Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1872-02-09
A CHEMISTS STORY.

| am chemist. Many, doubtless,
would find it difficult to define what the
duties of chemist are if asked. To
such, I say chemist is collector of
facts. 1t is the business of his life to
aid in unmasking, FOR the benefit of
mankind, the good and evil lowering
even in the cir we breathe, sburrowing G
in the earth we tread, mingling with
the food we eat, and swimming in the
water we drink.
Then, again, the law waits on the
chemist. A human being has passed
suddenly away. Somebody thinks there
has been foul play. The chemist ex-
amines the body of tho supposed vic
tim. The law listens, hat in hand, to
science. The suspected party trembles
in anticipation.
The oracular lips of the chemist
move; he names one out Of the fearful
list of poisons. 1t is either strychnine,
prussic acid, or that deadly oil Of bitter
almonds. Then the.law puts on its hat,
takes the decision into court, and hangs
the prisoner.
In short, the chemist must know the
why's and wherefores of everything in
the phenomena of life, as far as feeble
man can know. The composition Of
the ocean he must be familiar with he
must be able to name the gases of the
air, and capable Of resolving the human
body itself into invisible vapors. | am
the occupant of this responsible and
important position in the medical col
lege of P.
It was about IL o'clock on a stormy
evening that l bade good night to my
student, Tom Richards, at the door of
my laboratory, at the south end Of the
college buildings.
Good night, professor" said Tom ;
"we are going to have a fall of hydro
gen, oxygen, and trace OF saline"
Hydrogen and oxygen-in our nomen-
clature III. O.-is water.
II hope," I said, in answer to Toms
playful words, "that it will not rain be-
fore get home"
"Oh, no; it won't for an hour yet"
said Tom.
"Then," I said, with sigh, noticing
that the mercury in my barometer was
falling, sign of violent storm, II
shall certainly get wet"
Tom was very anxious to know what
would keep me up after Il o'clock: so |
told him l was about to commence ana
living the stomach of Mrs. j Johnson,
whose husband now lay in P Jail,
Just across the road from the college,
on suspicion that he was the murderer.
Tom said | had worked hard enough
that night, and deserved the night to
myself. He told the truth still, [ had
DELAYED examining the woman's stom-
ach so long, and the trial was so near at
hand, that l could not in conscience
put eff the examination farther, al,
though / had heard several classes re-
cite at the different public schools in
the morning; had delivered lecture
in the college proper that afternoon,
another in the laboratory that evening,
beside attending to my several duties as
police surgeon during the day.
As Tom was passing out of the col
lege yard through the gate, his head
turned, bidding me good night, he
brushed against a. man standing with
his back to the college and his face to
the prison. The street lamp showed
me that the man was in the police uni
form.
Re-entering my laboratory, l took
down glass jar from the shelf and sat
down before my sink. to examine it,
The jar, which contained Mrs. johnson S
stomach, was covered by cloth, duly
tied with string, and properly sealed
with my official seal in red wax. Break
ing through the cloth, l lifted the
stomach out with dissecting hook and
laid it on a white platter before me
then became busily employed in apply
ing those tests to its contents by which
weldetect the presence of INJURIOUS sub
stances.
An hour had passed since the depar-
ture of young Richards. lhad carefully
enptied the contents of the stomach
into number of bowls and basins. |
had labored hard to discover traces of
poison in all this, but had been unsuc-
cessful. Joe johnson, the suspected
man, had been student of mine years