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92-398: Decapitation is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood by way of severing through the jugular vein and common carotid artery , while all other organs are deprived of the involuntary functions that are needed for the body to function. The term beheading refers to

184-455: A "cult of the severed head" , as evidenced by both Classical literary descriptions and archaeological contexts. This cult played a central role in their temples and religious practices and earned them a reputation as head hunters among the Mediterranean peoples. Diodorus Siculus , in his 1st-century Historical Library (5.29.4) wrote the following about Celtic head-hunting: They cut off

276-724: A blood bank . There are many different blood types in humans, the ABO blood group system , and the Rhesus blood group system being the most important. Transfusion of blood of an incompatible blood group may cause severe, often fatal, complications, so crossmatching is done to ensure that a compatible blood product is transfused. Other blood products administered intravenously are platelets, blood plasma, cryoprecipitate, and specific coagulation factor concentrates. Many forms of medication (from antibiotics to chemotherapy ) are administered intravenously, as they are not readily or adequately absorbed by

368-601: A guillotine -like device known as a Fallbeil ("falling axe") since the 17th and 18th centuries, and decapitation by guillotine was the usual means of execution in Germany until the abolition of the death penalty in West Germany in 1949. It was last used in communist East Germany in 1966. In Nazi Germany , the Fallbeil was reserved for common criminals and people convicted of political crimes , including treason . Members of

460-607: A UN report from Congolese refugees, they believed the Bana Mura and Kamuina Nsapu militias have "magical powers" as a result of drinking the blood of decapitated victims, making them invincible. Besides the massive decapitations (like the beheading of 40 members of the State Police), a globally notorious case happened in March 2017 to Swedish politician Zaida Catalán and American UN expert Michael Sharp, who were kidnapped and executed during

552-574: A blood transfusion, because the metabolism of transfused red blood cells does not restart immediately after a transfusion. In modern evidence-based medicine , bloodletting is used in management of a few rare diseases, including hemochromatosis and polycythemia . However, bloodletting and leeching were common unvalidated interventions used until the 19th century, as many diseases were incorrectly thought to be due to an excess of blood, according to Hippocratic medicine. English blood ( Old English blod ) derives from Germanic and has cognates with

644-486: A chair on a scaffold. The executioner used a knife to cut the head from the body. It was considered to be a more honourable death if the executioner started with cutting the throat. Iran , since the 1979 Islamic Revolution , has alleged it uses beheading as one of the methods of punishment. Oxygenated blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to

736-560: A chest, and display them with pride to strangers, saying that for this head one of their ancestors, or his father, or the man himself, refused the offer of a large sum of money. They say that some of them boast that they refused the weight of the head in gold. Both the Greeks and Romans found the Celtic decapitation practices shocking and the latter put an end to them when Celtic regions came under their control. According to Paul Jacobsthal , "Amongst

828-506: A comparatively honorable form of execution for criminals. The traditional procedure, however, included first being tied to a stake and whipped with rods. Axes were used by the Romans, and later swords, which were considered a more honorable instrument of death. Those who could verify that they were Roman citizens were to be beheaded, rather than undergoing crucifixion . In the Roman Republic of

920-459: A limited time even after connection to the brain is lost, responding to any nearby stimulus. In addition, the bodies of chickens and turtles may continue to move temporarily after decapitation. Although head transplantation by the reattachment of blood vessels has seen some very limited success in animals, a fully functional reattachment of a severed human head (including repair of the spinal cord , muscles, and other critically important tissues)

1012-614: A mission near the village of Ngombe in Kasaï Province . The UN was reportedly horrified when video footage of the executions surfaced in April that same year, where some grisly details led to assume ritual components of the beheading: the perpetrators first cut the hair of both victims, and then one of them beheaded Catalán only, because it would "increase his power", which may be linked to the fact that Congolese militias are particularly brutal in their acts of violence toward women and children. In

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1104-455: A number of convicts were beheaded posthumously up to the early 19th century. (Typically traitors were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered , a method which had already been discontinued.) Beheading was degraded to a secondary means of execution, including for treason, with the abolition of drawing and quartering in 1870 and finally abolished by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1973 . One of

1196-426: A pH below 7.35 is too acidic , whereas blood pH above 7.45 is too basic. A pH below 6.9 or above 7.8 is usually lethal. Blood pH, partial pressure of oxygen (pO 2 ) , partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO 2 ) , and bicarbonate (HCO 3 ) are carefully regulated by a number of homeostatic mechanisms , which exert their influence principally through the respiratory system and the urinary system to control

