From: "Steve Harris" <sbharris@ix.RETICULATEDOBJECTcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Burning alive question
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2003 13:22:26 -0700
Message-ID: <behti2$53e$1@slb1.atl.mindspring.net>

"Carey Gregory" <tiredofspam123@comcast.net> wrote in
message news:ekomgvgea7d6934g4mv1iq8r9300jqjk7n@4ax.com...
> mdi00@hotmail.com (Marco) wrote:
>
> >How long does it take to lose consciousness for someone who is doused
> >in flammable liquid and then burnt alive, as in
> >
> >http://myweb.cableone.net/divinenetwork/burnexf.asf
> >
> >Is it just a few minutes, or longer than that? I imagine it must have
> >taken a lot longer in the middle ages, when they had no flammable
> >liquid available.
>
> A few minutes in most cases.  It would vary depending on the intensity
> and nature of the fire, and whether you're in an enclosed space or out
> in the open.  Death would come from suffocation, not external burns.
> Inhaling hot gases would cause airway burns which would then cause those
> airways to swell and close.  If that doesn't do the job, then the lack
> of atmospheric O2 within the flames would.  An intensely hot fire
> producing heavy toxic smoke in an enclosed space would be the fastest.
> The worst would be a small, relatively cool fire out in the open on a
> windy day.  You could end up dying of external burns in that scenario,
> and that could take days.



COMMENT:

Not if you were standing up and burned over your whole
body--hypovolemic shock would get you.

We do have historical accounts of these things. Burning at
the stake usually killed within 10's of minutes after the
flames hit the victim (I'm sure it felt like more). In a lot
of cases the victim had been strangled first, and in others
bags of gunpowder were put around the waist to speed things
up.

When Calvin had Michael Servetus burned alive in Geneva in
1553 (Protestants did this kind of thing too) they used oak
with the leaves still on, possibly to create more smoke. And
put straw and sulfur around Servetus' head. Probably both
were intended as mercy measures, but the green wood burned
slowly, and Servetus suffered for half an hour.

SBH

From: "Steve Harris" <sbharris@ix.RETICULATEDOBJECTcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Burning alive question
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 12:46:05 -0700
Message-ID: <ben460$8nn$1@slb2.atl.mindspring.net>

"Keith F. Lynch" <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote in message
news:bel8l7$280$1@panix3.panix.com...
> Steve Harris <sbharris@ix.RETICULATEDOBJECTcom.com> wrote:
> > When Calvin had Michael Servetus burned alive in Geneva in 1553
> > (Protestants did this kind of thing too) they used oak with the leaves
> > still on, possibly to create more smoke.  And put straw and sulfur
> > around Servetus' head.  Probably both were intended as mercy measures,
> > ...
>
> Mercy measures?  Then what was the point in burning him alive?


These things are not logical. The law may specify burning
alive, and the people who carry it out may find ways of
mitigating it for people who aren't especially "deserving".
And there's an empathy difference between people on the spot
during punishment, and people who are just making judgments
from miles away.

It is a historical fact that many burnings at the state were
mitigated in some way by having the victim strangled into
unconscious, or set to up breathe smoke early, or be
immolated by gunpowder at a critical moment. If you don't
like MY explanation for these historical FACTS, then I
invite you to come up with your own.

SBH