MEMORANDA. 285 



stains produced by citric or acetic acid on iron ; but then no 

 " ozonized ether " need be used, and this at once distin- 

 guishes such stains from blood. " Ozonized ether '' is a 

 wrong term to use ; for it contains antozone, and not ozone, 

 and to this is due its reaction. Ether which contained ati 

 ozonide would blue guaiacum resin, whether blood was pre- 

 sent or not. The test solution is the ethereal solution of 

 peroxide of hydrogen, Avhich is an antozonide. 



The so-called'* ozonized essential oils,'^ as oil of turpentine, 

 lavender, &c., really contain antozone ; and to this may be 

 ascribed their use in detecting blood ; for at first oil of tur- 

 pentine was used, instead of the peroxide of hydrogen, but 

 the results were unsatisfactory. 



If the blood-stain be on dark cloth, the test, as above 

 described, may be used ; but then an impression must be 

 taken off on white blotting-paper, otherwise the blue colour 

 will not be visible. 



The exact nature of the chemical change that takes place 

 is doubtful ; but the test is so simple and easy of applica- 

 tion, and, above all, so very delicate, that it is likely to become 

 very generally used. This test fails, as other tests have 

 failed before, to show whether the blood-stain is human or 

 not. The microscope will point out whether a corpuscle 

 comes from a fish, a reptile, or a mammal ; but we do not 

 think any microscopist would rely on the mere size of the 

 corpuscle to say whether a cell came fi'om one class of mam- 

 mals or another, seeing that slight differences in the density 

 of the fluid considerably alter the shape of the corpuscle. 

 When to this delicate chemical test of Dr. Day Ave shall add 

 one that is decisive as to the derivation of the stain, we shiiU 

 require no more aids in detecting blood for the purposes of 

 medico-legal investigation. — British Medical Journal. 



We have received ffom Mr. W. Andrews a specimen of 

 sponge which he conceives to be Amphitrema M'Collii {Pachy- 

 matisma), Bowerb. " It is," he says, "from the most western 

 land in Europe, Innisveikelane, the western Blasket Island." 

 The swell was too heavy to allow Mr. Andrews to collect 

 some fine specimens he saw. No one else, he observes, has 

 met with this sponge in Ireland but Mr. M'Colli and liini- 

 self, the former in Roundstone Bay, and the latter on the 

 coast of Kerry. It has never been met with on the south 

 coast, as mentioned by Bowerbank. 



