burst like a bomb and his troubles would be over. Instead of
the anticipated result the most violent collicky pains ensued, which
finally became so great that he had to summon his neighbors, who took
him to the hospital, where, after vigorous application with the
stomach-pump, it was hoped that his life would be saved. Sankey
mentions an epileptic who was found dead in his bed in the Oxford
County Asylum; the man had accomplished his end by placing a round
pebble in each nostril, and thoroughly impacting in his throat a strip
of flannel done up in a roll. In his "Institutes of Surgery" Sir
Charles Bell remarks that his predecessor at the Middlesex Hospital
entered into a conversation with his barber over an attempt at suicide
in the neighborhood, during which the surgeon called the "would-be
suicide" a fool, explaining to the barber how clumsy his attempts had
been at the same time giving him an extempore lecture on the anatomic
construction of the neck, and showing him how a successful suicide in
this region should be performed. At the close of the conversation the
unfortunate barber retired into the back area of his shop, and
following minutely the surgeon's directions, cut his throat in such a
manner that there was no hope of saving him. It is supposed that one
could commit suicide by completely gilding or varnishing the body, thus
eliminating the excretory functions of the skin. There is an old story
of an infant who was gilded to appear at a Papal ceremony who died
shortly afterward from the suppression of the skin-function. The fact
is one well established among animals, but after a full series of
actual experiments, Tecontjeff of St. Petersburg concludes that in
this respect man differs from animals. This authority states that in
man no tangible risk is entailed by this process, at least for any
length of time required for therapeutic purposes. "Tarred and
feathered" persons rarely die of the coating of tar they receive. For
other instances of peculiar forms of suicide reference may be made to
numerous volumes on this subject, prominent among which is that by
Brierre de Boismont, which, though somewhat old, has always been found
trustworthy, and also to the chapters on this subject written by
various authors on medical jurisprudence.

Religious and Ceremonial Mutilations.--Turning now to the subject of
self-mutilation and self-destruction from the peculiar customs or
religious beliefs of people, we find pages of