Sunday, June 24, 2007

Bogus: Shroud of Turin? #8: Bloodstains on the Shroud are real blood

Bogus: Shroud of Turin, The Conservative Voice, April 08, 2007, Grant Swank ... But that "bearded face" on that particular cloth did not belong to Jesus of Nazareth. ... Continued from part #7.

[Left: Bloodstains on the Shroud of Turin, Sugar Coated Shroud of Turin]

Before we get to the evidence of the blood on the Shroud of Turin being type AB, which is more common in Jews than in Europeans in part #9, the first point is that there are in fact stains of real blood on the Shroud, i.e. as the late Professor of Chemistry Alan D. Adler, an authority on the chemistry of blood put it, "the red stuff on the Shroud is emphatically, and without any reservation, nothing else but B-L-O-O-D!" (my emphasis):

"We began our presentation. One by one, we gave our short talks with slides, graphs, spectra, and tried to make them intelligible to the nonscientist. Everything that had been done was included, from mathematical models, VP-8 and physical experiments, to pathology. ... We all wanted to be very careful that we did not overstate anything. We were extremely cautious to make no statement of any kind that could not be supported by the data. Bit by bit, the complex story involving optics, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine unfolded. Most of the questions were excellent. Adler was asked how he could answer McCrone's claim that there was no blood, but merely a mixture of red ocher and vermilion. Adler flashed on the screen the following table from our paper. Table 5 Tests confirming the presence of whole blood on the Shroud 1. High iron in blood areas by X-ray fluorescence; 2. Indicative reflection spectra; 3. Indicative microspectrophotometric transmission spectra; 4. Chemical generation of characteristic porphyrin fluorescence; 5. Positive hemochromogen tests; 6. Positive cyanomethemoglobin tests; 7. Positive detection of bile pigments; 8. Positive demonstration of protein; 9. Positive indication of albumin; 10. Protease tests, leaving no residue; 11. Positive immunological test for human albumin; 12. Microscopic appearance as compared with appropriate controls; 13. Forensic judgment of the appearance of the various wound and blood marks. Then, after explaining each item briefly, Al said, `That means that the red stuff on the Shroud is emphatically, and without any reservation, nothing else but B-L-O-O-D!'" (Heller, J.H., "Report on the Shroud of Turin," Houghton Mifflin Co: Boston MA, 1983, pp.215-216. Emphasis original. Semi-colons added).

Which is itself a huge problem for the 14th century forgery theory that, as the late Professor Edward Hall (head of the Oxford laboratory which was one of the three which in 1988 radiocarbon dated the Shroud as 14th century) put it "Someone just got a bit of linen, faked it up and flogged it," because the unknown medieval forger would have to had, amongst other things, daubed real human (or at least primate) blood on the "bit of linen" that he "faked it up and flogged"!

But it is a major article of faith of the self-proclaimed `skeptics' of the Shroud's authenticity (i.e. true believers in the Shroud's non-authenticity!) that: "There is NO blood on the Shroud" (Walter C. McCrone); "the blood-stains are not real blood" (Joe Nickell), "There is no blood on the Shroud" (Steven S. Schafersman), "there is no blood on the shroud of Turin" (Skeptic's Dictionary), so it is presumably too late for them to admit that they have been wrong on this fundamental point all these years.

Especially since "where blood occurs in the same region as body image, the cloth fibres lack body image characteristics below the bloodstain" which means that "the blood was on the cloth before the body image-making process began," and which (to put it mildly) "is hardly the way any artist might be expected to work" (my emphasis):

"As for the `blood' stains, according to Heller's and Adler's studies these derived from genuine clotted wounds, and they pass eleven different diagnostic tests, enabling them to be pronounced to be true blood in any court of law. Blood constituents such as proteins, albumen, haem products, and the bile pigment bilirubin (on which Adler is an acknowledged expert) can all be determined to be present. One remarkable feature noted by Adler is that where blood occurs in the same region as body image, the cloth fibres lack body image characteristics below the bloodstain, suggesting that the blood was on the cloth before the body image-making process began. [Adler, A.D., "Chemical and Physical Characteristics of the Blood Stains," International Scientific Symposium "The Turin Shroud, past, present and future," Villa Gualino, Turin, 2-5 March 2000] That is hardly the way any artist might be expected to work." (Wilson & Schwortz, 2000, p.75).

