pauvres pendus. Luckily, he too was cut down, and he told precisely the same thing with the English gentleman." He had seen a glimpse of something dazzling, and been conscious of absolutely nothing more." It As to the most likely means of recovering in such cases, our English authors agree with Fodoré, that every thing hot and stimulating ought to be tried; the body warmed, and air introduced into the lungs. As for bleeding, that, in general cases of asphyxia, is useless; but is absolutely necessary in hanging where blood has been forced into the brain. The jugular ought to be cut-and Fodoré tells a sad story of a half-hanged monk, who opened his eyes, and even spoke some words in rough hoarse voice, and who would, in all probability, have done well after hanging, but for the timidity of some of his reverend friends, that would not suffer him to be bled in the bold style the case required. a Then comes the great question which once so deeply interested our late worthy friend Deacon Brodie. "There can be no doubt but that by making an opening in the trachea, below the ligature, death might, in some cases, be prevented, provided the neck were not dislocated, nor the weight of the body very considerable. Richerand says, that a surgeon of the imperial armies, whose veracity cannot be questioned, assured him that he had saved the life of a soldier by performing the operation of laryngotomy some hours be fore he was executed. "Dr. Male* states, that it was tried on one Gordon, a butcher, who was executed at the Old Bailey in the early part of the last century; the body having hung the usual time, was removed to a neighbouring house, where a surgeon waited to receive it, and enforce every means calculated to restore animation; he opened his eyes, and sighed, but soon expired; the want of success was attributed to his great weight; but we apprehend that, if the statement be correct as to his opening his eyes and sighing, the failure must have depended upon want of skill in the operators. We have yet to notice those cases of spontaneous recovery which have taken place after execution, and which are too well authenticated to admit of doubt; upon this point we would observe, that such results by no means militate against the accuracy of the physiological views which have been already presented to our readers. Whenever such a recovery ocсcurs, the strangulation has never been complete, and feeble motions of the heart have been preserved by imperfect and occasional respirations, during the interval of suspension; this may depend, in a great measure, upon the situation of the noose; if placed at the side of the neck, it would be pulled tight by the weight of the body; but if at the back of the neck, it would be far otherwise. John Smith, who was executed at Tyburn on the 24th of December 1705, was cut down in consequence of the arrival of a reprieve, nearly fifteen minutes after he had been turned off, but is said to have been recovered by venesection and other means. Governor Wall was a long time in the act of dying, and it was subsequently discovered that this was owing to an ossified portion of the trachea resisting the pressure of the rope. But the most extraordina ry instance of this kind, and one well authenticated, is that of Margaret Dickson, of Musselburgh, who was tried and convicted in Edinburgh in the year 1728, for the murder of her child; her conviction was ac complished by the evidence of a medical person, who deposed that the lungs of the child swam in water; there were, however, strong reasons to suspect the justness of the verdict, and the sequel of the story was well calculated to cherish a superstitious belief on the occasion. After execution, her body was cut down, and delivered to her friends for the rites of interment; it was accordingly placed in a coffin, and sent in a cart to be buried at her native place, but the weather being sultry, the persons who had the body in charge stopped to drink, at a village called Peppermill, about two miles from Edinburgh; while they were refreshing themselves, one of them perceived the lid of the coffin move, and uncovering it, the woman immediately sat up, and most of the spectators ran away with every sign of trepidation; a person, however, who was in the public house immediately bled her, and in about an hour she was put to bed, and by the following morning, was so far recovered as to be able to walk to her own house, after which she lived twenty-five years and had several children."t We should apologize for introducing a story so familiar to ourselves as this of the famous "half-hangit Maggie Dickson;" but we fear the rising generation are but moderately skilled in that and many other matters that interested their fathers; therefore let Maggie Dickson pass, cum ceteris. No doubt she will figure in alt. in some of Mr. Odoherty's promised and expected "Hora Patibulanæ." Of all the mass of subjects treated in these volumes, the most interesting, however, is that of the means for dis † By the Scottish law, in part founded on that of the Romans, a person against whom the judgment of the Court has been executed, can suffer