Note V.

ON THE BLOOD AND WATER WHICH FLOWED FROM THE SIDE OF CHRIST.

The perplexities and errors of commentators respecting this subject have been chiefly owing, either to deficiency of information, or to want of judgment. Many of them have gratuitously imagined that the blood which flowed from the side of Christ was liquid, and the water pure; and, in order to account for so marvellous an occurrence, have had recourse to miraculous agency, or to other equally untenable suppositions. Their difficulties and mistakes might have been in a great measure avoided, had they perceived that the scriptural expression — "blood and water," — taken in this connexion, simply denotes the crassamentum and serum of blood which has separated into its constituents, and that the same terms are continually used in the same sense both by medical persons, and by others. Of such usage several examples have been given in the text, particularly two cases from the Sepulchretum of Bonet, accompanied by an apposite comment of Morgagni. The original statement is as follows.— "Filia septemdecim annorum, orphana paralytica, sine manifesta causa suffbcatur subito. Secto cadavere, cor inveni duplo magis ordinario, auriculas ejus maximas, venas, arteriasque, aqua et sanguine nigro grumosoque admodum distentas. . . . . . Miles subito post longum maerorem mortuus, visceribus reliquis salvis, habuit in pericardio non aquara modo, sed et copiosum sanguinem concretum." — The comment of Morgagni on the latter of these cases is; — "Ubi, etsi in scholio quoque inculcatum videbis obrutum oppressumque cor fuisse, turn oh aquce copia, tum a sanguine, minirae tamen necesse est aliam aquam fuisse credas quam serum, a concreta sanguinis parte reliqua uberiore, ut non rare fit, copia separatum." — A remark of Mr. Coleridge on this subject, although in other respects erroneous, furnishes a further illustration of the same usage. — "St. John did not mean" — says he, — "I apprehend, to insinuate that the spear-thrust made the death, merely as such, certain or evident, but that the effusion showed the human nature. — 'I saw it' — he would say, — 'with my own eyes. It was real blood, composed of lymph and crassamentum, and not a mere celestial ichor, as the Phantasmists allege."¹ — An example of similar language has already been quoted from Wheeler's Manchester Chronicle; and, as that journal cannot very easily be consulted, the passage is here more fully transcribed. — "A man named James Brown, about twenty-seven years of age, who had been at sea, and lost his left leg, and subsequently lived as a tramper about the country, was drinking with two others in a beer-shop in Blakeley-street, when he suddenly complained of illness, lay down on one of the forms, and vomited a little; and, ere a surgeon who had been sent for could arrive, expired. Mr. Oilier, on examination of the body, found it wholly free from any mark of violence, the stomach and liver were in a very diseased state, the heart-purse contained about a quart of blood and water, and there was a rupture in the great artery leading from the heart, which was produced by disease, and must have caused death almost instantaneously. An inquest was held on view of the body on Monday, by W. S. Rutter, Esq., Coroner, when the jury found that his death had been caused by disease, and not otherwise." — A letter on the subject, addressed to the author by the late J. A. Ransome, Esq., of Manchester, confirms the foregoing narrative, and contains the following note from Mr. Oilier. — "The disease of the aorta was a thickening of its coats, without any ossific deposit. The size of the aperture was very small, and was situated just where it rises from the ventricle, and would not have been observed but for the consequences. The blood was separated, although indistinctly, into serum and crassamentum." — As a proof of the equivalence of the terms, the same surgeon, when delivering his testimony at the Coroner's inquest, judiciously used the more popular language above mentioned, — "The pericardium contained about a quart of blood and water."²

If it is admitted that in the evangelical narrative of the death of Christ the terms blood and water signify crassamentum and serum, a critical examination of the circumstances under which alone such a discharge could have taken place from his dead body, on the side being pierced by a spear, leads inevitably to the conclusion that he died from rupture of the heart. The condition of the blood in dead bodies varies, according to the cause and mode of death. In persons killed by lightning, by blows on the stomach, or by the more simple and direct operation of violent passions, the blood remains liquid. A striking case of the former kind is related in the Philosophical Transactions. — "On the 29th of September, 1772, about two o'clock in the morning, were three remarkably loud claps of thunder, attended with proportionate lightning. Mr. Thomas Heartly, formerly a wine-merchant of Leeds, but lately retired from business to Harrowgate, lived there in a hired house, the second northward from the Queen's Head. Whilst he was in bed with his wife, she was awaked from sleep by the thunder, and went to the window, but not being afraid she got to bed again, and fell asleep. About five she awaked, and not perceiving her husband to breathe, though warm, endeavoured to awake him in vain. She quickly sent for Mr. Hutchinson, a considerable apothecary at Knaresborough, who, upon sight of Mr. Heartly, and some experiments, declared him dead, though still very warm. At her request, however, he opened a vein, and Mr. Heartly bled freely, insomuch that the blood did not cease to ooze out of the orifice till the body was put in the cofiin, which was on Thursday evening, October 1st; and it was not then cold."³

