Book of Mormon/Anachronisms/Shiz struggles to breathe

Criticism

The human brain. The midbrain is located at the level marked 'cerebral peduncle'. From: Henry Gray, Anatomy of the Human Body, 1918, Fig 677. [1].

In Ether 15:31, a final showdown occurs between two warriors, Shiz and Coriantumr. Coriantumr "smote off the head of Shiz...[and] after he had smitten off the head...Shiz raised up on his hands and fell; and after that he had struggled for breath, he died."

Critics insist that this would not, or could not, happen.

Source(s) of the Criticism

• John R. Farkas and David A. Reed, Mormonism: Changes, Contradictions, and Errors, (Grand Rapids, Mich. : Baker Books, 1995), 152.
• Ed Decker, Decker's Complete Handbook on Mormonism (Eugene: Harvest House, 1995), 114.
• Latayne Colvett Scott, The Mormon Mirage : a former Mormon tells why she left the church (Grand Rapids : Zondervan Pub. House, 1979), 90.

Closeup of mid- and hind-brain; the mid-brain is the area above the pons. From: Henry Gray, Anatomy of the Human Body, 1918, Fig 681. [2].

Response

Contrary to the critics' assumptions,

Shiz's death struggle illustrates the classic reflex posture that occurs in both humans and animals when the upper brain stem (midbrain/mesencephalon) is disconnected from the brain. The extensor muscles of the arms and legs contract, and this reflex action could cause Shiz to raise up on his hands [Hadfield, 324].

Cutting the brainstem in this location causes the muscles which extend (straighten) the arms and legs to contract. This makes the arms and legs rigid, which would raise a corpse up until lack of oxygen and blood loss caused eventual muscle failure.

Conclusion

With the death scene of Shiz, Joseph Smith provides the reader with a vivid example of a catastrophic injury which is consistent with a weary, sloppy cut made by the exhausted Coriantumr. It is a realistic touch, and a phenomenon that went unrecognized in the medical literature of the modern era until 1898.

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

Book of Mormon/Anachronisms/Shiz struggles to breathe

FAIR web site

• FAIR Topical Guide:

External links

• John W. Welch, in "The 'Decapitation' of Shiz," Insights (November 1994): 2. [3]

Printed material

• M. Gary Hadfield, "Neuropathology and the Scriptures," BYU Studies 33:2 (1993): 313-28. [4]