no more in future, but is thenceforward totally exculpated; and * Elements of Juridical or Forensic Medicine. it is likewise held, that the marriage is dissolved by the execution of the convicted party. Margaret Dickson then, having been convicted and executed, as above mentioned, the king's advocate could prosecute her no farther, but he filed a bill in the liigh to fulfil the law. The husband of this revived couCourt of Justiciary against the Sheriff, for omitting vict, however, married her publicly a few days after her resuscitation; and she strenuously denied the crime for which she had suffered. covering whether such a person found dead has been murdered by another's hand, and by whom. We earnestly recommend this branch of the work to the deep consideration of all magistrates. Sir Alexander Gordon discovered a murderer in Kirkcudbright by the very same artful devices, the application of which has since been made familiar to all the world, by the author of Guy Mannering. We now proceed to quote a few detached fragments from this part of our author's book. "A very satisfactory instance of the same kind occurred to the author of the present work, during his residence in the county of Cornwall; and he feels no inconsiderable satisfaction in reflecting upon the train of circumstances, through which he was enabled, by his evidence at the assizes of the county for 1814, to secure the conviction of the murderer. The evidence was wholly circumstantial, and the relation of it is well calculated to illustrate the great importance of the particular line of investigation, which it is the object of the present chapter to elucidate. For these reasons he is induced to compile from his notes the following brief sketch of the case. A Cornish peasant, engaged in attending npon the light-house on the western coast, was found dead in a field near the public road leading from Penzance to the "Land's End," on Sunday, December the 12th, 1818; he was lying in a dry ditch, with his stick at a little distance from him; one of his shoes was down at the heel, and both were smeared with mud: his pockets were empty. The body was taken to a publichouse in the village, and the Coroner having received notice of the occurrence, an inquisition was taken, and the verdict of wilful murder returned against some person or persons unknown. The body was afterwards buried, but a rumour having arisen that the anatomical inspection had not been sufficiently minute and satisfactory, it was, by an order of the magistrates, disinterred; and the author was desired to assist in the further investigation of the subject. Upon examining the body, which had not yet advanced so far in putrefaction as to obliterate the traces of violence, or to confuse the appearances they presented, patches, arising from extravasated blood, were seen in different parts of the throat, and distinct abrasions corresponding with the nails were visible; the face presented the physiognomy of a strangled man. On the chest, bruises, evidently occasioned by the pressure of the assailant's knees, were also noticed. Upon dissection the brain was found excessively turgid with blood. The rest of the organs appeared in a perfectly healthy, and natural condition. It is few pages lower down. worthy of remark, that the field in which the deceased was found contained several shafts of abandoned mines; upon visiting the spot the author observed tracks in the grass, as if it had been scraped, proceeding in a direction from the hedge next the public road to that in the opposite part of the field, and under which the body was found; near the former hedge also some fragments of a glass bottle were discovered. The deceased, it appeared, had been at Penzance for some medicine, and it was proved that he had left that town, on his way to the light-house, with a phial in his pocket. All these circumstances combined, placed the matter beyond conjecture. He had evidently been strangled, probably at the spot where the glass fragments were found, which were undoubtedly the remains of his phial, broken during the scuffle; besides, it would appear that he had been dragged along the field from this spot to the opposite hedge, for marks denoting such an act were visible on the grass, and this received farther confirmation from the condition in which the shoes of the deceased were found. Who then committed the murder? From the circumstance of its having been perpetrated in a field containing several old mines, without any attempt on the part of the villain to avail himself of the advantage which these caverns would have afforded for the concealment of the dead body, the author was convinced that the perpetrator of the deed would be found in some stranger to the country, for such a one alone could be unacquainted with the mines to which we allude. The suggestion of this idea very naturally gave a direction to the line of inquiry. Were any suspicious strangers in Penzance or its neighbourhood? Had the deceased been seen in the society of any person unacquainted with the country? He had been seen, it was discovered, playing at cards in a public-house with some of the