Within the heart and vessels of dead bodies the blood is commonly found either wholly liquid or solid, or a portion of liquid blood is intermixed with pale or dark-coloured coagula; but its distinct separation into serum and crassamentum is scarcely ever seen. On this subject few observations occur amongst the earlier medical writers. In a small treatise on polypous concretions, &c., Dominicus De Marinis remarks, — "Scribit Fernelius, ex rara quadam et abdita morbi causa, se vidisse quempiam post diuturnum languorem de vita exiisse, cui sanguis universus in vasis concreverat, adeo ut demum coralli modo fruticans illinc eximeretur. Physiolog. lib. 6, cap. 7. . . . . . Non absi milem sanguinis constitutionem, in venis meseraicis in hectica tumefactis, descripsit Platerus." Observ. lib. 2.... Audivisse notat Ballonius sanguinem nigrum ita in jugularibus venis eoncrevisse, ut carbones illic impacti crederentur, Eph. 2." — On the other hand, Schwencke, in his Hsematologia, states somewhat too decidedly, — "Raro vel nunquam sanguis in vasis mortuorum coagulatus reperitur. . . . . . . In cadaveribus, sanguinis in partes secessus stricte non observatur, sed mistus et fluidus in venis reperitur;" — unless, which is not improbable, he herein refers to the complete division of the blood into its constituents.⁴

The deficiencies of the earlier writers in this respect are, however, amply compensated by two living authors quoted in the text; namely. Dr. John Davy, and James Paget, Esq. The physiological and anatomical researches of the former contain a table, which gives a condensed account of 249 bodies examined at Malta, from the year 1828 to 1835. In 85 of these the state of the blood was not noticed, but in the remaining 164 it was recorded. — "The fatal cases affording the subjects of these observations were," — says Dr. Davy, — "without exception, soldiers of our regiments serving in Malta, composed of Englishmen, Scotch, and Irish. In the cool season the bodies were commonly inspected in from 12 to 17 hours after death; in the hot season in from 3 to 12." — Amongst the 164 cases above mentioned, the blood was found coagulated, and containing fibrinous concretions, in 105; — coagulated and broken up, as if by the contractions of the heart, feebly continued for some time after apparent death, in 17; — liquid, in 14; — in the state of soft coagulum, or merely grumous and without fibrinous concretions, in 12; — partly liquid and partly coagulated, in 9; — and wholly or nearly deficient in the heart, in 6. — In one instance only there were fibrinous concretions without cruor, that is, without liquid blood, or bloody serum. Next follows a tabular account of 35 cases of post-mortem examination, made in the General Hospital at Fort Pitt, Chatham, from January to September, 1838. The various conditions in which the blood was found are still more minutely described in these eases than in the preceding ones; but in none of either set does clear serum appear to have been discovered, except in one solitary instance, and under very peculiar circumstances; namely, in No. 16, a case of phthisis wherein, says the author, — "a mass of fibrin in the right ventricle contained a collection of transparent serum. The mass was firmest externally. There was some crassamentum, fibrinous concretions, and a good deal of cruor in the right cavities of the heart. Two hours after examination the cruor was found jellied. After twenty-four hours the coagulum had contracted, and serum had separated. When broken up and agitated, some air was given off."⁵

