Several months ago, Sotos petitioned the museum for permission to test the pillowcase. Gary Grove, a Civil War enthusiast who advised the museum's board of directors, said the issue has been contentious in several meetings.

"There are strong voices both ways," Grove said. "It has taken up a good portion of those board meetings."

Eric Schmincke, president of the museum and its board, said members may decide at a meeting May 5. They must consider not only possible damage to the artifact but also moral issues, he said.

"You have to look at it as questioning someone that more or less can't defend themselves," Schmincke said.

Sotos, while declining to discuss the proposed DNA testing, pointed out that Lincoln has no living direct descendants who would be affected. "Every letter he every wrote has been published, every letter his wife wrote that we can find has been published," he said.

Schmincke said genetic material goes far beyond writings.

"That's him — that's his blood, his brain matter that's on there," he said. Schmincke also questioned what a positive result would mean.

"If they find it's cancer ... it's 140-plus years later," he said. "Would it have been different? We can only guess or surmise."

If Lincoln was seriously ill and knew it, Sotos said, that might explain stories of his premonitions about death.

ChinaDaily Mobile News