Generally the body was suffered to rot on the cross (Cicero, 7\wc. Q, i, 48; Sil. Ital. viii, 486) by the ac- tion of sun and rain (Herod, iii, 12), or to be devoured by birds and beasts (Apul. de Aur. A$m, 6; Horace, Ep. i, 16, 48 ; Juvenal, xiv, 77). Sepulture was gen- erally therefore forbidden (Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxvi, 24), though it might be granted as a special fkvor or on grand occasions (Ulp. 1. ix, De off. Pcucons.'). But, in consequence of Deut. xxi, 22, 28, an express nation- al exception was made in favor of the Jews (Matt, xxvii, 58 ; comp. Joseph. War, iv, 6, 2).
TV. Pathology. — It only remains to speak of the manner of death, and the kind of physical suffering en- dured, which we shall very briefly abridge from the treatise of the physician Richter (in Jahn's BiH. A rch.). These are, 1. The unnatural position and violent ten- sion of the body, which cause a painful sensation fh)m the least motion. 2. The nails, being driven through parts of the hands and feet which are full of nerves and tendons (and yet at a distance from the heart), create the most exquisite anguish. 8. The exposure of so many wounds and lacerations brings on inflammation, which tends to become gangrene, and every moment increases the poignancy of suffering. 4. In the dis- tended parts of the body more blood flows through the arteries tlian can be carried back into the veins : hence too much blood finds its way from the aorta into the head and stomach, and the blood-vessels of the head become pressed and swollen. The general obstruction of circulation which ensues causes an internal excite- ment, exertion, and anxiety more intolerable than death itself. 5. The inexpressible misery ofgradualkf increasing and lingering anguish. To all this we may add, 6. Burning and raging thirst.
Death by crucifixion (physically considered) is there- fore to be attributed to the sympathetic fBver which is excited by the wounds, and aggravated by exposure to the weather, privation of water, and the painfully con- strained position of the body. Traumatic fever corre- sponds, in intensity and in character, to the local in- flammation of the wound. In the first stage, while the inflammation of the wound is characterized by heat, swelling, and great pain, the fever is highly inflamma- tory, and the sufferer complains of heat, throbbing headache, intense thirst, restlessness, and anxiety. As soon as suppuration sets in, the fever somewhat abates, and gradually ceases as suppuratioD diminishes and the stage of cicatrization approaches. But if the wound be prevented frt>m healing, and suppuration continue, the fever assumes a hectic character, and will sooner or later exhaust the powers of life. When, how-
ever, the inflammation of the wound Is so int^isi ■< produce mortification, nervous depression is the I diute consequence ; and if the cause of this inflammation of the wound still oontmnes, as is case in crucifixion, the sufferer rapidly sinks. &f { no longer sensible of pain, but his anxietj and mi of prostration are excessive; hiccough 6aperva»s.lB skin is moistened with a cold clammy sweat, and tkrt ensues. It is in this manner that death on U» am must have taken place in an ordinarily healthy cmst- tutbn. The wounds in themselves -were noC Itti: but, as long as the nails remained in tbem, the iBia> mation must have increased in intensity until it ^ duced gangrene. The period at which death ocevai was very variable, as it depended on tbe coostitSBi of the sufferer, as well as on the degree of expivst and the state of the weather. It may, howevoL \r asserted that death would not take place until the bol inflammation had run its course ; and thon^ th» p?* cess may be much hastened by fatigue and the aho- nate exposure to the rays of the sun and the cold cidi air, it is not completed before forty-eight hours, vxAs ordinary circumstances, and in healthy constitatkas so that we may consider thirty-six hours to he the esi liest period at which crucifixion would occasion dasd in a healthy adult It can not be objected that ^ heat of an Eastern climate may not have been di^ considered in the above estimate, for many cases ait recorded of persons having survived a much hsaga time than is here mentioned, even as long as ei^ <r nine days. Eusebius (Hist. Ecdes, ui, 8) says tbtf many of the martjrrs in Egypt, who were cmd^edvitb their heads doMmward, perished by hunger. The va^ of water was a much more important privatloa. h must have caused the sufferer inexpressible angaifL and have contributed in no slight degree to haitc death. — Smith, s. v. ; Kitto, s. v.
Several eminent writers had occupied themsclTB with the physiology of our Saviour*s passion, if we ht so express ourselves, before the " scientific*' metfesi of treating it was resorted to ; such were ScfaeiKlixix. Mead, Bartholinus, Yogler, Triller, Richter, and &- chenbach. But a much fuller and more exact fatveD- gation has since been made by the two Gmncis, Ei- ther and son, the latter of whom first wrote under tb direction, and by the advice of the former. These etf- lier authors have collected all that medical anak^ could fbmish towards establishing the character d our Saviour's sufierings and the reality of hb 6ial^ *^ The pulmonary, and other veins and arteries abcct the heart and chest, by the abundance of blood fiov- ing thither, and there accumulating, must have sid- ed frightful bodily suffering to the anguish of nm^^i produced by the overpowering burden of oar iio»'' (6. G. Richteri DisseriaHones Qvatuor Medie^ 6o(- ting. 1775, p. 67). But this general suffering nvt have made a relative impression upon different indi- viduals ; and, as Charles Gruner well observes, the ef- fect it produced upon two hardy and hardened thirre^. brought out fresh from prison, must naturally biTf been very different from that on our Saviour, vfaoK frame and temperament were of a very oppoMte cbc* acter; who had been previously suffering a nigbt of tortures and restless &tigue ; who had been wiertliQ^ with mental agony till one of the rarest phenosKU had been catised — a bloody sweat ; who must have < to the most acute degree of intensity all the mental a^'- gravation of his punishment — its shJame and ignonunv, and the distress of his pious mother, and few fidtbfsl friends (C. F. Gruneri CcmmentaJHo Antiqweria MeSn de Jesu CrisH morte vera non simuiata. Hale, 1806, p- d(M5). To these he might have added other reflec- tions, as that our Saviour was evidently weakened b^-^ yond other persons in similar chrcumstances, seeing t' was not strong enough to carry his cross, as crimioxl) led to execution were always able to do; and if the men whom we are answering suppose our Lord to karf