The testimony of Mr. Paget, equally positive, and in some respects even more precise than that of Dr. Davy, is summed up in the concluding paragraph of his — "Observations on the Coagulation of the Blood after Death,"— published in the London Medical Gazette. — "In all cases it must be remembered that the coagulation which takes place in the body is much slower than that which ensues in blood drawn from it, either during life or after death; so that a quantity of uncoloured fibrine is found in the heart and uppermost vessels of the dead body in many cases, in which it is most probable that, had the blood been drawn during life, it would not have presented a bufFy coat. In the majority of cases, the blood does not coagulate in the body for the first four hours after its rest has commenced. In many it remains fluid for six, eight, or more hours, and yet coagulates within a few minutes of its being let out of the vessels. But, as this greater slowness of coagulation is common to all, it is not material in a comparison of the blood of the dead with that of the living."⁶ — In a letter on the subject, -with which the author has been favoured by Mr. Paget, the following additional explanations are supplied. — "I have never found clear serum, such as I could suppose to be separated from the blood in its coagulation, collecting in any part of the body after death; but I have marked passages in my paper which express, though ambiguously, what I believe becomes of that which does separate. I suppose that it gravitates to the dependent parts of the body, and is there imbibed by the adjacent tissues, which are thus rendered moister and more oedematous than those in the upper or anterior parts. That the serum, if it at all separated from the blood, would thus pass to the dependent parts, is I suppose certain, and I have never met with any facts to lead me to imagine that it is not separated. All that I have seen leads me to think-=-that in the very great majority of cases all the blood remains fluid till the heart ceases to act; — that then it gradually coagulates, in the same manner as it would out of the body, though much more slowly; — that the colouring particles, descending more and more deeply in direct proportion to the time occupied in the coagulation, leave a certain portion of uncoloured fibrine above them; — and that, just as happens in blood drawn from the body, the serum is in part separated during the coagulation of the fibrine, and in part squeezed out by the contraction of the clot. The clot, I suppose, is detained in the place in which it forms, either by its adhesion to the adjacent structures, or by being supported by the parts in which it is as it were modelled; and the serum, as it separates, flows down to the most depending portions of the body, and is there either retained in the vessels, or infiltrated into the adjacent porous tissues."

The conclusion that the blood and water which issued from the side of Christ were crassamentum and serum, necessarily implies three conditions; namely, — first, that a considerable quantity of his blood separated into its constituents previously to the infliction of the wound; — secondly, that this separation took place within two hours after he expired, the longest period which can be assigned for such an effect, since the entire interval between his death and the commencement of the Jewish sabbath was only three hours; — and thirdly, that the blood and water thus separated were in a situation whence they could easily flow out when the wound was inflicted, according to the statement of the evangelist John, — "One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately there came forth blood and water." — These conditions prove, as has been already shown, that the blood and water flowed from the pericardium, and consequently, that the death of Christ was occasioned by the rupture of his heart, the blood from which had been discharged into its investing capsule, and had there divided into its elements; inasmuch as they perfectly agree with this explanation, and are incompatible with any other. To the supposition that the blood and water proceeded directly from the heart, there are three insuperable objections; namely, — first, that the separation into serum and crassamentum of the blood remaining in the vascular system of dead bodies, is of very rare occurrence; — secondly, that such separation, if it happened at all, could not have happened within the specified period of two hours, since, — "in the majority of cases, the blood [thus situated] does not coagulate for the first four hours after its rest has commenced, [and] in many it remains fluid for six, eight, or more hours;" — and thirdly, that, independently of these difficulties, the escape of such constituents from any of the cavities of the heart would be scanty, slow, and probably indistinct, and therefore at variance with the evangelical narrative. On the other hand, by the explanation here adopted all these objections are avoided; since a much larger quantity of blood would thus be discharged into the pericardium than could possibly be retained in the heart; the blood so effused would long within the time mentioned divide into its constituents; and, on the side being pierced by a spear, these constituents would, by the mere force of gravity, instantly and completely flow out in so conspicuous a manner, as to attract the notice of the most ignorant or indifferent spectator.

