Disembowelment 179206 219953520 2008-06-17T16:41:56Z 162.95.80.227 /* Disembowelment as torture */ {{about|the act of disembowelment|the band|Disembowelment (band)}} {{Unreferenced|date=August 2007}} '''Disembowelment''' ('''evisceration''') is the removing of some or all of the vital [[organ (anatomy)|organ]]s, usually from the [[abdomen]]. ===Disembowelment as torture=== If performed on a living creature, the results are, in virtually all cases, fatal. It has historically been used as a severe form of [[capital punishment]]. The last organs to be removed were invariably the [[heart]] and [[lung]]s so as to keep the condemned alive (and in pain) as long as possible. *In [[England]], the punishment of being "[[hanging, drawing and quartering|hanged, drawn, and quartered]]" was typically used for men convicted of high [[treason]]. This referred to the practice of drawing a man by a hurdle (similar to a fence) through the streets, removing him from the hurdle and hanging him from the neck (but removing him before [[death]]), disemboweling him slowly on a wooden block by slitting open his abdomen, removing his entrails and his other organs, and then [[decapitation|decapitating]] him and dividing the body into four pieces. The man's head and quarters would often be part boiled and displayed as a warning to others. As part of the disemboweling, the man was also typically [[castration|castrated]] and [[emasculation|emasculated]] and his genitals and entrails would be burned. [[woman|Women]], for modesty's sake, were instead [[Burning at the stake|burned]] alive. (However, on the [[Isle of Man]] this 'mercy' was denied and women convicted of treason were [[hanged, drawn and quartered]] as well.) *In the [[Netherlands]] and [[Belgium]] the '''''vierendelen''''' (literally "to divide in four"), a practice where the arms and legs were tied to horses and the [[abdomen]] was sliced open. This punishment was meant exclusively for the punishing of a person who had committed [[regicide]]. *In [[Japan]], disembowelment played a part as a method of execution or of the ritualized [[suicide]] by a [[samurai]]. In killing themselves by this method, they were deemed to be free from the dishonor resulting from their crimes. The most common form of disembowelment was referred to in Japanese as ''[[seppuku]]'' (where the term "''hara-kiri''," literally "stomach cutting," is regarded as vulgar), involving two cuts across the abdomen, sometimes followed by pulling out one's own innards. The act of [[Decapitation|beheading]], in most cases by one's best servant, was added to this ritual suicide in later times in order to shorten the suffering of the samurai or leader, an attempt at rendering the ritual more humane. In the English language, ''hara-kiri'' and ''seppuku'' are often treated as synonyms. ===Animal slaughter=== Evisceration is often a term used in relation of the [[slaughter]] of animals for food. The term actually refers to the removal of the internal organs of a slaughtered animal before it is [[butchered]] (separated into different cuts of meat by a [[butcher]]) for sale. In most documented procedures the animal being eviscerated is already dead.{{Fact|date=August 2007}} ===Embalming=== At various points in time and in some cultures, removal of the internal organs was performed as part of the [[embalming]] process. ===Mummification=== The process of [[mummy|mummification]], especially as practised by the ancient Egyptians, entailed the removal of the internal organs prior to the preservation of the remainder of the body. The organs removed were then stored in [[canopic jar]]s and placed in the tomb with the body. ==References== {{reflist}} <!--Categories--> [[Category:Execution methods]] [[Category:Torture]] <!--Other languages--> [[de:Exenteration]] [[it:Sventramento]] [[nl:Vierendelen]]