Our impression is that as this projectile impinged upon the skull in this fashion, a small portion of it was dislodged due to the energy expended in that collision, if you will, and that it went off at an angle, and left the track which is labeled 388, which is labeled on Exhibit 388 from "A", point "A" to the point where the fragment was found behind the eye.
Why a fragment takes any particular direction like that is something which is difficult of scientific explanation. Those of us who have seen missiles strike bones, be it the skull or a bone in the extremity, have long since learned that portions of these missiles may go off in various directions and the precise physical laws governing them are not clearly understood.
Mr. Specter. Would the angle be accentuated in any way if you were to assume the President was in a moving automobile going in a slight downhill direction?
Commander Humes. There are many variables under these circumstances. The most—the crucial point, I believe, to be the relative position of the President's head in relation to the flight of the missile.
Now, this would be influenced by how far his head was bent, by the situation with regard to the level of the seat in the vehicle, off of the horizontal, and so forth.
Mr. Specter. How about a decline in the path of the road itself?
Commander Humes. I think that that would have a tendency to accentuate this angle, yes, sir.
Mr. Specter. Mr. Chief Justice, I would like to move for the admission in evidence now of Exhibit 391, which is the exhibit on the brain report.
The Chairman. It may be admitted.
(The document heretofore marked for identification as Commission Exhibit No. 391 was received in evidence.)