A good many examples have been given in the text, tending to show that the separation of blood into serum and crassamentum, or blood and water, which is so rarely observed within the heart and vessels of dead bodies, frequently happens when death has been suddenly induced by internal hemorrhage, and blood has been extravasated into any of the serous capsules, whether the pleura, the peri cardium, or the peritoneum. Some of the original statements, and two or three additional cases are here annexed; and, as in all of them the general principle is the same, it is a matter of no consequence in reference to the illustration from what quarter the extravasated blood proceeded, nor into which of these capsules it entered. Several instances are however adduced in which, as in the great event which it is the object of this treatise to explain, blood was discharged from the ruptured heart into the pericardium, and there divided into its constituents. The two following cases occurred in the Manchester workhouse, and are thus reported by Dr. Francis. — "Samuel J . . . . , aged fifty-nine years, a hand-loom weaver, of spare frame, middle height, and temperate habits, at ten a.m., Sept. 22nd, 1844, was seized with intense pain across the forehead, faintness, and vomiting . . . . He was conveyed to bed, but died in about an hour and a half from the commencement of the seizure, having previously experienced severe pains in the cardiac region. On inspection of the body, the arteries generally were found in a morbid state, especially the coronaries. The aorta was greatly diseased, and about an inch above its valves was ruptured. The external opening did not correspond to the internal, and would just have admitted a crow-quill. The pericardium contained twenty-six ounces of blood, which had escaped through this aperture, and was equally made up of dark clot and serum. . . . . . . Nicholas D . . . , . aged thirty-five years, a tall, well developed, stout young man, of dark complexion, a power-loom weaver, had been in the workhouse during the six weeks preceding his death, complaining of wandering pains in the upper Hmbs, lumbago, and especially a severe pain commencing at the fourth or fifth dorsal vertebra, and passing along the corresponding intercostal nerves to the sternum. On the 8th of February, 1845, he was more cheerful than usual; but about nine P.M. was heard to groan, and immediately afterwards turned on the left side, and died within a few minutes. On examining the body, an aneurism was found projecting from the anterior surface of the aorta, opposite the third dorsal vertebra. In the left pleura, close to the lung at its root, was a slit parallel with the long axis of the artery, four lines in length, through which the aneurism had burst. The left pleural sac contained five imperial pints of blood, separated into a straw-coloured serum and a firm clot, which latter had subsided to the depending parts."⁷

Of the striking contrast which, as remarked by Dr. Carpenter, is sometimes presented in the same subject, between the complete separation of extravasated blood into serum and crassamentum, and the continued fluidity of the blood remaining within the heart and vessels, a good example is furnished by Morgagni, in these terms. — "Mulier consistente aetate, quae alias in nosocomio Patavino fuerat ob dolorem in sinistra intima thoracis parte, in idem rediit ante medium Januarium, anni 1717, de eodem illo dolore querens, nunc magna cum febre conjuncto. Pulsus erant vibrati, morbusque omnino videbatur gravis, sed non adeo ut mors jam proxima esse crederetur. Fuit tamen; nam postridie quam in nosocomium venerat mulier improvise mortua est. Thorace aperto, hujus quasi hydrops a prime apparuit. Sed, cum infra aquam magna concreti sanguinis copia occurreret, intellectum est hujus serum hydropis speciem reprsesentasse. Quaerentibus unde sanguis prodiisset magnum se obtulit aortse aneurysma, idque per ruptum. . . . . . . Caeterum nullum in corde vitium, nulla polyposa concretio, si unam excipias, longulam quidem sed exilem, quae ex sinistro ventriculo per aortam ad hujus usque curvaturam pertinebat; quin sanguis in corde et alibi fluidus, non minus quam ater conspectus est." — The same author judiciously explains the cause of death when blood, derived from whatever source, is poured into the pericardial sac, namely, compression of the heart, and consequent arrest of the circulation; whence, as he observes, it arises that — "multo minor intra pericardium, quam plerisque aliis in locis haemorrhagia, longe citlus interitum afferat,"⁸

Perhaps the smallest amount of hemorrhage into the pericardium which has ever been known to prove fatal in this manner, is that mentioned in the following case, communicated to the Lancet by Mr. Taylor, of Guildford. — "Mrs. Keele, aged fifty-three years, the wife of a farmer's labourer, was taken ill suddenly on the morning of the 20th [of Sept. 1843,] and died in the course of half an hour . . . . . . Her husband stated that she had been in very good health, and only the day before had walked five miles with a burden." — On inspection of the body, — "the muscular tissue [of the heart] appeared somewhat pale and softened, its fibres being intermixed with fat, the right ventricle rather dilated, and its walls much thinned, so that near the point of rupture their thickness did not exceed half a line, and here the accumulation of fat was greatest . . . . . . The right ventricle was collapsed, and on the middle of its anterior surface, close to the septum, I observed a depression, which proved to be a perforation into its cavity large enough to admit a goose-quill, and showing one of the fleshy columns through it. About an ounce and a half of fluid blood was effused into the pericardium . . . . . . The only comment that I have to make on the case is, that a very small quantity of blood was effused from a considerable breach in the ventricle; whence I conclude that death must have been instantaneous, from the heart's action being suspended by pressure of the sudden effusion."⁹ — As a further proof that compression of the heart, irrespectively of the compressing agent, whether blood or not, is in such cases the principal cause of death, another narrative, supplied by R. Allan, Esq., staff-surgeon at Port Louis, Mauritius, and probably almost unique in its kind, may be cited from the same work. — "Cumia, aged thirty-five [years,] native of Bombay, had been in Mauritius one year, working as a field-labourer, when he came into the Immigration Depôt, on the 21st of December, 1844, for the purpose of entering into a new engagement, having walked seven or eight miles on that day. He remained in apparent good health until six o'clock on the morning of the 26th, when he began to complain of pain at the pit of the stomach, and died at half-past ten a.m. On inspecting the body twenty-one hours after death, about two pints of reddish pus and serum [were found] within the pericardium, the entire of which membrane was slightly inflamed. On laying the pericardium freely open, thick yellowish-green pus was seen oozing from an aperture large enough to admit the finger, which led through the diaphragm into an abscess in the smaller lobe of the liver, capable of containing a pint of fluid. It is probable that the pus of the hepatic abscess had been oozing into the sac of the pericardium during some hours before death, causing inflammation, and then annihilating the heart's action by pressure."¹⁰

