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The Execution and Post-mortem Examinations of the Three Van Warmer Brothers, (Daily Medical Journal, Feb. 8th, 1904.) Spitzka, E.A.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2018

Extract

The simultaneous examination of the brains of three brothers must be a unique event, and this investigation, which was conducted by Dr. Spitzka in conjunction with Drs. Ransom and Carlos MacDonald (and only a brief preliminary report of which is here given), has therefore an interest beyond its criminological significance. The three brothers murdered their uncle, and were executed by electricity in New York last year. They entered the death-chamber without any fear or trembling, “making less fuss than many people do before the photographer's camera,” and the successive executions of the three men and all the necessary arrangements were completed in a quarter of an hour, consciousness being in all cases abolished instantaneously. The chief physiological effects of the electric current noted were the high postmortem temperature, the fluid condition of the blood, the tetanised state of the ventricular portion of heart, the almost bloodless condition of the lungs, and the contraction of the colon.

Type
Part III.—Epitome of Current Literature
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1904 

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