1288-519: A period of 10 seconds that have been linked to nociception across a number of different species of animals, including rats. Some animals (such as cockroaches ) can survive decapitation and die not because of the loss of the head directly, but rather because of starvation . A number of other animals, including snakes , and turtles , have also been known to survive for some time after being decapitated, as they have slower metabolisms and their nervous systems can continue to function at some capacity for

1380-478: A rapid fall of intracranial perfusion of blood"). A laboratory study testing for humane methods of euthanasia in awake animals used EEG monitoring to measure the time duration following decapitation for rats to become fully unconscious, unable to perceive distress and pain. It was estimated that this point was reached within 3–4 seconds, correlating closely with results found in other studies on rodents (2.7 seconds, and 3–6 seconds). The same study also suggested that

1472-537: A similar range of meanings in all other Germanic languages (e.g. German Blut , Swedish blod , Gothic blōþ ). There is no accepted Indo-European etymology. Robin Fåhræus (a Swedish physician who devised the erythrocyte sedimentation rate ) suggested that the Ancient Greek system of humorism , wherein the body was thought to contain four distinct bodily fluids (associated with different temperaments), were based upon

1564-962: A specifically designed executioner's sword dates to ca. 1540. They were in wide use in 17th-century Europe, but fell out of use quite suddenly in the early 18th century. The last executions by sword in Europe were carried out in Switzerland in 1867 and 1868, when Niklaus Emmenegger in Lucerne and Héli Freymond in Moudon were beheaded for murder. Swords known as a sulthan are used to carry out executions in Saudi Arabia ( see Capital punishment in Saudi Arabia ). The blades of executioner's swords were often decorated with symbolic designs. When no longer used for executions, an executioner's sword sometimes continued to be used as

1656-521: Is decapitatus which was used to create decapitatio , the noun form of decapitatus , in Medieval Latin, whence the French word décapitation was produced. Humans have practiced capital punishment by beheading for millennia. The Narmer Palette (c. 3000 BCE) shows the first known depiction of decapitated corpses. The terms "capital offence", "capital crime", "capital punishment", derive from

1748-423: Is blood plasma , a fluid that is the blood's liquid medium, which by itself is straw-yellow in color. The blood plasma volume totals of 2.7–3.0 liters (2.8–3.2 quarts) in an average human. It is essentially an aqueous solution containing 92% water, 8% blood plasma proteins , and trace amounts of other materials. Plasma circulates dissolved nutrients, such as glucose , amino acids , and fatty acids (dissolved in

1840-481: Is also a legal punishment in Zamfara State , Nigeria . In practice, Saudi Arabia is the only country that continues to behead its offenders regularly as a punishment for capital crimes. Cases of decapitation by suicidal hanging, suicide by train decapitation and by guillotine are known. Less commonly, decapitation can also refer to the removal of the head from a body that is already dead. This might be done to take

1932-461: Is arterial or venous blood). Most of it (about 70%) is converted to bicarbonate ions HCO − 3 by the enzyme carbonic anhydrase in the red blood cells by the reaction CO 2 + H 2 O → H 2 CO 3 → H + HCO − 3 ; about 7% is dissolved in the plasma; and about 23% is bound to hemoglobin as carbamino compounds. Hemoglobin, the main oxygen-carrying molecule in red blood cells, carries both oxygen and carbon dioxide. However,

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2024-418: Is associated with a large number of beliefs. One of the most basic is the use of blood as a symbol for family relationships through birth/parentage; to be "related by blood" is to be related by ancestry or descendence, rather than marriage. This bears closely to bloodlines , and sayings such as " blood is thicker than water " and " bad blood ", as well as " Blood brother ". Blood is given particular emphasis in

2116-440: Is bright red, because carbon monoxide causes the formation of carboxyhemoglobin . In cyanide poisoning, the body cannot use oxygen, so the venous blood remains oxygenated, increasing the redness. There are some conditions affecting the heme groups present in hemoglobin that can make the skin appear blue – a symptom called cyanosis . If the heme is oxidized, methemoglobin , which is more brownish and cannot transport oxygen,