Although a small portion of blood effused into the pericardial sac may be sufficient to destroy life, it has been shown in the text that the quantity actually collected in that receptacle, owing to rupture of the heart, is often very considerable, amounting in some instances to two, three, or even several pounds by weight. How soon the blood thus extravasated coagulates, has not been precisely ascertained; but, as in such cases death is usually sudden, and the separation of the blood into serum and crassamentum exactly resembles that which occurs out of the body, there is every reason to believe that it takes place with similar rapidity, especially when the quantity is large, and certainly far within the allotted period of two hours. If the separation were slow, and the red particles had time to subside, the serum would probably be turbid and deep-coloured, and the crassamentum, as remarked by Mr. Paget, would be covered with a layer of fibrine, commonly termed buffy coat. The absence of these peculiarities may therefore be regarded as a sufficient proof that the process is rapid. — "When blood" — says Mr. Wilson, — '* passes in a free stream into a basin, and is allowed to remain at rest, it begins to jelly or coagulate in three minutes and a half. . . . . . . In blood taken from a healthy person the coagulation is usually completed in seven minutes, and in twelve minutes, (although it will sometimes take a longer period,) the mass will be very firm. Soon after this a transparent watery part will be perceived transuding through the pores of the coagulum, the coagulum at the same time contracting itself, leaving the sides of the basin, but still preserving its original shape. The transparent watery part forms the serum; the coagulum retains the red colour, and forms the crassamentum. . . . . . The experiments made by Mr. Hewson, and those made by Mr. Hey, of Leeds, prove that the coagulation and separation of the blood take place most readily when that fluid is kept in a temperature nearest to its standard heat, viz. 99°. It is therefore ascertained that cold does not produce the coagulation." — "The period at which concretion takes place" — observes Mr. Thackrah, — "depends upon circumstances that will be afterwards considered, but the common time is from three to eight minutes after the blood has been taken from the body. The subsequent effusion of serum is effected generally in from one to three hours."¹¹ — Hence it appears that, in a young and vigorous person, rupture of the heart induced by agony of mind would, within a moderate time, occasion the collection in the pericardium of a large quantity of clotted blood and clear serum, which, on the side being afterwards pierced with a spear, would immediately flow out in a full and copious stream. The facility with which in such a case this capsule might be pierced, and the readiness with which its contents would be discharged, are well illustrated in an able work on the situation of the internal organs of the body by Mr. Sibson, of Nottingham, who having injected into the pericardium twenty-six ounces of water, found that — '' the great volume of the sac surrounding the body of the heart was globular;" — and subjoins the following accurate description of its bulk and position. — "The distension by fluid of the pericardial sac, besides displacing the surrounding organs, pushes forward the sternum and costal walls, elevates the second costal cartilage, and to a less degree the third, fourth, and fifth; widens the spaces between the cartilages and ribs, from the second cartilage to the seventh rib, projects outwards the sixth rib, and causes some degree of bulge over the left side, and some protrusion of the slope formed by the lower edges of the costal cartilages."¹²

