Polynesian., 1857-03-07
No. a.

1ulQ upon his knife and clothes; but when the
fact was revealed that that blood human, it Of
course Afforded very strong proof of the guilt Of
! the accused. So with the vegetable fbres on the
razor; as tbres simply they might have come even
from of the handkerchief in which the razor was
wrapped; but being partly cotton and partly fax,
the case assumed very different aspect.
The value OF this peculiar discriminating power
LOT the microscope was remarkably illustrated in
very curious case tried few years ago at Norwich
A female child about years old was found one
morning lying upon the ground, in small planta-
ton, quite dead the cause of death being at once
denoted by large and deep cash in the throat;
seyering both of the carotid arteries, the traehea
and the oesOphagus. Suspicion Immediately fell
upon the mother of the murdered girl, who had
been seen by more than one person leading her
daughter towards the plantation on the morning
ot the day upon which the crime was presumed to
have been committed.
Upon being taken into custody, the woman be-
hayed with the utmost coolness--at once admitted
having taken her child to the plantation where the
body was found but averred, that having arrived
there, the girl ran about gathering wild-howers
that she subsequently lost sight of her, and after
long search, returned home without her. Upon
being searched, there found in the woman's
possession large and sharp knife, which was at
once subjected 10 minute and careful examination.
Nothing, however, was found upon it, with the ex-
ception of few pieces of hair adhering to the
handle, so exceedingly small scarcely TO oe vis-
BILE. The examination being conducted in the
presence of the prisoner and the officer renorking
. Here is bit Of fur or hair the handle of your
knife" the woman Immediately replied, Yes, /,
daresay there is and very likely some stains of
blood, for, as came home, found a rabbit caught
IN snare, and cut its throat with the knife" The
knife was sent to London, and with the particesof
I hair, subjected TO a microscopic examination No
traces of blood could at first be detected upon the
weapon, which appeared to have been washed but
upon separating the horn handle from its iron iE-
| ing, it was found that between the two fluid had
penetrated which turned out to be blood, certainly
not the blood of a rabbit, but bearing every resem-
blance to that of the human body. Then came the
examination of the hair which added powerfully TO
the presumption of the prisoners guilt. Without
knowing anything of the facts of the case, the
microscopic Immediately declared the hair to be
that of a SgulTreL-in this he could not be mistaken,
for the fur of one animal differs so entirely from
that OF another, not only IN It's size, COLOR &c. but
in its actual construction, that it is altogether i'm
possible TO mistake it when under the microscope.
Now, round the neck of the child, at the time of
the murder, there was atppet or "victorine," over
which the knife, by whomever held, must have
glided and this victorine made of squirrels
fur!
The strong circumstantial evidence of the guilt
of the prisoner was deemed by the jury sufficient
for a conviction, and whilst awaiting execution, the
!
After such proofs as these, which are but sam
pie of hundred others that might, if necessary,
be adduced of the value of scientific evidence in
judicial investigation, we can hardly imagine any
one to be bold enough to deny the utility or i'm
portance of such evidence; yet we are aware that
the question must continually occur to many
" How did forefathers manage to bring offend
ers to justice without the use of microscope,
chemical analysis, or any thing Of the kind 2"
Why, the fact is, that crimes, in the times of our
foreiathers, were mostly committed IN very bung-
ling manner, and very slight proofs of guilt were
held to be sufficient to secure conviction. Before
the recent improvements IN microscopic science,
there was for instance, no direct means of ascer-
tanning whether a stain was caused by blood or by
any other fluid. Chemistry, indeed, within the
last twenty years. afforded somewhat delicate and
circuitous means of detection, but after all, very
unsatisfactory one-siTiply detecting the presence
of a peculiar body called hematosine. the coloring
matter of the blood without the slightest intima-
ton as to whether it was the blood OF man or Of
any inferior animal
Then came the revelations Of the microscope,
continually more and more delicate. First It was
shown as we have before said, that the blood Of
every description of animals Is composed OF a
countless number Of minute gobules, mostly of
red color, floating in colorless fluid. Subse-
quenty, it was discovered that these glObules, IN
the class mammaa, are uniformly of circular
FORM not spherical, but disks, the thickness or
which eaualled about one fourth Of the diameter;
while in birds, fishes, and reptiles, they are of an
oral form and last of all, the remarkable dlscov-
cry was made, that every kind of ani.i is IN its
blood glubules differing u size from thDsr Of any
other kind
Nothing, indeed, was much wanted in medi-.
cal jurisprudence as safe and certain detection of
blood-stains; for several other substances so ex-
acty simulated them, as TO be mistaken even by
eminent professional men. Orange or lemon juice
left upon knife or other piece OF iron, will IN q
few davs produce stain so nearly resembling that
caused by blood, as to deceive the most careful OBJ
server; and not many years ago, IN Paris, man
was very nearly convicted of murder, owing to
knife being found in his possession, stained with
what was pronounced by several witnesses TO be
blood, but afterwards discovered TO be simply hHs
JUICE
So, again, with the stains of paint formed from
the red oxide of iron. About fifteen years ago, q
person was found murdered in lslington. SusPi-
cion falling upon a particular indivldual he was
arrested, and in his possession was found sack
having upon it many stains declared to be dried
calculated blood. These stains were carefully
and chemically examined by Professor Graham,
who proved them to be red paint containing "per-
oxide of iron;" and the sack ultimately found
to have been worn as an apron by young man
auprenticed to a paperstainer. The accused was
Immediately discharged.
Now, in both these cases, the microscope would
instantly have declared the stains not to be due to
the oresence of blood But our ancC stors, without
the aid of chemical or microscopical investigation,
would most certainly have considered them to be
strong and incontrovertibe evidences OF the guilt
of the accused and who shall say how many have
uniustIy suffered at time when ill-grounded sus-
picion and assertion could not be negatryed oy an
appeal to the evidence which the various improve
ments in science win now permit Us TO invoke.
II ouObt. however to be borne in mind, that the
microscooe. and similar scientific instruments, do