The Moetal Remains of Swedenborg 31 



Of the parts of skeleton found in the casket, those belonging 

 to the lower extremities and the right arm were comparatively well 

 preserved and lay in their natural mutual position, if one makes allow- 

 ance for the slight dislocations which are bound to arise when the 

 connection between the different bones is loosened and they sink down 

 in the decomposing lower layer. The bones of the trunk and the left 

 arm were more disintegrated; the breast bone, the clavicles, the upper 

 ribs and the highest vertebrae of the neck had completely crumbled, 

 so that their remains, with the exception of the dens epistrophei, could 

 not be identified with certainty. 



Among the disintegrating remains in the upper part of the 

 coffin were also encountered four broken pieces of the lower jawbone, 

 which were in precisely the same condition of far-advanced decompo- 

 sition as the surrounding parts of the skeleton, i. e., the bodies of the cer- 

 vical vertebrae. The bones of the left arm, the lumbar vertebrae, the 

 sacrum and the left innominate bone were displaced from their origi- 

 nal positions, in the direction of the above-mentioned fissure between 

 the bottom and the side-wall of the coffin. Some of the bones of the 

 hand and forearm lay in the very opening itself and outside of it in 

 the inner coffin of wood. Probably the left humerus, which, as was 

 said, lay on top of the other contents in the head-end of the coffin, had 

 also, on some occasion, when the leaden coffin had been lifted up, 

 fallen out through the fissure and afterwards been replaced in the coffin. 



The for the most part natural position of the above-mentioned 

 parts of the skeleton, belonging to the trunk and the extremities, and 

 especially the circumstance that evident remains of the shroud still 

 enveloped certain portions, especially the feet, indicate with considerable 

 certainty that these parts, after the depositing and decomposition of the 

 corpse, had not at all been displaced from their original position. Even 

 the position and condition of the fragments of the lower jaw speak 

 decidedly for their not having been previously taken out of the coffin.' 



ance dui-ing the later years of bis life^ »gray hair prolrnded in every direction from under 

 his wig » 32 (Vol. II., p. 4-03). Taking into consideration the fact that (he (|uantity of pigment 

 in the hair decreases in old age, but does not disappear before the hair is absolutely white, no 

 contradiction is involved between the appearance of the hair discovered and the facts quoted. 

 ^ Still further reason for this assumption seems to lie in the fact that the lower jaw- 

 bone is missing in the plaster cast of 1823. Had the lower jaw been removed togetlier with 

 the skull in 1816, and then been redeposited in the coffin with the latter, this very impor- 

 tant part of the head would certainly also have been included in the plaster cast. 