After all that has been said, it is perhaps scarcely necessary to insist on the negative proof, that the blood and water which flowed from the side of Christ had no other source than that here assigned. Yet, as authors of considerable note have imagined that the blood might have flowed from the heart, and the water from the pericardium, a few remarks will be added in further refutation of that opinion. Lower states that when animals are suddenly slaughtered amidst robust health, a large quantity of gelatinous matter is found in their pericardium. After remarking that the liquor of this capsule is serous, and coagulable by heat, he thus proceeds: — "Super hac re obiter notandum est, aquam in pericardio contentam solummodo huic experimento idoneam esse, quae in animali bene constituto et violenta morte perempto reperitur, cujus utpote sanguis sero nutricio diluitur; nam in animalibus morbo defunctis, aut longa inappetentia et inedia confectis, quorum nempe sanguis succo chyloso prorsus destituitur, neque eadem ratio est, et impar successus. Caeterum in sanioribus tarn manifesta res est ut, aperto jugulati bo vis pericardio, magnam plerumque concretae gelatinae copiam invenias, quae extincto tantum calore partis aut sponte sua, aut a frigore, in istam consistentiam condensatur, non aliter quam decoctum cornu cervi, ubi frigido aeri exponitur, in gelatinam subito concrescit."¹³ — On this passage it may be observed, in the first place, that a gelatinous effusion which concretes spontaneously without the aid of heat is neither water, nor serum, but fibrine; and secondly, that, whatever may be the case with respect to oxen slaughtered in the usual manner, there is no evidence that anything of the kind occurs in the human subject. Haller however states that, under the circumstances mentioned by Lower, that is, when persons are suddenly killed whilst in good health, a small quantity of serum, namely from two to six drachms, has been found in the pericardium. His words are; — "Neque rari auctores sunt qui aquam in pericardio aut cadaveris, aut denique vivi hominis viderunt, etsi hujus quidem generis experimenta non possunt vulgaria esse. Excitabo vero ea sola quae a sanis et subita morte enectis hominibus sumpta sunt. In homine fulgurato cochlear plenum visum est; et quindecim omnino cochlearia in alio, quem nimia contentio cursus suffocaverat. In strangulato aqua pericardii adfuit; et in occisa muliere, alioque sano homine subito enecto. Ejusmodi eventus minime raro in hominibus ultimo supplicio adfectis mihi vidisse contigit. . . . . Ego quidem vaporem de corde exhalantem ssepissime vidi, neque tamen eo minus etiam aquam veram et in clause quidem, quod aliorum etiam testimoniis confirmo, pericardio, et maxime in vivis canibus. Copiam non sum metitus, quam a duabus drachmis ad tres uncise quartas partes alii definiverunt." — The anatomists John and Charles Bell admit, with respect to persons who have laboured under long-continued weakness or disease, that a little watery fluid may be found after death in the pericardium, as in all the other cavities of the body; — "but" — they add, — "if you open a living animal, as a dog, or if you open suddenly the body of suicides, or if you have brought to the dissecting-room the body of a criminal who had been just hanged, there is not in the pericardium one single particle of water to be found."¹⁴ — Bohn in like manner affirms that, except under morbid circumstances, serous fluid is rarely observed in the pericardium. — "Videtur enim serum hoc in se quidem succus laudabilis et naturalis, ast situ peccans, et per motus cordis impetuosiores, ac circulationem per pulmones impeditam secretus; pari modo ac in corporis partibus diversis arte talem seri eongestum parare licet, circulo nempe sanguinis per vincula venis injecta intercepto. Adeoque non mirum in cunctis quocunque morbo defunctis illud reperiri, utpote quibus in agone ad minimum respiratio et circulatio per pulmones fatiscit, copiosius tamen in his qui ex hydrope, asthmate, phthisi, similive pathemate strangulatorio peribant, ita utin phthisico ejus uncias quinque J. D. Horstius, Obs. Anat. 18, testetur. Qui violenta morte pereunt, quia pariter vel aquis submerguntur et strangulantur, vel confossi et decollati, i. e. sine notabili circulationis turbatione expirant, non in his, sed in illis tantum lympham> hanc cardiacam animadvertere licet; ut aliquoties in publicis aeque ac privatis sectionibus ostendi."¹⁵ — The distinction here made by Bobn is very judicious, and has been too often neglected by other authors. It is not in every case of violent death, but chiefly in cases where there has been much struggle for breath, as in strangling, drowning, &c., that serum is found in the pericardium, and even then the quantity is but small.

