There may also be signs of general violence about the face, neck, chest, or other parts of the body. The position of the knot affords no material help, as the murderer may tie it in any position, but more than one knot, especially if in different positions, points to homicide. It must be remembered that finger-nails or other marks in the vicinity of the ligature may be present in cases of suicides, from the slipping of the cord or the determined attempts of the suicide to carry out the act, or plucking at the cord involuntarily. When a person is first strangled, then hung, there would be two marks--one probably horizontal, the other slanting. =Suicidal= strangulation is rare. The knot is generally adjusted at the front or side of the neck, the cord may encircle the neck several times. Injuries to the deep structures of the neck are absent. Signs of general violence are not necessarily present. If there be two marks upon the neck, one due to an attempt at strangulation, the other to suspension, in a suicide, the first would be the less marked, the latter more pronounced, whereas in homicide the strangulation mark would be most distinct. THROTTLING Throttling is strangling by means of the hand or hands alone, and is due to constant pressure of the fingers upon the throat. Very little pressure is required to occlude the glottis; it can be done with slight pressure of the thumb and forefinger on the side of the thyroid cartilage. The impression of the fingers and thumb upon the throat have characteristic marks. They are usually to be seen on both sides of the throat. The thumb mark is on one side, and the marks of the fingers, separated from one another or clustered together, are on the other, the thumb mark being the highest. When grasped from the front by the right hand, the thumb mark will be on the right side of the throat. If the victim be throttled by the two hands at the same time, as when on the ground, the thumb marks are on the same side. If the assailant be left-handed, and has used this hand to grip the throat, the thumb mark will be on the left side of the victim. The finger marks are one above the other. The marks may appear as ecchymoses if the examination be made soon after death; if later, they may appear and feel like parchment, and of a brownish colour. Crescentic marks of finger-nails may be present, also other scratches in the vicinity. Other marks of general violence may be present, and should the victim have fallen to the ground, the head may be injured. Much blood is effused in the tissues of the neck and the laryngeal cartilages, and the hyoid may be found fractured; the carotids may escape injury, but not always. The mucous membrane of the cheeks may be found lacerated. Where the victim is thrown to the ground and knelt upon, fracture of the ribs and ecchymosis of the chest wall may occur.