Lincoln's embalmment

[Houmes]

Kudos to Eva, Gene C, and Roger.

I forgot to mention the effect of timing after the shooting. I estimate 5-10 minutes before Dr Leale entered the box (struggling with others to try and open the door Booth had barricaded, with Major Rathbone frantically working on the other side), then Dr. King arriving quickly through the same door while Dr. Taft was being hoisted up and over the box railing. In that short space of time Lincoln's wound had already clotted off, which suggests not much drainage. The bullet sheared off a major vein in the back of the head, whereas a major artery would have produced a much larger blood loss. Most blood relics I've seen have small patches of blood, and the grease spots on the coat are probably from the pomade staining the rocking chair. Even relics from the Petersen house have either discrete, small areas of stain or thin stains in a widely dispersed pattern.