So much the more objectionable, therefore, is the statement of the elder Grüner, in his comment on John, chap. 19, v. 34, that after death preceded by great anxiety the pericardium is full of water. — "Sine dubio" — says he, — "lancea militis suffxa haesit in latere sinistro. Johanne teste, post illam νύσιν, vel κέντησιν, post ictum, et infiictam lateri plagam, illico profluxit sanguis et aqua. Tale pro-fluvium vix fieri potuit nisi a latere sinistro, sub quo, prseter pulmonem, est et pericardium aquae plenum, si qnis post anxietatem summam mortuus est, et cor cum arcu aortae copulatum. . . . . . Pulmo leviter ictus quidem poterat parum sanguinis profundere, aquam minime. Probabilis ergo prse caeteris, et medicinae forensi magis consentanea ea conjectura est, qua fons sanguinis profusi in cordis ventriculo, aquae in pericardio quseritur." — This author was, like his son, a physician, and the term anxiety, as used by both, is ambiguous, since in medical writings it is equally applied to the body and the mind. That the pericardium is full of water after death preceded by great mental anxiety, is an assertion without proof; but, if the statement refers to bodily anxiety, occasioned by obistructed circulation through the heart and lungs, it corresponds to that already quoted from the Commentary of Hewlett: — "Medical writers afford numerous instances of a large effusion of bloody lymph into the cavities of the pleura, from diseases of the lungs, and in cases of violent death with long struggling. . . . . .  A skilful and learned physician informed the editor, that in cases of violent and painful death there is usually an effusion of lymph, or of lymph mixed with blood, into the cavities of the chest and abdomen."¹⁶ — This information was no doubt obtained from the late Dr. Willan, who, in one of the notes annexed to his — "History of the Ministry of Jesus Christ," — remarks, — "We have instances of watery effusion into the cavities of the pleura to a considerable amount, in cases of violent death with long struggling The phenomenon here mentioned by the evangelist is generally looked on as miraculous." — It is singular that the only testimony cited on the occasion by this accomplished physician is that of Wepfer, in reference to a beaver, which having been caught in a net on the banks of the Danube, after making desperate but unavailing efforts to escape, fell into the river, and was drowned. In a report of the appearances observed in the body of this animal, nothing is said of the pericardium, but the right pleural sac contained four ounces of bloody serum, and the left about three ounces; which, as no liquid was found in the lungs, the author concludes were effused by the blood-vessels during the animal's violent struggles for life. His words are as follows. — "Incisa aspera arteria, nullam aquam ex pulmonibus exprimere potui: fortius illis manu constrictis, prodiit spuma albicans; adeo ut in flumine suffocata nihil prorsus per laryngem intra asperam arteriam liquoris admisisse videretur. Utrinque quidem in cavo pectoris aqua loturae carnium similis, scilicet, in dextro latere ad uiicias quatuor, in sinistro circiter uncias tres cruoris istius limpidioris inveniebantur; quern potius ex vasis sangiiiferis in animali cum violentissima morte luctante expressum existimo quam pulmones transiisse, simulque sanguinis aliquid secum fapuisse, et pectori infusum fuisse; nam in asperag arteriae vel trunco, vel ramis, nee aqua pura, nee sanguine tincta, extra vasa apparuit."