privates of the artillery stationed in the Mount's Bay, amongst whom was a very powerful and athletic Irishman, of the name of Burns, who had lately landed, and immediately enlisted into the corps. Burns was accordingly arrested on suspi cion, when the purse of the deceased containing thirty shillings was found on his person. He was, moreover, unable to shew where he was at the time the deceased left Penzance, in the evening; and he was subsequently recognised by two witnesses who had seen him accompanying the deceased on the road towards Land's End. It is only necessary to add that he was convicted and hanged; and it is not the least satisfactory part of this case to state, that on the evening previous to his execution he confessed to the author, that al the circumstances of the case occurred precisely as we have stated, that he strangled his victim with a pocket-handkerchief, ief, but that from the difficulty of completing the act, he was compelled to press his knees upon his chest." Another of the same kind occurs a affixing the accusation on the guilty. The "In Hargrave's State Trials there is a very remarkable instance of a woman who was found in bed with her throat cut, and a knife sticking in the floor near her; three of her relations were in an adjoining room, through which it was necessary to pass to the apartment of the deceased; the neighbours were alarmed, and the body was viewed; these relations declared she must have destroyed herself; but, from a particular circumstance, they were suspected, and found guilty of the murder; for, on the left hand was observed the bloody mark of a left hand, which, of course, could not be that of the deceased. How often has the left hand* of the murderer betrayed his deeds of blood!" The following is also in the same chapter. "In the year 1764, a citizen of Liege was found shot, and his own pistol was discovered lying near him; from which circumstance, together with that of no person having been seen to enter or leave the house of the deceased, it was concluded that he had destroyed himself; but on examining the ball by which he had been killed, it was found to have been too large ever to have entered that pistol; in consequence of which, suspicion fell upon derers. The wadding of the pistol has also in several instances offered the means of Lord Chancellor, in a debate in the House of Lords, in November 1820, quoted a very curious case, in which the wadding of the pistol was found to correspond with a torn letter in the possession of the murderer." We believe we have now exhausted our limits. We conclude with once more calling upon all magistrates and jurymen, to put themselves in sion of possesa work, a close acquaintance with which is absolutely necessary for the former, and would be most desirable in the latter. Will the authors pardon us for suggesting, that with a view to the country circulation in general, and the Scotch readers in particular, their book would be much improved by the omission of all these long charters, &c. of the London medical bodies. Much better fill up the same space in the next edition with some more of M. Fodoré's facts. But indeed, we think, even after this book a translation of Fodoré himself would be very acceptable: and should imagine some young man of intelligence might amuse himself advantageously with such a job during the summer months. SKETCHES OF SOCIETY. (Lit. Gaz.) GREENWICH HOSPITAL. "GOOD bye, Dick!" said an elderly lady-one foot on the step of her carriage, her left hand hold of the body, and turning half round, her right hand extended to a bold, handsomelooking gentleman in a radical hat. I am no physiognomist; but I love to trace the goodness of the heart when 'tis pictured in the countenance. I know a man may "smile, and smile, and be a villain;" but I'd rather have a feeling of benevolence and harmony for all human nature, than one grain of splenetic animosity. However here * In the case of Patch, who was left-handed, it was clearly shown by the relative position of the de ceased, and the door from which he was shot, that the murderer must have exposed his person to the view of the deceased, unless he fired with the left hand. The guilt of Patch was for some time doubted, but the discovery of the pistol in the neighbouring dock a few years ago, has supplied the only link hat was wanting to make the evidence against him complete. there could be no deception; 'twas plain matter-of-fact-an index, and no errata. There was something, too, so very expressive in the lady's countenance-it was a look that cannot be described; like the sun bursting through a shower-mingled pleasure and grief. The remains of beauty were visible in her face, or rather it was beauty still, though differing from her youthful day of frolic mirth, resembling a calm evening after a lovely noon. "Good bye, Dick!" said she; shall take an airing again this way before long. Good bye!" The hands were disjoined, she entered the carriage, and the parties disappeared. is that gentleman?" said I to one of the old dolphin-strikers that stood cen tury at the door. Sir," replied the "Who "That gemman, veteran, "is Sir |