BLOOD AND WATER (bled and wa't'er), (John xix:34), are said to have issued from our Lord's side when the soldier pierced him on the cross.
The only natural explanation that can be offered of the fact is to suppose that some effusion had taken place in the cavity of the chest, and that the spear penetrated below the level of the fluid. Supposing this to have happened, and the wound to have been inflicted shortly after death, then, in addition to the water, blood would also have trickled down, or, at any rate, have made its ap pearance at the mouth of the wound, even though none of the large vessels had been wounded It is not necessary to suppose that the pericardium was pierced ; for, if effusion had taken place there, it might also have taken place in the cavi ties of the pleura ; and, during health, neither the pericardium nor the pleura contains fluid, but are merely lubricated with moisture on their in ternal or opposing surfaces, so as to allow of free motion to the heart and lungs.
It must not be supposed that the fact of blood coming from the wound at all militates against the idea that our Lord was dead at the moment he was pierced. This argument is, indeed, made use of by Strauss (1. e.) : but it can be refuted by the most ordinary experience. It is well known that, even many days after death, blood will trickle from deep incisions, especially where any of the large veins have been wounded. The pop ular opinion that blood will not flow from a corpse, must be taken in a relative, and not ab solute sense. It certainly will not flow as it does from a living body ; and, when the wound is small and superficial, sometimes not a drop will be seen.
The three other evangelists do not mention the circumstance. (See Physical Cause of the Death of Christ, by Wm. Stroms, M. D., London, 1847, PP. 309-42o.) W. A. N.