Where Did Jesus Die? — Page 225
Appendix to Seventh Edition 225 vena cava into the abdomen. When the body was carried in a horizontal position, the blood of inferior vena cava would have flowed back into the right auricle, passing through the tunnel made by the lance and eventually flowing out, slipping around the right side going right across the lower part of the thorax. As this opinion was given by a Christian on commis- sion to a friendly clergyman, some doubt must be cast on the independence of objectives; experiments were done on cadav- ers and death was taken for granted. In a vertical position on the cross, blood not coagulated would have naturally flown downwards into the abdomen and the evidence given by John ‘and at once there was a flow of blood and water’ would have remained unanswered. Professor Hirt contradicts this by stating that blood only flows from a living body as otherwise the heart ceases to function and there is no blood pressure to make blood flow. There is evidence of blood serum exudate on the Shroud and the stains of blood from the back of the head and neck on the shroud could have only been caused when the wound was re-opened from a living body. When this basis was rejected, Sava conjectured that the lance may have passed between the fifth and the sixth ribs so that serous fluid and bloody effusion in the pleural cavity of the lungs would have caused blood and water to flow. There is absolutely no med- ical evidence to suggest that the lance may have penetrated a well-protected heart. The space between the fifth and sixth ribs at an acute angle from lower below would have been insufficient for deep penetration. The angle of the blow and that of the body