The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-05-07


Some time ago, bein' In com
pany with.a medical man, whom
will call Mr.. b., we fell into CONVEX
sation on the uses Of the microscope,
i'm the management Of which he was
an adept. q.
9"Now," said he, 81 will tell you a
story of what happened to myself
one of which, / think, well illustrates
the importance of this instrument
to society, though / was put i'm avery
unpleasant position, owing to my
acquaintance with 1t. .
at lave, as you know, given good
deal ofattentiOn to comparative anat-
on,y, especially to the structure of
the hair as II appears under the micro
scope. To theunassisted eye, indeed,
all hair appears very much alike,
exceptas 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
round, the negroes oval, the mouse's
apparently jOinted, the bats jagged,
and so on. Indeed, every animal has
hair of a peculiar character, and what
Is more, this character varies accord
ing to the part of the body from
which it Is taken-an important cir
cumstance, as will appear from my
story, which is thus:
81 once received letter by post,
containing few halls, with request
that would examine them, and adj
ding that they would be called for In
a few days. Accordingly, l submitted
the hairs to the microscope, when
discovered that they were from the
human eyebrow and had been bruised
Il made note to this effect, and
folded 1T up with the hairs In All en-
velope, ready for tho person who
sent them. In q few days a stranger
called and inquired. whether ] had
made the investigation.
"'Oh, yes ] said >. there they are,
and you will find them, and their tie
scriptiop, in this envelope handing
1t to him at the same time.
"He expressed himself as being
much obliged, and offered me a fee,
which, however, i declined, telling
him that / could not think of taking
anything for so small matter.
: ut turned out, however, of more
consequence than ] had imagined !;
for within week was served with
II sup9na to attend as q witness on a
trial of murder. This was very dis
agreeable, as have said, but there
was no help for 1t now. The case
was this: y man had been killed by
blow, from some blunt instrument,
on the eyebrows, and the hairs sent
to me for examination had been
taken from a hammer In the possess
ion of the suspected murderer. /
was put in 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 sufiiced to
convict the prisoner. The jury, how
ever, were not easily satisfied that
my statement was worth anything |;
and 1t 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.
Zone juryman in particular AN
old farmer-was hard to satisfy.
"'DOes the. mean to say said he,
that thee can tell any hair of any
animal"
81 answered that would not take
upon myself to assert positively that
/ could do so, although ] believe |
could.
"'Well, said he, I'm prove thee
"The prisoner, al said, was con-
victed, and / went home, and In the
busy life OF an extensive practice,
forgot all about my obstinate old
farmer. Two years afterward, how
eyer, person, an utter stranger to
me, called on me with few hairs
screwed up in piece of paper, which
he asked me to examine and report
on.
I" Is this another murder case"
inquired; for if so, WILL have moth
ing to do with 1t +; i've had enough of
that sort of work.
"NO, no. said he, lit is nothing of
the kind. 1t is only a matter of curl
osity, which / would be much oblig-
ed ii you would solve; and If YOU
will do 1t, will call or send for the
result of your examination In few
days time
"Having received this assurance, /
undertook the investigation.
"When he was gone, and had lels-
ure, 1 put the hairs under the micro
scope, and soon discovered they were
taken form the back of q Norway rat.
1.-Two or three days afterward, as 1
was sitting In my consulting room, an
old farmer-loOking man was ushered
In.
"'Well, said he, has thee looked
at them hairs?"
YES / answered, 'and ] find
that they are from the back Of Nor
way rat
'Wellv exclaimed he, go they
are. Thou hast forgotten me, but
have not forgotten thee. DOst thee
recollect the trial for murder at l.. as
sizes? said / would prove thee, and
so have, for those hairs come from
the back of a rats skin my son sent
me from Norway
$50 the old gentleman was quite
satisfied with the proof to which he
had put me, and as you may sup
pose, was well pleased That my skill
and sagacity had stood such a queer
proof as this, and moro convinced
than ever of the value of the micro
scope"
Here the doctor ended his story,
which have given as nearly az pos
sible in his own words, and upon
which, / believe, that a thorough de-
pendence may be placed.
Pay Cash.