Suicide by Hanging, 1898
In atlases and manuals of legal medicine, 19th-century forensic pathologists used pictures and words to show students and colleagues their methodology—a precise inventorying of the condition of the victim's body. The chromolithograph, which could render coloration, texture and subtle shading, was particularly well suited to the task.
Eduard Ritter von Hofmann, M.D., Atlas of Legal Medicine, Philadelphia, chromolithograph; Artist A. Schmitson
National Library of Medicine