'On the second point, as to the mode of death of the deceased, which is described in the confessions as that of drowning, it will be only necessary to read the following report which the surgeons have been requested to prepare on the appearances of the body, both at and previous to the _post mortem_ examination, and it will then be for medical and scientific persons to say whether it is morally possible that the heart should have been perfectly empty and contracted, and that the other appearances described should have manifested themselves, if death had been produced as the murderers allege.
'_Post mortem_ appearances of the body of the Italian body, who was murdered late on the night of the 3d, or early on the morning of the 4th of November, 1831.
'The corpse was first seen by one of the undersigned, about two o'clock, P.M., of Saturday, November 5, and by the other at a late hour the same night.
'_External appearances._--The body was four feet six inches in length, of rather stout make, face broad, hair light brown, dry, neither curled nor yet matted, eyes gray, general appearance that of a foreigner, judging more from the cast of features than the complexion, limbs rigid, and the upper extremities somewhat contracted, palms of the hands quite soft, face rather swollen, eyes bloodshot, teeth extracted, gums bloody, a wound three-quarters of an inch in length over the left brow; the neck and throat, together with the extremities, were attentively examined, but did not exhibit the slightest indications of violence.
'The dissection was conducted in the following order:--
'_Head._--On turning down the scalp its vessels appeared a little fuller than usual; the wound over the brow extended to the bone, which was not, however, fractured, neither was there any blood effused around the cut; higher up, over the coronal suture, there was a patch of extravasated and coagulated blood between the scalp and bone; the brain and its membranes appeared perfectly healthy, and their vessels were not unnaturally full; the ventricles did not contain more than the usual small quantity of serum. The body was next turned on its face, the brain having been previously removed, and in so doing a quantity of fluid blood gushed out from the spinal canal at the occipital foramen. On cutting through the muscles at the back of the neck coagulated blood, to the amount of five or six ounces, was found extravasated among them; extending from the occiput to the termination of the cervical vertebræ, and upon removing the arches of the vertebræ and that portion of the occipital bone which lies behind the foramen magnum, from one to two ounces of coagulated blood were discovered within the spinal canal (exterior to the theca) pressing upon the upper part of the medulla spinalis; a considerable quantity of fluid blood was likewise contained in the lower part of the canal; there was no blood within the theca, and the cord itself retained its natural appearance and firmness; there was no traceable injury either of the vertebræ or of their ligaments.