In the post mortem carried out by the eminent physician Dr William Harvey examined his body and at the necropsy the old mans internal organs were found in a most perfect condition,
-the colon resembled that of a child's.
-his cartilages were not even ossified, as is the case generally with the very aged.
The autopsy on Parr was widely interpreted as verifying his extreme age.
Wrote Harvey:
The genital organs were in good condition, the penis was neither retracted nor thin, nor was the scrotum, as is usual in old persons, distended by any watery hernia, while the testicles were large and sound -- so good in fact as not to give the lie to the story commonly told of him that, after reaching his hundredth year, he was actually convicted of fornication and punished. Moreover, his wife, a widow, whom he had married in his hundred and twentieth year, in reply to questions, could not deny that he had had intercourse with her exactly as other husbands do, and had kept up the practice to within twelve years of his death. [...]
The cause of death seemed fairly referrible to a sudden change in the non-naturals, the chief mischief being connected with the change of air, which through the whole course of life had been inhaled of perfect purity – light, cool, and mobile, whereby the praecordia and lungs were more freely ventilated and cooled; but in this great advantage, in this grand cherisher of life this city is especially destitute; a city whose grand characteristic is an immense concourse of men and animals, and where ditches abound, and filth and offal lie scattered about, to say nothing of the smoke engendered by the general use of sulphureous coal as fuel, whereby the air is at all times rendered heavy, but much more so in the autumn than at any other season. Such an atmosphere could not have been found otherwise than insalubrious to one coming from the open, sunny, and healthy region of Salop; it must have been especially so to one already aged and infirm.
Of course, it is rather unlikely that he was actually born in 1483. Harvey himself was in no condition to know his proper age, and nothing he said gave any indication of any memories from the 15th century, rather unusual as those would likely be his most vivid memories. While Parr was undeniably old, the scenario sometimes posited is a confusion (deliberate or no) of this Parr's birth record with that of his grandfather.
