Mickey Z

Cool Observer

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Saturday, September 01, 2007

Our cross to bare

While biblical scholars and artists alike typically depict the nails as going through Jesus’ palms, a French surgeon named Pierre Barbet decided to test things for himself. He nailed up freshly amputated arms through the palms—just like in all the paintings and movies and all that—and tied weights to the other ends. Barbet found that the nails tore through when the weight was increased to 88 pounds. A human body would exert substantially more force than 88 pounds.

Back when I was in Catholic school, we used to say that the “INRI" sign placed on the cross by the Romans stood for: “I’m nailed right in.”