The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-04
MYSTERY OF CRIME
UNFOLDED BY A NOVEL DISCOVERY
CALLED PHOTOMICROGRAP
The Terror of CrimInaIs-ShOws
Whether Blood Comes From a HUI
man Body and whether Hair Is
From a MaIc or FemnIe.

man Body and whether Hair Is
From a Male or Female.
From'the Pittsburg Dispatch.
The diary of a judicial chemist, now I'M
der the press in Leipsic, Germany, ex-
plains many secrets Of the professional
expert figuring in the courts Of justice the
world over. The author, DR.. p. Jeserich.
has been a well known character in the
criminal courts of Germany for many
years. sometimes he was on the side Of
the state, at other times he pleaded for
the wrongly accursed.
The Dispatch has secured from its Ber-
lin correspondent advance sheets of the
book, showing how, by the use of photomi-
geography, which is the production of en-
larged images of the whole or portions of
an object by means of photography, evil
dence of crime has been discovered in ap-
parently unimportant or entirely useless
specimens of corpus deficit The public
has heard of these discoveries. hut has
never before been taken into the conf
dence of the scientific expert. In the fol-
lowing extracts the most important feat
ures of the forthcoming volume will be
noted.
Under the requirements of modern
science the uses of the camera, fortified
by the microscope, to depict. graphically
and with slight loss of time and trouble
the hidden secrets of nature, have multi
piled. Photomicrography has become a
powerful defense against crime in the
hands of Justice
A jury composed of twelve law-abidlng
citizens, good and true, is not easily
cajoled by uncorroborated expert testi-
mony. Man rebels at the thought of ac-
cepting the word of another on matter
that is beyond his own comprehension; his
sense of justice opposes the imputation
/ of condemning a person on q basis of
what he considers scientific speculation.
In former years many criminals escaped
/ punishment because the public prosecutor
| was unable to establish their guilt save
| by scientific deductions, the. jury in hun
/ dreds of well-known cases refused to be-
| heve the state expert and that body Of
INTO i more Gs or less dsseryed distepute Then
| the new application of photography, with
| images magnified through the microscope,
| came to their aid. The jury received tan
| gible proofs for the correctness of the
| mysterious phases Of evidence submit
| ted; in short, it could see for itself, where
| formerly IL had been asked to make its
observations through the spectacles Of
/ another.
To illustrate the possibilities of photo
| micrography ii is but necessary to mem
| ton that a man magnihed the same
amount as some subjects of the micro
| scope-fortlfied camera would appear as
| high as Mount Washington.
| A drop of blood, single hair, a particle
| of skin may be found under the finger
nails of a person suspected of murder
| photomicrography will tell the tale 1t
will establish whether the blood is from a
| human being or not, whether II is from
the person murdered or from that of the
| supposed murderer Almost the same
| holds good with respect to hair It can be
| determined by the instrument mentioned,
whether the hair is from a male or fe-
male; be it ever so small, IL can be matched
| with the hair of the suspected person
When the finger nails of the latter are
scraped even the minutest particles OF skin
| will be found and this skin. put under
| the microscope. will demonstrate its own
origin. Like experiments will be made
with the accumulations under the finger
nails of the murdered person, who, in the
struggle with the murderer, may have
scratched the enemy of his or her life
Microscopes have been in use for many
hundred years, but only within the last
seventy years has the instrument for the
examination of minute objects or parts Of
objects, which enlarge the visual pictures
formed upon the retina of the observer
undergone the wonderful improvements
which make it to-day one of the most yalu-
able adjuncts of science and criminology
Inc attainment Of results in microscOD-
fc photographs demands ample proficiency
and large and expensive plant Amateur
detectives, who at the same time are anna
teur photographers, sometimes expert
ment with Constructed apparatus. con-
sisting of a stand with a mechanical sta ge
Well-selected set of objectives and a 4
by camera, building II us as follows:
The camera is piVoted opposite the mi
eroscope, the first having a pasteboard
funnel, with black velvet lining attached
to its front. so as to allow some two feet
draw" The eye piece of the microscope
is removed and the open tube Joined to
the light-tight sleeve OF. velvet A lamp is
set with the edge of the flame toward the
microscope, the latter being attached to
some contrivance SO as to be readily OPP
Grated. while the observer stands before
the ground glass screen.
Another method is that of using a pho
Geographic objective with reversed foci
just as is done in charging a small mega
tive, the lens being nearer to the object
than to the ground glass screen These
processes will do for experimental re-
search, but never for the expert who may
decide the fate Of human being. The
medico-judical expert employs special APP
paratus of a very expensive sort the ma
chinery, lenses and microscopes alone
costing $500. The objects are photographed
against plain background that offers the
greatest contrast in the matter of color
A very convenient way in many instances
is to take it with the camera placed df-
rectly above ii.
Exact measurements of the dimensions
of mute objects exposed by the camera
with the aid of the microscope are faISaT
by instruments called micrometers indi-
eating the actual dimensions of the OBJ
jects to be measured. The method most
commonly adopted consists in the inser-
ton of a ruled glass scale into the focus
of an ordinary eyepiece, this scale being
fixed in a brass inner frame that has n
slight motion in the direction Of its length
within an outer frame.
The micrometer measures objects down
to one-millionth part of an inch If proper
ly applied, and In order that it NAV be
done the instrument is put through test
before use on criminal business
An instance of this is shown in pho-
tomierographical reproductions of minute
quantities of blood drawn from the body
of a human being, of pig and of a goat
respectively, which figured in a recent
murder case. II appeared that a single
drop of blood shed by murderous hands.
was removed from one Of the garments
the suspected person had worn when he
committed the deed. The spot was on the
it that it got there in the butcher shop
when he examined freshly slaughtered
pig. This seemed plausible enough. and as