Persons have been accidentally hanged, as in the case above cited from the work of _Dr. Male_, and instances are recorded where the operation has been resorted to as a mode of exciting passion. In all such cases of doubt and difficulty, each particular circumstance, however minute, must be noticed—the nature of the ligature—the manner in which it is fixed—the state of surrounding objects, are often capable of throwing light upon the transaction. In the case of _George Hebner_, a tailor, who was found hanging to the top of a bedstead, in a garret of a house of ill-fame in Dean Street, East Smithfield, kept by a widow of the name of _Hughes_, the manner in which the hands of the deceased were tied behind his back, and his handkerchief was drawn over his face, proved most decidedly that he had not strangled himself. Upon examining the rope round his neck, it was found to have been fastened by what is termed a sailor’s knot; in consequence of which circumstance a sailor named _Richard Ludman_, together with the aforesaid _Eleanor Hughes_, were indicted for the murder, found guilty, and executed. _If the deceased be found in an apartment, whether it be in a house of ill-fame?_—Although the act of sudden death in a brothel very naturally excites the suspicion that some act of violence may have been committed, yet this feeling should not be carried too far; we must remember that the individual has been thus exposed, in an increased degree, to the occurrence of several of those natural accidents by which life is so suddenly extinguished; apoplexy, hæmopthysis, and syncope have assailed those who might have been predisposed to such diseases, at the moment of sexual indulgence. In persons advanced in life the trunks of the internal, carotid, and basilary arteries are frequently diseased, and are therefore very liable to rupture whenever the blood is accumulated in any unusual quantity, or the circulation is preternaturally accelerated. 3. _Circumstances to be learnt by the Interrogation of competent witnesses._ It is merely necessary to enumerate the facts which it is our duty to elicit by such an inquiry, in order to shew their importance and relations; we shall therefore conclude this part of our subject without any farther comments, and proceed to furnish such directions as may enable the medical witness to complete his investigation by the anatomical examination of the body, without which, our preceding researches can never be received as satisfactory and conclusive. “_Inspectio ejusmodi cadaveris adeo necessaria est, ut omissa ea, nihil certi de reo statui possit._”[21] 4. _Circumstances to be learnt by Anatomical Dissection._