As Judica has pointed out, traumatisms produce very varied injuries on the skin, the traces of which on the shroud differ considerably according to their nature and their depth. They produce ecchymoses (blue marks), and hӕmatomes (an agglomeration of blood) under the skin, and deep visceral lesions. Not one of these lesions can leave a mark, unless it has led to a deformation of the surface, modifying the shape as we have seen in the case of the nose. For the shroud to show us anything else it is necessary that the skin should be broken, so that there would thus be a bleeding wound.
The cutaneous irritations caused by the blows, owing to their accumulation, produce little vesicles, which break and spread sero-sanguineous exudation all over the body. This leaves no mark on the linen; but this exudation could have contributed towards the formation of the bodily imprints, better than Vignon’s urea derived from sweat. This problem, as we have seen, is still very obscure.
The excoriations remove the whole epidermis from certain surfaces, laying bare the papillae of the dermis, which bleeds, and more or less destroying the chorion. This is what we shall see in the wounds left by the scourging and in the excoriations of the whole body, especially of the face.
Finally, the contused wounds break the continuity of the skin in all its thickness, and have contused, jagged edges. These are produced especially when the skin rests on a bony resistant surface.