Lincoln's embalmment

[RJNorton]

Dave, Dr. Houmes wrote back and said, "I think the bullet ended up about ~ 1 inch above and near the back of his left eye, somewhere near the midline of his brain. Dr. Stone's report should have settled the argument."

"...that Dr. Stone's original notes are much more revealing than his later report. What he didn't write later but included in his first note was the bullet "...entered the left ventricle...followed the course of the ventricle accurately...ploughing thro upper part of thalamus...(ending) just above the corpus striatum of left side."

From the trial testimony of Dr. Stone:

Q. He died from that wound?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you extract the ball?
A. Yes, sir. The next day, previous to the process of embalmment, with some medical friends, Dr. Curtis and Dr. Woodward of the army, and in the presence, also, of Surgeon-General Dr. Barnes, the examination was made. We traced the wound through the brain; and the ball was found in the anterior part of the same side of the brain, the left side,—a large ball, resembling those balls which are shot from the pistol known as the Derringer,—an unusually large ball; that is, a larger ball than those used in the ordinary pocket revolvers."

In his article in The Lincoln Assassination Riddle Blaine includes a smaller version of the photo below. Based on what James Ferguson said, the photo shows the approximate position of Lincoln's head (leaning forward, looking down and to the left) and helps explain the path of the bullet.

---Abraham Lincoln photographed by Mathew Brady in 1861---