Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1859-06-23
Wonders of the Microscope.

Wonders of the Microscope.
A week or two since we noticed 18th
Microscopst's Companion" by John Kips
d. d. The following narrations of il
practical utility are very curious and enter
tanning. From the characters o: the hail
and blood, microscopes have not only bee
able to determine from what animals the
were derived, bet have been able to affor
great aid in the investigation OF cases Q
murder, as the following instances will il
lustrate:
One summers eve, in 1897, a savag
murder was committed on the edge of on,
of the forests in Normandy, France.
laborer, returning from his daily tolls, wa
stricken down by the hand of an assassin
and, from the nature of the wound inflicted
it was concluded that the deadly blow hat
been dealt with hatchet. Another indi
vidual had been seen OH the same eve, aIt
the hour of the commission Of the dark deet
near to the scene Of the murder. Suspicion
fell upon him; he was arrested, imprisoned
| and, in due course, tried. As witness up
pcared after witness, their evidence brought
the foul deed more and more closely home
to the accused; and when it was at length
proved that, upon this mans cottage being
searched. on the very night after the murder
a hatchet with some stains of blood and
with some hairs upon it had been found In
an out l-house, the murmur went round the
Court that the evidence was complete. The
counsel regarded the conviction as certain;
the Judge seemed roady TO pronounce his
doom, and the unhappy accused felt that he
was lost. But in Gods good prov vidence one
man was there who had clearly watched the
progress of The triul, aud who by no means
concurred in the otherwise unanimous opin-
ion of the guilt OF the panel. It was III
Orfila, the distinguished toxicologist. He
asked leave from the Judge to examine the
hatchel; and to such q man as Orfla his
request vas not refused. On submitting the
blood and the hairs to the scrutiny of the
microscope, Orfila ascertained that the hairs
were the hairs of deer, and the blood that
of the fame animal, which the accused ad
said he had found wounded, and bad killed
with his hatchet, as he returned from his
daily tolls. Orfila communicated the result
of his microscopic trial; thrilling sensa.
ton ran through the audience; the counsel
were confounded; the Judge felt himself
constrained, ut the eleventh hour, to find
that the charge was not proved, and the &C.
cused was released from the bar, and as
from under the sharp ak Of the guillptine
The worth Of the testimony of the micro.
scope, and the justice of the decision of the
Court, were soon proved to the satisfaction
of all. for the real murderer was thereafter
discovered, acknowledged his guilt, and wa.
executed.
A few yenrs ago girl. nine years of age
was found lying dead, her throat cut, in @
plantation in Norfolk, England. Su spicior
fell upon the poor girls mother, who had
been secn by ceveral persons to lead hei
child to that plantation on The day on which
the murder was committed But the &C.
cuset coolly and confidently maintained hel
irnocenee, admitted that she had been with
the murdered girl near the spot where she
had persisted, but declared that the girl had
wandered from her side in quest of flowers
and that after long in vain searching fol
| ther, sise--ths .fnothcr-lIad less her child in
! the wood where her dead body was after.
ward found. No evidence could at frs, he
discovered to support the early suspicion
that the mother was mnrdcress. A long
and sharp knife was indeed found upon nor
| but, after keen scrutiny, nothing partic.
ulurly was observed about 1t, except that
there were on the handle few hairs, sc
very small as to be scarcely visible. Here
is hair on the hondle of your knife" was
the remark made to the suspected mother
in whose presence the examination was con
Quoted. Eyes, very likely" was the I'M.
mediate and composed reply; 'and perhaps
there is blood on it, too; for as I returned
from tho wood found rabbit in a snare
and cut its throat with my knife" The
knife was dispatched to London for micro.
scopc investigation. II was there found
that it had been washed. After very minute
examination, it was found that fluid hat
penetrated between the horn haudle and the
steel lining. It was blood, but certainly
no. the blood of n rabbit--rather, apparent
". the blood of human being. After ex
umining the hairs on the handle, the micro
scopist, who had been Intentionally KEEP
from all knowledge of the special facts o
the case, unhesitatingly declared that they
were the hairs of squirrel. This was
damnng fact for the wre.ched mother; for
tippet hung around the poor child's necI
Oh the dsy of the murders over Ihas tisns