2208-407: Is circulated around the body through blood vessels by the pumping action of the heart . In humans, blood is pumped from the strong left ventricle of the heart through arteries to peripheral tissues and returns to the right atrium of the heart through veins . It then enters the right ventricle and is pumped through the pulmonary artery to the lungs and returns to the left atrium through

2300-480: Is dangerous to health, and severe hypoxia (saturations less than 30%) may be rapidly fatal. A fetus , receiving oxygen via the placenta , is exposed to much lower oxygen pressures (about 21% of the level found in an adult's lungs), so fetuses produce another form of hemoglobin with a much higher affinity for oxygen ( hemoglobin F ) to function under these conditions. CO 2 is carried in blood in three different ways. (The exact percentages vary depending whether it

2392-450: Is estimated that some 16,500 persons were guillotined in Germany and Austria between 1933 and 1945, a number that includes resistance fighters both within Germany itself and in countries occupied by Nazi forces . As these resistance fighters were not part of any regular army , they were considered common criminals and were in many cases transported to Germany for execution. Decapitation

2484-426: Is formed. In the rare condition sulfhemoglobinemia , arterial hemoglobin is partially oxygenated, and appears dark red with a bluish hue. Veins close to the surface of the skin appear blue for a variety of reasons. However, the factors that contribute to this alteration of color perception are related to the light-scattering properties of the skin and the processing of visual input by the visual cortex , rather than

2576-436: Is free to bind oxygen, and fewer oxygen molecules can be transported throughout the blood. This can cause suffocation insidiously. A fire burning in an enclosed room with poor ventilation presents a very dangerous hazard, since it can create a build-up of carbon monoxide in the air. Some carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin when smoking tobacco. Blood for transfusion is obtained from human donors by blood donation and stored in

2668-461: Is in equilibrium with lymph , which is continuously formed in tissues from blood by capillary ultrafiltration. Lymph is collected by a system of small lymphatic vessels and directed to the thoracic duct , which drains into the left subclavian vein , where lymph rejoins the systemic blood circulation. Blood circulation transports heat throughout the body, and adjustments to this flow are an important part of thermoregulation . Increasing blood flow to

2760-561: Is known as the Haldane effect , and is important in the transport of carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs. A rise in the partial pressure of CO 2 or a lower pH will cause offloading of oxygen from hemoglobin, which is known as the Bohr effect . Some oxyhemoglobin loses oxygen and becomes deoxyhemoglobin. Deoxyhemoglobin binds most of the hydrogen ions as it has a much greater affinity for more hydrogen than does oxyhemoglobin. In mammals, blood

2852-635: Is not likely. Early versions of the guillotine included the Halifax Gibbet , which was used in Halifax , England, from 1286 until the 17th century, and the " Maiden ", employed in Edinburgh from the 16th through the 18th centuries. The modern form of the guillotine was invented shortly before the French Revolution with the aim of creating a quick and painless method of execution requiring little skill on

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2944-511: Is oxygenated and dark red when it is deoxygenated . Medical terms related to blood often begin with hemo- , hemato- , haemo- or haemato- from the Greek word αἷμα ( haima ) for "blood". In terms of anatomy and histology , blood is considered a specialized form of connective tissue , given its origin in the bones and the presence of potential molecular fibers in the form of fibrinogen . Blood performs many important functions within

3036-488: Is produced predominantly by the liver , while hormones are produced by the endocrine glands and the watery fraction is regulated by the hypothalamus and maintained by the kidney . Healthy erythrocytes have a plasma life of about 120 days before they are degraded by the spleen , and the Kupffer cells in the liver. The liver also clears some proteins, lipids, and amino acids. The kidney actively secretes waste products into

3128-623: Is quickly fatal to humans and most animals . Unconsciousness occurs within seconds without circulating oxygenated blood ( brain ischemia ). Cell death and irreversible brain damage occurs after 3–6 minutes with no oxygen, due to excitotoxicity . Some anecdotes suggest more extended persistence of human consciousness after decapitation, but most doctors consider this unlikely and consider such accounts to be misapprehensions of reflexive twitching rather than deliberate movement, since deprivation of oxygen must cause nearly immediate coma and death ("[Consciousness is] probably lost within 2–3 seconds, due to

3220-428: Is said to have required up to 10 strokes before decapitation was achieved. This particular story may, however, be apocryphal, as highly divergent accounts exist. Historian and philosopher David Hume , for example, relates the following about her death: She refused to lay her head on the block, or submit to a sentence where she had received no trial. She told the executioner, that if he would have her head, he must win it

