Mr. Specter.

Have you had occasion to conduct any experiments on the effect of missile penetration of the brain reflected in the chart which you have brought with you here today?
Colonel FINCK. No, sir.

Mr. Specter.

Of the skull--let me phrase the question this way: What does the test which is depicted on the document before you relate to?
Colonel FINCK. It is based on my observations, not on experiments.

Mr. Specter.

Would you pass that to me, sir, so that I may mark that as a Commission Exhibit, and then I will ask you to identify it, please?
Mr. Chief Justice, may I mark as Commission Exhibit No. 400 a document?

The Chairman.

It may be marked.
(The document was marked Commission Exhibit No. 400 for identification.)

Mr. Specter.

I will ask Doctor Finck to describe it for us, please.
Colonel FINCK. This is a scheme which I prepared before the 22d of November. It is a teaching scheme, but it applies to the case in discussion. It will be of help in understanding how I could identify the entrance and the exit by examination of bone. "A" represents the bony portion of the skull. "B" represents the cavity of the head, the cranial cavity. "C" represents the entrance and "D" represents the exit. The arrows indicate the missile path. This scheme is based upon observation of through and through wounds of bone, and the same differences apply to a pane of glass. The surface struck first by the missile in relation to the surface struck next by the missile, this one, shows a smaller diameter, which means that if you look at the route of entrance in this case here, C, from the
outside you will not see a crater. If you examine it from the inside, you will see a crater corresponding to the bevelling, coning, shelving, previously described by Commander Humes.
In the case we are discussing today, it was possible to have enough curvature and enough portion of the crater to identify positively the wound of entrance at the site of the bone.

Mr. Specter.

Relating then your evaluation of the situation with respect to President Kennedy, and turning to Commission Exhibit No. 388, what is your opinion as to whether point A is a wound of entrance or exit?
Colonel FINCK. My opinion as regards Exhibit 388, letter A, is that this wound is the wound of entrance.

Mr. Specter.

And what are the characteristics of that wound which lead you to that conclusion?
Colonel FINCK. The characteristics were that seen from the inside of the skull, I could see a beveling in the bone, a beveling that could not be seen when the wound was seen from outside the skull.

Mr. Specter.

Are there any other individual characteristics that led you to

conclude A was the wound of entrance?
Colonel FINCK. No.

Mr. Specter.

Were you present when the three pieces of scalp were reconstructed to form the major portion of the absent part of President Kennedy's skull which Doctor Humes described?
Colonel FINCK. I was present when several portions of bone were brought.

Mr. Specter.

And what did you observe, if anything, as to a reconstructed hole from those three portions of skull?
Colonel FINCK. May I refer to my scheme?

Mr. Specter.

Please do.
Colonel FINCK. For the sake of demonstration.

Mr. Specter.

Fine.
Colonel FINCK. At the level of the wound of exit, E, in my scheme, Commission Exhibit No. 400, when viewed from the inside of the skull, there was no crater, whereas when the wound is seen from the outside of the skull, there was beveling, cratering, or coning--this is possible to determine an exit even if only a portion of the bone is submitted, for the reason that if there was enough bone submitted, there is enough curvature to identify the inside and outside of the skull. Therefore the fragment, to give you an example, this portion at the level of the wound of exit can be oriented, and the outer surface of the skull and the inner surface of the skull may be identified due to the curvature.
And then you look at the direction of the beveling and you do see the beveling