The southern aegis, and Harford County intelligencer. (Bel Air, Md.) 1862-1864, 1862-07-05
F1TTED TO A HAIR.


microscope, in the management. of which
he was an adept. "Now," said he, 81
will tell you story Of what happened to
myself which, I think, win illus
trate the Importance of this instrument to
society, though Twas put in a very unpleas-
ant position, owing to my acquaintance
with it.
81 have as you know, given good deal
of attention to comparative anatomy, espe-
cially to the structure of the hair as it ap-
pears under the microscope. To the unas-
sisted eye, Indeed, all hair appears very
much alike, except as it is long or short,
dark or fair, straight or curly, coarse or
fine. Under the microscope, however, the
case is very different; the white mans is
round the negroes oval; the mouse's ap-
parently jointed; the rats jagged; and SO
on. Indeed, every animal has hair Of
peculiar character, and what is more, this
character varies according to the part of
the body from which it is taken-an i'm
portant circumstance, as will appear from
my story, which is this:
81 once received letter by post, con-
tanning few hairs, with request that I
would examine them, and adding that
they would be called for in few days
Accordingly I submitted the hairs to the
microscope, when 1 discovered that they
were from the human eyebrow, and had
been bruised. made note to this effect,
and folded it up with the hairs in an en-
velope, ready for the person who had sent
them. In few days stranger called
and inquired whether I had made the in
vestigation. ooh yes" 1 said, " there
they are, and you will find them and their
description in this envelope" handing it
to him at the same time. He expressed
himself as being much obliged, and offer
ed me fee, which, however, l declined,
telling him that l could not think Of
taking anything for SO small matter.
alt turned out, however, of more conse-
quence than I had imagined, for within a
week I was served with subpoena to at
tend as a witness on trial tor
murder. This was very disagreeable,
as I have said but there was no help for
it now. The case was this (: A man had
been killed by blow with some blunt in
strument on the eyebrow, and the hairs
sent to me for examination had been
taken from hammer in the possession of
the suspected murderer. was put into
the witness box, and my testimony, that
the hairs were from the human eyebrow,
and had been bruised, was just the link
in the chain of evidence which suffced to
convict the prisoner. The jury, however,
were not easily satisfied that my statement
was worth anything; and required the
solemn assurance of the judge that such a
conclusion was within the reach of science,
to convince them that they might act upon
| it.
"One juryman in particularan old
farmer was very hard to satisfy. Does
thee mean to say said he, that thee can
tell the hair Of any animal?' / answered
that would not take upon myself to as.
sert positively that could do SO, although
/ believed could. We'll, said he, sPll
prove thee
aThe prisoner, as I said, was convicted,
and I went home, and in the busy life Of
an extensive practice, forgot all about my
obstinate old farmer. About two years
afterwards, however, a person, an utter
stranger to me, called on me with few
hairs screwed up in piece of paper, which
he asked me to examine aud report on.
as this another murder case in