3312-473: The Anglo-Afghan Wars would behead enemy soldiers who were captured, such as British and Sikh soldiers. In Japan , decapitation was a common punishment, sometimes for minor offences. Samurai were often allowed to decapitate soldiers who had fled from battle, as it was considered cowardly. Decapitation was historically performed as the second step in seppuku (ritual suicide by disembowelment ). After

3404-559: The Bosnian Army . At least one case is documented and proven in court by the ICTY where mujahedin, members of 3rd Corps of Army BiH, beheaded Bosnian Serb Dragan Popović. In British history , beheading was typically used for noblemen, while commoners would be hanged; eventually, hanging was adopted as the standard means of non-military executions. The last actual execution by beheading was of Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat on 9 April 1747, while

3496-559: The Islamic , Jewish , and Christian religions, because Leviticus 17:11 says "the life of a creature is in the blood." This phrase is part of the Levitical law forbidding the drinking of blood or eating meat with the blood still intact instead of being poured off. Executioner%27s sword In the Middle Ages , decapitations were performed with regular swords. The earliest known example of

3588-581: The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War . In traditional China , decapitation was considered a more severe form of punishment than strangulation , although strangulation caused more prolonged suffering. This was because in Confucian tradition, a person's body was a gift from their parents, and so it was therefore disrespectful to their ancestors to return their bodies to the grave dismembered. The Chinese, however, had other punishments, such as dismembering

3680-534: The White Rose resistance movement, a group of students in Munich that included siblings Sophie and Hans Scholl , were executed by decapitation. Contrary to popular myth, executions were generally not conducted face-up, and chief executioner Johann Reichhart was insistent on maintaining "professional" protocol throughout the era, having administered the death penalty during the earlier Weimar Republic . Nonetheless, it

3772-502: The abolition of capital punishment in 1981, the main method of execution had been by beheading by means of the guillotine . Other than a small number of military cases in which a firing squad was used (including that of Jean Bastien-Thiry ), the guillotine was the only legal method of execution from 1791, when it was introduced by the Legislative Assembly during the last days of the kingdom French Revolution , until 1981. Before

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3864-529: The acid–base balance and respiration, which is called compensation. An arterial blood gas test measures these. Plasma also circulates hormones transmitting their messages to various tissues. The list of normal reference ranges for various blood electrolytes is extensive. Human blood is typical of that of mammals, although the precise details concerning cell numbers, size, protein structure , and so on, vary somewhat between species. In non-mammalian vertebrates, however, there are some key differences: Blood

3956-780: The cells , and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is composed of blood cells suspended in blood plasma . Plasma, which constitutes 55% of blood fluid, is mostly water (92% by volume), and contains proteins , glucose , mineral ions , and hormones . The blood cells are mainly red blood cells (erythrocytes), white blood cells (leukocytes), and (in mammals) platelets (thrombocytes). The most abundant cells are red blood cells. These contain hemoglobin , which facilitates oxygen transport by reversibly binding to it, increasing its solubility. Jawed vertebrates have an adaptive immune system , based largely on white blood cells. White blood cells help to resist infections and parasites. Platelets are important in

4048-405: The clotting of blood. Blood is circulated around the body through blood vessels by the pumping action of the heart . In animals with lungs , arterial blood carries oxygen from inhaled air to the tissues of the body, and venous blood carries carbon dioxide, a waste product of metabolism produced by cells, from the tissues to the lungs to be exhaled. Blood is bright red when its hemoglobin

4140-428: The erectile tissue in the penis and clitoris . Another example of a hydraulic function is the jumping spider , in which blood forced into the legs under pressure causes them to straighten for a powerful jump, without the need for bulky muscular legs. Hemoglobin is the principal determinant of the color of blood ( hemochrome ). Each molecule has four heme groups, and their interaction with various molecules alters

4232-482: The pulmonary veins . Blood then enters the left ventricle to be circulated again. Arterial blood carries oxygen from inhaled air to all of the cells of the body, and venous blood carries carbon dioxide, a waste product of metabolism by cells , to the lungs to be exhaled. However, one exception includes pulmonary arteries, which contain the most deoxygenated blood in the body, while the pulmonary veins contain oxygenated blood. Additional return flow may be generated by

