This is a punishment inflicted in Russia, with a kind of whip called knout, and made of a long strap of leather prepared for this purpose. With this whip the executioners dexterously carry a slip of skin from the neck to the bottom of the back, laid bare to the waist; and repeating their blows, in a little while rend away all the skin off the back in parallel strips. In the common knout, the criminal receives the lashes suspended on the back of one of the executioners; but in the great knout, which is generally used on the same occasions as racking on the wheel was in France, the criminal is raised into the air by means of a pulley fixed to the gallows, and a cord fastened to the two wrists, which are tied together; a piece of wood is placed between his two legs, which are also tied together; and another of a crucial form under his breast Sometimes his hands are tied behind over his back, and when be is pulled up in this position, his shoulders are dislocated. The executioners can make this punishment more or less cruel; and it is said, they are so dexterous, that when a criminal is condemned to die, they can make him expire either by one or several lashes.