請給我些關於斷頭臺的資枓(用英文)

The guillotine is a device used for carrying out executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which is suspended a heavy blade. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the victim's head. The device is noted for long being the main method of execution in France and, more particularly, for its use during the French Revolution.

More on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillotine

The 18th century French physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin did not invent the guillotine, but had the unfortunate luck to be forever associated with the machine made famous during the French Revolution. Monsieur Guillotin's only connection to the device lies in his efforts to convince the French National Assembly to adopt some sort of new machine as a more humane method of capital punishment.

During this period in Europe, capital punishment was the typical sentence for criminals guilty of crimes ranging from murder to petty theft. How that criminal would meet his death, however, depended on his social status. Noblemen and women were honored with a dignified beheading, following in the tradition of ancient Greeks and Romans who believed there was no more honorable way to die.

Commoners, however, were not afforded the luxury of a quick death. The Spanish were fond of the Garotte method, which mechanically twisted a rope about a prisoner's neck until he strangled. Burning at the stake was popular for crimes of witchcraft and heresy. The criminal was typically placed in a barrel surrounded by pitched tinder set to flames. Many criminals were simply hanged.

More on: http://wywy.essortment.com/guillotinehisto_rgxj.htm

The guillotine is a device used for carrying out executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which is suspended a heavy blade. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the victim's head. The device is noted for long being the main method of execution in France and, more particularly, for its use during the French Revolution.

Development
The guillotine became infamous (and acquired its name) in France at the time of the French Revolution. However, guillotine-like devices, such as the Halifax Gibbet and Scottish Maiden seen on the right, existed and were used for executions in several European countries long before the French Revolution. The first documented use of The Maiden was in 1307 in Ireland,and there are accounts of similar devices in Italy and Switzerland dating back to the 15th century. However, the French developed the machine further and became the first nation to use it as a standard execution method.

The device derives its name from Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, a French physician and member of the Revolutionary National Assembly, on whose suggestion it was introduced. Dr. Guillotin proposed the use of a mechanical device to carry out the death penalty. The basis for his recommendation is believed to have been his perception that it was a humane form of execution, contrasting with the methods used in pre-revolutionary, ancien régime (old regime) France. In France, before the guillotine, members of the nobility were beheaded with a sword or axe, while commoners were usually hanged, a form of death that could take minutes or longer - other more gruesome methods of executions were also used, such as the wheel, burning at the stake, etc. In the case of decapitation, it also sometimes took repeated blows to sever the head completely. The condemned or the family of the condemned would sometimes pay the executioner to ensure that the blade was sharp in order to provide for a quick and relatively painless death.

The guillotine was thus perceived to deliver an immediate death without risk of misses. Furthermore, having only one method of execution was seen as an expression of equality among citizens. The guillotine was adopted as the official means of execution on 20 March 1792. The guillotine was from then on the only legal execution method in France until the abolition of the death penalty in 1981, apart from certain crimes against the security of the state, which entailed execution by firing squad.

Antoine Louis (1723–1792), member of the Académie Chirurgicale, developed the concept put forward by Guillotin, and it was from his design that the first guillotine was built. The guillotine was first called louison or louisette, but the press preferred guillotine as it had a nicer ring to it. Antoine Louis (and perhaps others) introduced several improvements over the guillotine's ancestors, notably the characteristic angled blade and the lunette — the two-part circular collar that held the victim's head in place. On April 25, 1792, highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier became the first person executed by guillotine.

When Guillotin himself died it wasn't on his invention as myth would have it, but instead of natural causes on May 26, 1814. The descendants of Dr. Guillotin have since changed their surname because of the association with a method of execution.[citation needed].

2007-03-14 22:26:20 補充：
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