4324-479: The urine . About 98.5% of the oxygen in a sample of arterial blood in a healthy human breathing air at sea-level pressure is chemically combined with the hemoglobin . About 1.5% is physically dissolved in the other blood liquids and not connected to hemoglobin. The hemoglobin molecule is the primary transporter of oxygen in mammals and many other species. Hemoglobin has an oxygen binding capacity between 1.36 and 1.40 ml O 2 per gram hemoglobin, which increases

4416-507: The CO 2 bound to hemoglobin does not bind to the same site as oxygen. Instead, it combines with the N-terminal groups on the four globin chains. However, because of allosteric effects on the hemoglobin molecule, the binding of CO 2 decreases the amount of oxygen that is bound for a given partial pressure of oxygen. The decreased binding to carbon dioxide in the blood due to increased oxygen levels

4508-546: The Celts the human head was venerated above all else, since the head was to the Celt the soul, centre of the emotions as well as of life itself, a symbol of divinity and of the powers of the other-world." Arguments for a Celtic cult of the severed head include the many sculptured representations of severed heads in La Tène carvings, and the surviving Celtic mythology, which is full of stories of

4600-565: The Holy Well on Omey Island and on dipping it into the well placed it back upon his neck and was restored to full health. Pothinus matched Mark Antony in crime: They slew the noblest Romans of their time. The helpless victims they decapitated, An act of infamy with shame related. One head was Pompey 's, who brought triumphs home, The other Cicero 's, the voice of Rome. — Martial , Epigram I:60 (Trans. by Garry Wills ) The ancient Greeks and Romans regarded decapitation as

4692-579: The Latin caput , "head", referring to the punishment for serious offences involving the forfeiture of the head; i.e. death by beheading. Some cultures, such as ancient Rome and Greece, regarded decapitation as the most honorable form of death. In the Middle Ages, many European nations continued to reserve the method only for nobles and royalty. In France, the French Revolution made it the only legal method of execution for all criminals regardless of class, one of

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4784-579: The act of deliberately decapitating a person, either as a means of murder or as an execution ; it may be performed with an axe , sword , or knife , or by mechanical means such as a guillotine . An executioner who carries out executions by beheading is sometimes called a headsman. Accidental decapitation can be the result of an explosion, a car or industrial accident, improperly administered execution by hanging or other violent injury. The national laws of Saudi Arabia and Yemen permit beheading. Under Sharia , which exclusively applies to Muslims, beheading

4876-483: The actual color of the venous blood. Skinks in the genus Prasinohaema have green blood due to a buildup of the waste product biliverdin . Substances other than oxygen can bind to hemoglobin; in some cases, this can cause irreversible damage to the body. Carbon monoxide, for example, is extremely dangerous when carried to the blood via the lungs by inhalation, because carbon monoxide irreversibly binds to hemoglobin to form carboxyhemoglobin, so that less hemoglobin

4968-430: The best way he could: and thus, shaking her venerable grey locks, she ran about the scaffold; and the executioner followed her with his axe, aiming many fruitless blows at her neck before he was able to give the fatal stroke. To ensure that the blow would be fatal, executioners' swords usually were blade-heavy two-handed swords. Likewise, if an axe was used, it almost invariably was wielded with both hands. Decapitation

5060-473: The blood or bound to plasma proteins), and removes waste products, such as carbon dioxide , urea , and lactic acid . Other important components include: The term serum refers to plasma from which the clotting proteins have been removed. Most of the proteins remaining are albumin and immunoglobulins . Blood pH is regulated to stay within the narrow range of 7.35 to 7.45, making it slightly basic (compensation). Extra-cellular fluid in blood that has

5152-549: The body into multiple pieces (similar to the English quartering ). In addition, there was also a practice of cutting the body at the waist , which was a common method of execution before being abolished in the early Qing dynasty due to the lingering death it caused. In some tales, people did not die immediately after decapitation. The British officer John Masters recorded in his autobiography that Pathans in British India during

5244-475: The body, including: Blood accounts for 7% of the human body weight, with an average density around 1060 kg/m , very close to pure water's density of 1000 kg/m . The average adult has a blood volume of roughly 5 litres (11 US pt) or 1.3 gallons, which is composed of plasma and formed elements . The formed elements are the two types of blood cell or corpuscle – the red blood cells , (erythrocytes) and white blood cells (leukocytes), and

