I should have expected him to cut the arm off at the shoulder-joint." "Yes," said Thorndyke; "so should I; and so it has been done in every case of dismemberment that I am acquainted with.

To an ordinary person, the arm seems to join on to the trunk at the shoulder-joint, and that is where he would naturally sever it.

What explanation do you suggest of this unusual mode of severing the arm ?" "Do you think the fellow could have been a butcher ?" I asked, remembering Dr.Summers' remark.

"This is the way a shoulder of mutton is taken off." "No," replied Thorndyke.

"A butcher includes the scapula in a shoulder of mutton for a specific purpose, namely, to take off a given quantity of meat.