And it is not only blood with "hemoglobin ... a component" but also "blood serum which had become separated from whole blood before or after the man's death," with "The edges of these stains ... precisely defined" (my emphasis):

"The Bloodstains The `blood' areas on the Shroud have attracted considerable attention since the first color photographs of the cloth became available. It appeared that blood had flowed from the man's feet, wrists, and side. ... The reddish, brown stains appear to be quite anatomically correct, as on would expect if a man had bled after being stabbed in the side and nailed through his wrists and feet. The edges of these stains are also precisely defined. If the Shroud actually covered a real corpse, one wonders how the cloth was removed without smearing and dislodging the edges of the clotted blood. When they arrived in Turin in 1978, the scientists did no know whether the `bloodstains' were really blood. ... The 1978 team hoped to settle the blood question once and for all by examining the bloodstained areas with a full battery of optical tests throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. ... The most important and conclusive work was done by John Heller and Alan Adler in their laboratory at the New England Institute. [Heller, J.H. & Adler, A.D., "Blood on the Shroud of Turin," Applied Optics, Vol. 19, 1980, pp.2742-2744] Heller and Adler examined several `sticky tape' samples which contained pieces of `bloodstained' fibrils. They looked at the spectrum of the visible light transmitted from these samples under a microscope, a test known as microspectrophotometry. The results suggested that hemoglobin was a component of the color. To further test this possibility, Heller and Adler removed the iron from the samples and tried to isolate porphyrin, a component of blood which fluoresces red under an ultraviolet light. Indeed, the substance which the chemists isolated from the samples fluoresced red under ultraviolet light. This confirmed that the substance was porphyrin, and thus strongly indicated that the bloodstained areas really were blood. A further indication that blood was present on the Shroud came from the ultraviolet fluorescence photographs taken by Vernon Miller and Samuel Pellicori. Blood itself does not fluoresce. However, when Miller and Pellicori studied their ultraviolet fluorescence photographs of the blood areas, they discovered a light fluorescent margin around the edges of several of the bloodstained areas. These areas were the side wound, the nail wound in the wrist, and the blood flow at the right foot on the dorsal image. The probable explanation for this unexpected discovery is that the fluorescent margins were blood serum, the colorless fluid part of the blood. Miller and Pellicori showed in the laboratory that blood serum on linen does fluoresce moderately. Thus, it is likely that the fluorescent margins are blood serum which had become separated from whole blood before or after the man's death. Several other tests confirmed the presence of blood on the Shroud. Protein, a component of blood, was detected in the blood areas, although no protein was found elsewhere on the cloth. X-ray fluorescence examination found that iron, a component of blood, was present in the blood area. The team's summary of research concluded that the bloodstained areas were very probably stained by real blood. [Schwalbe, L.A. & Rogers, R.N., "Physics and Chemistry of the Shroud of Turin: Summary of the 1978 Investigation," Analytica Chimica Acta, Vol. 135, 1982, pp.3-49]" (Stevenson, K.E. & Habermas, G.R., "Verdict on the Shroud: Evidence for the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ," Servant Books: Ann Arbor MI, 1981, pp.78-80. Emphasis original).

Which then raises another problem (if not refutation) for all forgery theories that maintain the Shroud was created by placing it over a statue or bas relief coated with chemicals and blood, in "how the cloth was removed without smearing and dislodging the edges of the clotted blood" (my emphasis).

This major point that the bloodstains on the Shroud of Turin are real blood, not paint or any other pigment, will be continued in part #9: "Blood on the Shroud is type AB, contains DNA and is anatomically perfect." "

Stephen E. Jones, BSc. (Biology).


Leviticus 26:14-20. 14" 'But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, 15and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, 16then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. 17I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you. 18" 'If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. 19I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. 20Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit.

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