rdieu's spots_), due to rupture of venous
capillaries from increased vascular pressure.

XVII.--DEATH BY HANGING

In hanging, death occurs by asphyxia, as in drowning. Sensibility is
soon lost, and death takes place in four or five minutes. The eyes in
some cases are brilliant and staring, tongue swollen and livid, blood or
bloody froth is found about the mouth and nostrils, and the hands are
clenched. In other cases the countenance is placid, with an almost
entire absence of the signs just given. The mark on the neck, which may
be more or less interrupted by the beard, shows the course of the cord,
which in hanging is obliquely round the neck following the line of the
jaw, but straight round in strangulation. In judicial hanging, death is
not due to asphyxiation, but, owing to the long drop, the cervical
vertebrae are dislocated, and the spinal cord injured so high up that
almost instant death takes place. On dissection the muscles and
ligaments of the windpipe may be found stretched, bruised, or torn, and
the inner coats of the carotid arteries are sometimes found divided. In
ordinary suicidal hanging there may be entire absence of injury to the
soft parts about the neck, the length of the drop modifying these
appearances. The mark of the cord is not a sign of hanging, is a purely
cadaveric phenomenon, and may be produced some hours after death.

XVIII.--DEATH BY STRANGULATION

This differs from hanging in that the body is not suspended. It may be
effected by a ligature round the neck, or by direct pressure on the
windpipe with the hand, in which case death is said to be caused by
_throttling_. Strangulation is frequently suicidal, but may be
accidental. When homicidal, much injury is done to the neck, owing to
the force with which the ligature is drawn. In throttling, the marks of
the finger-nails are found on the neck.

XIX.--DEATH BY DROWNING

Death by drowning occurs when breathing is arrested by watery or
semi-fluid substances--blood, urine, etc. The fluid acts mechanically by
entering the air-cells of the lung and preventing the due oxidation of
the blood. The post-mortem appearances include those usually present in
death by asphyxia, together with the following, peculiar to death by
drowning: Excoriations of the fingers, with sand or mud under the nails;
fragments of plants grasped in the hand; water in the stomach (this is a
vital act, and shows that the person fell into the water