The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-09-12
From Tit Bits.

"A NALYSTS are playing an impor-
~ tant part In the Crippen case, and
\ it might be said without exagger-
alton that were 1t not for these gentle
men hundreds of crimes would be added
TO the police list of unsolyed mysteries.
Medical detectives. as the analysts en-
ployed by Scotland Yard are called, In
variably carry through their duties with
Skill certainty and absence of prejudice.
They have mastered the action and char
acter of every poison under the sun, and
this fact, being we'll known, has de-
creased poisoning to considerable ex-
tent during recent years.
Practically the prisoners can hide moth
ing from the modern analyst. for that
gentleman is not only familiar with all
poisons, but can recognize their presence
almost as easily as he can recognize the
dome of st. Pauls cathedral. By the aid
of his test tube, his microscope and his
spectroscope he is able to lay bare the.
prisoners secret and track him down. III
any great criminale was suspected OF
poisoning his wife the analysts, upon ex-
amining the remains, would be able to
prove what poison was used and in what
quantity.
Delicate to a marvellous degree are the
tests employed by analysts in the case of
posons. If man were to be poisoned
with arsenic tomorrow and were buried
without being examined internally, an
analyst could quarter of century
later gather from the remains of the body
a considerable amount of the poison
which killed him and in the same state
as that in which 1t was administered.
Probably arsenic has been more fire.
ouently used by murderers as a death
dealer than any other poison. and arsenic
is a very peculiar poison. 1t Is we'll
known fact that many men and women
take arsenic in small doses as medicine.
while the inhabitants of Syria are said TO
eat 1t as freely as we eat salt. To per-
son who has never touched, eaten or
smelt arsenic a medium-sized dose would
have a fatal effect. No matter how 1t
got into the system 1t would be dead
". for arsenic kills whether 1t is swal-
lowed. rubbed into wound or breathed
as a vapor Chapman, who was hanged
for poisoning hts mistresses, used arsenic,
orable Maybrick case.
Nine. Lafarge poisoned her husband, an
ironmaster, by means of arsenic. While
M. Lafarge was in Paris on visit his
wife pretended to send him parcel, In
which was her portrait, five small cakes
made by his mother and a letter. This
parcel was sealed In the presence of
witnesses. When the parcel reached La
FARCE 1t contained only one large cake.
He ate this. and nine days later he died.
Nine. Lafarge was arrested and charged
with murder by poisoning. At the trial
it was alleged that she had made the
large cake with arsenic as one of the
ingredients, and substituted 1t for the five
small ones. She was found guilty after
a trial exceeding a fortnight, and con-
demned to Imprisonment for life.
To photography the discovery Of
many a crime is due, The spectroscope
is infallible in revealing the presence OF
the mlhutest trace of blood. but 1t is
unable to distinguish between human and
animal blood. The microscope can, how
ever. The corpuscles of different NAM
malta can only be distinguished by their
size and shape, and 1t can be seen that
without the microscope it would be i'm
possible to draw a distinction between
the blood of man and the blood of an
animal.
The corpuscles Of both men and anil
mails are all circular with the exception
of those of the llama, alpaca. camel and
their kind, which are oval.
Soma time ago man s1ISnected OF
murder was found to own an ak COW
cred with blood. An analyst examined
the blood, and found that it was that of
goat, the corpuscles measuring Al tenths
of a micron. On this evidence he was
found not guilty.
Cloth stained with red thought to be
blood Is touched with ammonia. If the
stain is caused by fruit juice 1t turns
blue or green: II by Condy's fluid 1t be-
comes blue, and If by cochineal 1t be-
comes crimson. But II 1t be blood, hui
fiuence of the ammonia does not change
in the least
M. Rogier, who was found burned to
death In a cottage in France some years
ago, was said to have been murdered. An
analyst took few drops of blood from
the dead mans lungs and examined them
| by means of spectroscope. He discov-
cred that their condition was normal,
which proved that death must have oc-
Cured before the cottage was set on
fire,
bead battered in. evidently with some