810e séance. 20 Juillet 1905. L'Identification du cadavre de Paul Jones et son autopsie 113 ans après sa mort

John Paul Jones: An Overlooked Autopsy Finding that May Explain His Terminal Illness

“…Once it was confirmed that the body was that of Jones, an autopsy was performed at the Paris School of Medicine . I have obtained a translation from the French of the original published report of the autopsy , and the findings also have been described in detail and discussed in a number of publications .…”

“…Morison in his biography of Jones , after he consulted with a medical friend, concluded that “on top of jaundice and nephritis, Jones contracted bronchial pneumonia, which finished him off.” Professor Cornil, one of the participants in the autopsy who did the microscopic analyses, concluded that there was one “grayish spot” in the left lung that was consistent with healed bronchopneumonia, but there were no tuberculosis bacilli nor any structural changes suggestive of active tuberculosis or of acute pneumonia . Also, in Colonel Blackden's description of Jones’ final hours , noted above, Jones was disabled but lucid and sat as he participated in preparing his will.…”

“…I suggest that eventually right ventricular failure developed secondary to the left ventricular failure and likewise there was hypertrophy progressing to chamber dilatation of the right ventricle. The rapid progression of ascending edema and ascites in the 10 days prior to death combined with the presence of jaundice in the absence of cardiac cirrhosis makes one suspicious of the presence of pulmonary infarcts combined with acute hepatic congestion , but none of those observing Jones reported his having chest pain and the autopsy study of the lungs makes no mention of organized clots or infarcts . He was noted to have “… an exhausting cough and much raising of mucus ,” but there is no mention of hemoptysis.…”