5336-422: The cell fragments called platelets that are involved in clotting. By volume, the red blood cells constitute about 45% of whole blood, the plasma about 54.3%, and white cells about 0.7%. Whole blood (plasma and cells) exhibits non-Newtonian fluid dynamics . One microliter of blood contains: 45 ± 7 (38–52%) for males 42 ± 5 (37–47%) for females Oxygenated: 98–99% Deoxygenated: 75% About 55% of blood

5428-518: The device was also used, including on St Pierre in 1889 and on Martinique as late as 1965. In Nordic countries , decapitation was the usual means of carrying out capital punishment. Noblemen were beheaded with a sword , and commoners with an axe . The last executions by decapitation in Finland in 1825, Norway in 1876, Faroe Islands in 1609, and in Iceland in 1830 were carried out with axes. The same

5520-413: The digestive tract. After severe acute blood loss, liquid preparations, generically known as plasma expanders, can be given intravenously, either solutions of salts (NaCl, KCl, CaCl 2 etc.) at physiological concentrations, or colloidal solutions, such as dextrans, human serum albumin , or fresh frozen plasma. In these emergency situations, a plasma expander is a more effective life-saving procedure than

5612-523: The early Meiji era. A similar scene is described in the last page of James Clavell's book Shōgun . Historically, decapitation had been the most common method of execution in Korea, until it was replaced by hanging in 1896. Professional executioners were called mangnani (망나니) and they were volunteered from death rows. Historically, decapitation had been the main method of execution in Thailand , until it

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5704-627: The early 1st century BC, it became the tradition for the severed heads of public enemies—such as the political opponents of Marius and Sulla —to be publicly displayed on the Rostra in the Forum Romanum after execution. Perhaps the most famous beheading was that of Cicero who, on instructions from Mark Antony , had his hands (which had penned the Philippicae against Antony) and his head cut off and nailed up for display in this manner. In France, until

5796-431: The exact color. Arterial blood and capillary blood are bright red, as oxygen imparts a strong red color to the heme group. Deoxygenated blood is a darker shade of red; this is present in veins, and can be seen during blood donation and when venous blood samples are taken. This is because the spectrum of light absorbed by hemoglobin differs between the oxygenated and deoxygenated states. Blood in carbon monoxide poisoning

5888-482: The executioner is clumsy, repeated strokes might be required to sever the head, resulting in a prolonged and more painful death. Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex , and Mary, Queen of Scots required three strikes at their respective executions. The same could be said for the execution of Johann Friedrich Struensee , favorite of the Danish queen Caroline Matilda of Great Britain . Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury ,

5980-484: The head as a trophy , as a secondary stage of an execution by hanging, for public display , to make the deceased more difficult to identify, for cryonics , or for other, more esoteric reasons. The word decapitation has its roots in the Late Latin word decapitare . The meaning of the word decapitare can be discerned from its morphemes de- (down, from) + capit- (head). The past participle of decapitare

6072-426: The heads of enemies slain in battle and attach them to the necks of their horses. The blood-stained spoils they hand over to their attendants and striking up a paean and singing a song of victory; and they nail up these first fruits upon their houses, just as do those who lay low wild animals in certain kinds of hunting. They embalm in cedar oil the heads of the most distinguished enemies, and preserve them carefully in

6164-530: The lungs is still roughly 75% (70 to 78%) saturated. Increased oxygen consumption during sustained exercise reduces the oxygen saturation of venous blood, which can reach less than 15% in a trained athlete; although breathing rate and blood flow increase to compensate, oxygen saturation in arterial blood can drop to 95% or less under these conditions. Oxygen saturation this low is considered dangerous in an individual at rest (for instance, during surgery under anesthesia). Sustained hypoxia (oxygenation less than 90%),

6256-495: The massive wave which can be recorded by EEG monitoring approximately one minute after decapitation ultimately reflects brain death. Other studies indicate that electrical activity in the brain has been demonstrated to persist for 13 to 14 seconds following decapitation (although it is disputed as to whether such activity implies that pain is perceived), and a 2010 study reported that decapitation of rats generated responses in EEG indices over

6348-654: The most notable executions by decapitation in Britain was that of King Charles I of England , who was beheaded outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall in 1649, after being captured by parliamentarians during the English Civil War and tried for treason . In England, a bearded axe was used for beheading, with the blade's edge extending downwards from the tip of the shaft. The Celts of western Europe long pursued

