Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-06-21
Death of Jesus in the Light of Con-
temporary Science.

IDr. Cabanes, in La Revue, Parls1
Those who have doubted that Jesus
died on the cross have given the fol-
lowing reasons for their belief: 1 The
crucifiNion was not aggravated by
breaking the bones of the legs, as Jesus
was spared this. The wounds of
Jesus were not sufficiently serious to
produce death. 3 Jesus rested on the
cross in state of apparent death and
he was living when taken down.
Was the crucifixion sufficient to pro,
duce death, and at the end of how
many hours does death generally oc-
cur? The duration of the cruciixion
was evidently variable and depended a
great deal on the state of resistance
OF the subject. Because of the nerves
which are abundant in the palms OF
the hands and the soles of The feet. it
is not to be doubted that the impalins,
was very painful 1t is also certain
that the emotions, appearances before
the judges, Ill treatments" the flagel-
lations, and all that followed sorely
tried Jesus, and it is known that he
was incapable of carrying his cross.
However, we also know that this is not
sufficient to cause death after a short
space OF time, as there are cases in
which persons have remained MANY
hours on the cross without death inter
Vening. BY these examples it appears
that cruciiiXion alone could not have
produced the death of Jesus. and in
reference to the wounds produced by
the nails, these wounds being the 20
suit of crushing, the hemorrhage was
occur which would be manifested nv
an intense thirst, but the flow of blood
could not be sufficient to cause death.
Death in this case is preceded by a
comatose condition which would be in
consistent with the cry uttered in n
loud voice by Jesus shortly before his
last breath. All the commentators NJ
the gospels further agree that .Tesus
ala not remain more than from three
10 SIX hours on the cross and death
can not be produced by an exposure of
TINS duration to this mode of torture.
Inc generally accepted version of the
lance wound received by Jesus is that
the bloW was struck on the left side
ana that there flowed from the wound
water mingled with blood. 1t has been
correctly remarked that blood does not
now from corpse, and therefore if
blood followed the lance stroke. Jesus
must have been alive; further, in order
that the blow might have killed the
dying man, it must have injured a
vital organ. 1t must be observed that
lance directed upward and from
right to left could not reach the right
hand cavities of the heart without
trayersing the liver, the pericardium
and perhaps the pleura. We must
therefore ask how the few hundred
grammes of blood which a right ven
trical could contain, could penetrate
to the exterior of the body after such
a great wound. Also with those who
die slowly there is found distended
heart in which the blood has very
rapidly coagulated, and it must fol-
low that of flood of the LIQUID an
peared on the side of Jesus it could
not have come from the heart With
regard to the vena cava, its situation
is too far back to have allowed it to
be touched by the lance. IL the wound
had been in the stomach a lesion of
the digestive tube would have been dis
closed by an election of blood mingled
with alimentary matter, either from
the mouth or the opening of the
wound, or at least by a discharge of
blood into the abdominal cavity Had
the liver been touched the symptoms
of an internal hemorrhage would have
been observed, as in the case of Pres
ident Carnot, in whose case the blow
of the poignard directed downward,
perforated the liver and the portal
vein, inducing state of coma, whereas
Jesus, we have been told, cried out
with loud voice. We thus see that
death was not due to the lance wound