Page:The Works of William Harvey (part 2 of 2).djvu/71

 ANATOMICAL EXAMINATION OF THE BODY OF THOMAS PARR.

��THOMAS PARR, a poor countryman, born near Winnington, in the county of Salop, died on the 14th of November, in the year of grace 1635, after having lived one hundred and fifty- two years and nine months, and survived nine princes. This poor man, having been visited by the illustrious Earl of Arundel when he chanced to have business in these parts, (his lordship being moved to the visit by the fame of a thing so incredible,) was brought by him from the country to London; and, having been most kindly treated by the earl both on the journey and during a residence in his own house, was presented as a remarkable sight to his Majesty the King.

Having made an examination of the body of this aged in- dividual, by command of his Majesty, several of whose prin- cipal physicians were present, the following particulars were noted :

The body was muscular, the chest hairy, and the hair on the fore-arms still black ; the legs, however, were without hair, and smooth.

The organs of generation were healthy, the penis neither retracted nor extenuated, nor the scrotum filled with any se- rous infiltration, as happens so commonly among the decrepid; the testes, too, were sound and large ; so that it seemed not improbable that the common report was true, viz. that he did public penance under a conviction for incontinence, after he had passed his hundredth year ; and his wife, whom he had

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