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There is no direct link to the paper (only the journal), but I wonder if they considered this (apparently) previously common practice: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-gruesome-history-o...

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The news article does say that the cuts were not consistent with butchery.

Disturbing practice but interesting article. Good point about hypocrisy on the part of the people of that era.

I was wondering though, what is meant in the following sentence:

>And in 1908, a last known attempt was made in Germany to swallow blood at the scaffold.

What does "swallow blood at the scaffold" mean in this context?

Scaffold refers to the structure used for execution by hanging. It's a somewhat clumsy phrase meaning: the last attempt to drink someone's blood after they were executed (presumably hanged)

Thanks, I thought it might be something relating to execution but was confused by the Google results which was had a Wikipedia article stating "scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair" as well as a lot of pictures of such structures.

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