6440-407: The movement of skeletal muscles , which can compress veins and push blood through the valves in veins toward the right atrium . The blood circulation was famously described by William Harvey in 1628. In vertebrates, the various cells of blood are made in the bone marrow in a process called hematopoiesis , which includes erythropoiesis , the production of red blood cells; and myelopoiesis ,

6532-464: The observation of blood clotting in a transparent container. When blood is drawn in a glass container and left undisturbed for about an hour, four different layers can be seen. A dark clot forms at the bottom (the "black bile"). Above the clot is a layer of red blood cells (the "blood"). Above this is a whitish layer of white blood cells (the "phlegm"). The top layer is clear yellow serum (the "yellow bile"). In general, Greek thinkers believed that blood

6624-419: The oxygen is consumed; afterwards, venules and veins carry deoxygenated blood back to the heart. Under normal conditions in adult humans at rest, hemoglobin in blood leaving the lungs is about 98–99% saturated with oxygen , achieving an oxygen delivery between 950 and 1150 ml/min to the body. In a healthy adult at rest, oxygen consumption is approximately 200–250 ml/min, and deoxygenated blood returning to

6716-462: The part of the operator. Decapitation by guillotine became a common mechanically assisted form of execution . The French observed a strict code of etiquette surrounding such executions. For example, a man named Legros, one of the assistants at the execution of Charlotte Corday , was imprisoned for three months and dismissed for slapping the face of the victim after the blade had fallen in order to see whether any flicker of life remained. The guillotine

6808-461: The period's many symbolic changes. Others have regarded beheading as dishonorable and contemptuous, such as the Japanese troops who beheaded prisoners during World War II. In recent times, it has become associated with terrorism. If a headsman's axe or sword is sharp and his aim is precise, decapitation is quick and thought to be a relatively painless form of death . If the instrument is blunt or

6900-505: The production of white blood cells and platelets. During childhood, almost every human bone produces red blood cells; as adults, red blood cell production is limited to the larger bones: the bodies of the vertebrae, the breastbone (sternum), the ribcage, the pelvic bones, and the bones of the upper arms and legs. In addition, during childhood, the thymus gland, found in the mediastinum , is an important source of T lymphocytes . The proteinaceous component of blood (including clotting proteins)

6992-594: The revolution, beheading had typically been reserved for noblemen and carried out manually. In 1981, President François Mitterrand abolished capital punishment and issued commutations for those whose sentences had not been carried out. The first person executed by the guillotine in France was highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier in April 1792. The last execution was of murderer Hamida Djandoubi , in Marseille, in 1977. Throughout its extensive overseas colonies and dependencies ,

7084-519: The search for the missing remains, arrived to a ritual place in Moyo Musila where "parts of bodies, hands and heads" were cut and used for rituals, where they lost track of the victim's head. During the 2016 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes , Yazidi-Armenian serviceman Kyaram Sloyan was decapitated by Azerbaijani servicemen. Several reports of decapitation, along with other types of mutilation of Armenian POWs by Azerbaijani soldiers, emerged in 2020 during

7176-422: The second and the third most supplied organs, with 1100 ml/min and ~700 ml/min, respectively. Relative rates of blood flow per 100 g of tissue are different, with kidney, adrenal gland and thyroid being the first, second and third most supplied tissues, respectively. The restriction of blood flow can also be used in specialized tissues to cause engorgement, resulting in an erection of that tissue; examples are

7268-579: The severed heads of heroes and the saints who carry their own severed heads , right down to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , where the Green Knight picks up his own severed head after Gawain has struck it off in a beheading game , just as Saint Denis carried his head to the top of Montmartre . A further example of this regeneration after beheading lies in the tales of Connemara 's Saint Féchín , who after being beheaded by Vikings carried his head to

7360-489: The surface (e.g., during warm weather or strenuous exercise) causes warmer skin, resulting in faster heat loss. In contrast, when the external temperature is low, blood flow to the extremities and surface of the skin is reduced and to prevent heat loss and is circulated to the important organs of the body, preferentially. Rate of blood flow varies greatly between different organs. Liver has the most abundant blood supply with an approximate flow of 1350 ml/min. Kidney and brain are

7452-443: The total blood oxygen capacity seventyfold, compared to if oxygen solely were carried by its solubility of 0.03 ml O 2 per liter blood per mm Hg partial pressure of oxygen (about 100 mm Hg in arteries). With the exception of pulmonary and umbilical arteries and their corresponding veins, arteries carry oxygenated blood away from the heart and deliver it to the body via arterioles and capillaries , where

