of the vital organs have been compressed or lacerated, and death has in consequence ensued. If the cervical vertebræ should be dislocated, a general paralysis will follow, and life can no longer be maintained. M. Petit relates the case of a boy suspended by the head, who striving to disengage himself dropped down dead; and Dr. Monro saw a case where four of the cervical vertebræ were dislocated by a fall, which ended fatally in a few hours.
Dissection of the contents of the thorax.—An incision must be made through the integuments, in a straight line from the os hyoides to the navel; we are then to open into the cavity of the abdomen, for the sake of affording the anatomist free space for his dissections in the chest; and this is to be effected by incisions from the navel to each spine of the ilium, so that we shall have thus described by our dissection a figure resembling the letter Y inverted, thus . In performing this part of our labour, it is essentially necessary to avoid puncturing or injuring any of the viscera; where such a blunder has been committed the dissection has lost much of its value. The integuments of the breast are then to be carefully dissected so as to expose the cartilaginous articulations of the ribs, which must be cut through on both sides; the clavicles should also at the same time be separated from the sternum, by dividing the loose cartilage which unites them. The latter bone, together with the cartilaginous portions of the ribs, must be next turned upwards over the face, so that the cavity of the thorax shall be brought into view. In some cases it will be found expedient to make a still more extensive exposure of this cavity; for which purpose a broader flap must be turned up in front, by extending our dissection of the parietes of