With no better explanation than that here suggested, it is not very surprising that both Dr. Willan and Mr. Hewlett were disposed to attribute the death of Christ to miraculous agency; whilst the Grüners, in direct contradiction of the evangelical narrative, ascribe it to the wound inflicted by the soldier's spear. — "Christus a spiculatore, ictus atque transfossus, e vulnere pectoris profudit sanguinem et aquam simul; ergo tunc temporis, cum jam expirasse credebatur, vixit adhuc lipothymicus: (in hoc enim statu datur aliquis sed proedebilis sanguinis motus, in mortuo minime:) ergo eo lancess ictu vitalis vis demum frangi, spes vitse revocandse et redintegrandae omnino tolli debuit. . . . Ex vulnere profluxit cum impetu, ut videtur, sanguis et aqua simul, neque hoc mortui, sed viventis est; ergo Christus, dum cruci affixus a milite fodiebatur, vivebat quidem vitam aliquam sed praedebilera, proximeque casuram; at vero, vulnere pectoris allato, e vita subito ac vere excessisse putandus est. Ex hoc enim vitalem fontem exhauriri, atque vim vitae perexiguam omnino tolli oportuit."¹⁷ — In order to refute these and similar erroneous explanations, to which some biblical critics have paid far greater attention than they deserve, little more is necessary than to state them, since it is manifest on the slightest reflection that they are totally inadmissible. — "We have" — says Dr. Willan, — "instances of watery effusion into the cavities of the pleura to a considerable amount, in cases of violent death with long struggling;" — but in a body nailed and otherwise fastened to a cross there could, have been no struggling. Moreover, crucified persons often survived two or three days; and the death of Christ, after a suspension of only six. hours, took place in a manner so sudden and extraordinary, that the spectators were astonished, and many, like Dr. Willan himself, have since ascribed it to miraculous agency. — "In persons who die after extreme anxiety" — say the Grüners, — "the pericardium is full of water;" — but, in the first place, this is a gratuitous assertion, and in the second, the mental condition of Christ immediately before his death was not that of anxiety, but of intense agony. That he was not in a weak and fainting state, owing to an effusion of serum into the pectoral cavities, is evident from the energy and self-possession which he displayed, and from his loud and repeated exclamations. But had it been otherwise, this supposition accounts for the water only, and not for the blood. The latter, according to the Grüners, came from the heart, which they accordingly assume to have been pierced by the spear. Yet, if the pectoral cavities, or even the pericardium alone vas at that time full of water, the heart must have been compressed and empty; or, if it contained any blood at all, that blood could scarcely have been extracted from a dead body. Aware of this difficulty, the authors maintain that at the moment of receiving the wound Christ was still alive; but as their statement is at variance with the scriptural narrative, it ruins the argument which it is intended to support. — "The soldiers" — says the evangelist John, — "came, and broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Jesus; but on coming to him, as they perceived that he was already dead, they did not break his legs: one of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately there came forth blood and water."¹⁸ — But, even if the contrary supposition were admissible, nothing would be gained by it. The heart of a fainting and dying person would not be more able than that of a corpse to expel its blood with force, when pierced with a spear. In either case, the blood effused would be scanty and liquid; and, if there were at the time any serum in the pericardium, the two fluids would immediately mix, so that a distinct flow of blood and water could not be observed. It is therefore manifest that all the explanations of this kind which have been proposed are either incapable of accounting for the facts recorded, or inconsistent with them; whilst, on the other hand, that which is here substituted in their place has been proved to be real, adequate, and in perfect accordance with all the circumstances and requirements of the case.

1) Bonetus, Sepulchretum, vol j. pp. 585, 887; — Morgagni, de Caus. et Sed. Morb. vol, iij. p. 465; — Coleridge (S. T.) Specimens of his Table-talk, vol. j. pp. 19, 20.

2) Wheeler's Manchester Chronicle for Saturday, November 22nd,; 1834.

3) Philosophical Transactions, vol. 63, pp. 177, 178.

4) Domin:c. De Marinis, De Re Monstrosa, &c. p. 74 j— Schwencke, Haematologia, pp. 81, 91.

5) Dr. John Davy. Researches Physiological and Anatomical, vol. ii. pp. 190-213.

6) James Paget, Esq., On the Coagulation of the Blood after Death; — in the London Medical Gazette for 1840, vol. i. p. 618.

7) Dr. Francis, in the Guy's Hospital Reports, Second Series, No. 5, pp. 89-92.

8) Morgagni, De Caus. et Sed. Morborum, vol. iij. pp. 116-118, 442-445; vol. vij. pp. 654-657.

9) Mr. H. T. Taylor, in the Lancet for Nov. 1 1th, 1843, p. 181.

10) R. Allan, Esq., in the Lancet for June 7, 1845, p. 645.

11) James Paget, Esq., in the London Medical Gazette for 1840, vol. j. pp. 613-618; — James Wilson, Esq., Lectures on the Blood, &c. pp. 28-31; — C. T. Thackrah, Esq., Inquiry into the Nature and Properties of the Blood, &c. pp. 33, 34, 67.

12) Francis Sibson, Esq., in the Trans, of the Provincial Med. and Surgical Association, vol. xij. pp. 8, 357, 527-31.

13) Lower (Richard) De Corde, &c. pp. 6, 7.

14) Haller, Element. Physiolog. Corp. Human, vol. j. pp. 282, 283; — John and Charles Bell, Anatomy of the Human Body, vol. ij. pp. 53-55.

15) Bohn, (Johann.) De Renunciatione Vulnerura, pp. 226, 227; — Kuinoël, Comment, in Lib. Hist, Nov. Test. John, chap. 19, v. 34.

16) Hewlett's Bible, &c., Notes on John, chap. 19, v. 34, and Acts, chap. 1, v. 18; — Dr. Willan, History of the Ministry of Jesus Christ, &c. p. 195.

17) Wepfer, in Miscellan, Acad. Curios. Naturae, Annus 2, 1671, pp. 353 — 355; — Kuinoël, Comment, in Lib. Hist. Nov. Test. John, chap. 19, v. 34, 35.

18) John, chap. 19, v, 31-34.