25. The ordinary mode of examining the membranes of the brain, and the brain itself, answers well in medico-legal dissections. Effusions of fluid within the skull should always be measured. After the brain is removed, the dura mater ought to be stripped from the base of the skull to facilitate the search for fractures there, which will, of course, indicate external violence. After the removal of the brain, the upper part of the spinal canal should be examined through the foramen magnum before any part of its course be laid open; and search should be particularly made for dislocation or other injury in the region of the atlas and dentata. In cases of fatal fractures of the head, the strength of the bones should be attended to. In cases of extravasation within the head, the state of the coats of the cerebral arteries should be examined. 26. The best mode of opening the spine is, after having finished the examination of the brain, to cut through the integuments from the occiput to the coccyx--to lay the vertebræ thoroughly bare on each side by cutting away the muscles--to make an incision with the saw on each side of the skull, from the postero-inferior angle of the parietal bones into the lateral edge of the occipital hole--to remove the triangular portion of the occipital bone thus detached, and then to cut the rings of the vertebræ on each side with the bone-nippers or spine-knife, beginning with the atlas. In these cases preference should be given to the saw, by which the operation is not only more easily accomplished, but there is no risk of confounding previous fracture with that made in dissecting. Where there is reason to think that the bones are injured, the laying open of the canal should stop at the distance of two or three vertebræ from the injury, and the injured bones, with two or three adjacent vertebræ on each side, should be removed entire before the examination is extended farther down the spine. 27. The organs of the throat may be examined, either by dividing the lower jaw-bone at the chin, cutting the soft parts close to the inner surface of each half of the bone backwards, and then turning the two segments outwards; or by freely reflecting the skin of the throat, separating the soft parts from the inside of the lower jaw, the knife being carried parallel with and close to the bone, drawing the tongue out below the chin, and then continuing the dissection backwards. 28. The best mode of examining the organs situated in the throat is, after detaching the soft parts from the lower jaw, as advised in Sect. 27, to dissect the soft palate from the bone, and proceeding backwards, to detach the whole soft parts from the base of the skull and vertebræ down to the sternum, leaving them connected with the organs in the chest. Besides the ordinary points to be attended to in this part of the examination, the presence of venereal or other ulcerations is a matter requiring attention in some cases.