7544-519: The trial that followed investigations after the bodies were discovered, and according to a testimony of a primary school teacher from Bunkonde, near the village of Moyo Musuila where the executions took place, he witnessed a teenage militant carrying the young woman's head, but despite the efforts of the investigation, the head was never found. According to a report published on 29 May 2019, the Monusco peacekeeping military mission led by Colonel Luis Mangini, in

7636-462: The victim had sliced his own abdomen open, another warrior would strike his head off from behind with a katana to hasten death and to reduce the suffering. The blow was expected to be precise enough to leave intact a small strip of skin at the front of the neck—to spare invited and honored guests the indelicacy of witnessing a severed head rolling about, or towards them; such an occurrence would have been considered inelegant and in bad taste. The sword

7728-597: Was also considered a very severe and degrading form of punishment. One of the most brutal decapitations was that of Sugitani Zenjubō  [ ja ] (杉谷善住坊), who attempted to assassinate Oda Nobunaga , a prominent daimyō , in 1570. After being caught, Zenjubō was buried alive in the ground with only his head out, and the head was slowly sawn off with a bamboo saw by passers-by for several days (punishment by sawing; [[[nokogiribiki]]  [ ja ] ] Error: {{Lang}}: Non-latn text/Latn script subtag mismatch ( help ) ( 鋸挽き ). These unusual punishments were abolished in

7820-474: Was considered a "dishonorable" death, in contrast to execution by firing squad . In the Democratic Republic of Congo , the conflict and ethnic massacre between local army and Kamuina Nsapu rebels has caused several deaths and atrocities such as rape and mutilation. One of them is decapitation, both a fearsome way to intimidate victims as well as an act that may include ritualistic elements. According to

7912-489: Was discovered in the year 1900 by Karl Landsteiner . Jan Janský is credited with the first classification of blood into the four types (A, B, AB, and O) in 1907, which remains in use today. In 1907 the first blood transfusion was performed that used the ABO system to predict compatibility. The first non-direct transfusion was performed on 27 March 1914. The Rhesus factor was discovered in 1937. Due to its importance to life, blood

8004-464: Was expected to be used upon the slightest sign that the practitioner might yield to pain and cry out—avoiding dishonor to him and to all partaking in the privilege of observing an honorable demise. As skill was involved, only the most trusted warrior was honored by taking part. In the late Sengoku period , decapitation was performed as soon as the person chosen to carry out seppuku had made the slightest wound to his abdomen. Decapitation (without seppuku)

8096-495: Was last used when murderer Tahvo Putkonen was executed in 1825, the last execution in peacetime in Finland. In Spain executions were carried out by various methods including strangulation by the garrotte . In the 16th and 17th centuries, noblemen were sometimes executed by means of beheading. Examples include Anthony van Stralen, Lord of Merksem , Lamoral, Count of Egmont and Philip de Montmorency, Count of Horn . They were tied to

8188-464: Was made from food. Plato and Aristotle are two important sources of evidence for this view, but it dates back to Homer's Iliad . Plato thinks that fire in our bellies transform food into blood. Plato believes that the movements of air in the body as we exhale and inhale carry the fire as it transforms our food into blood. Aristotle believed that food is concocted into blood in the heart and transformed into our body's matter. The ABO blood group system

8280-555: Was replaced by shooting in 1934. Execution by beheading was one of the most common forms of execution in Vietnam under the feudal system. This form of execution still existed in the South Vietnam regime until 1962. During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995) there were a number of ritual beheadings of Serbs and Croats who were taken as prisoners of war by mujahideen members of

8372-560: Was the case in Denmark in 1892. Sweden continued the practice for a few decades, executing its second to last criminal—mass murderer Johan Filip Nordlund —by axe in 1900. It was replaced by the guillotine, which was used for the first and only time on Johan Alfred Ander in 1910. Finland 's official beheading axe resides today at the Museum of Crime in Vantaa . It is a broad-bladed two-handed axe. It

8464-634: Was used in France during the French Revolution and remained the normal judicial method in both peacetime and wartime into the 1970s, although the firing squad was used in certain cases. France abolished the death penalty in 1981. The guillotine was also used in Algeria before the French relinquished control of it, as shown in Gillo Pontecorvo 's film The Battle of Algiers . Many German states had used

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