116 The Microscope. 



REVIEWS. 



Micro-Chemistry of Poisons, including their Physiological, Patho- 

 logical, and Legal Relations ; with an appendix on the detection 

 and microscopic discrimination of hlood. By Theodore G. Worm- 

 ley, M. D., Ph. D., LL. D., 8 vo. pp. 784, 96 illustrations on steel. 

 Second edition. J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1885. 

 Price, $7.50. 



The second edition of this valuable work is just from the 

 press. The purpose of the author has been to prevent the study 

 of the chemical properties of poison as revealed by the aid of 

 the microscope. How well this has been carried out, all readers 

 of the first edition are aware. It is an acknowledged fact that 

 in this department, Prof. Wormley stands without a rival ; in 

 fact, he is so far removed, by his superiority, from other writers 

 on the subject that he stands alone as the only authority. 



We are first given the definition of a poison, causes which 

 modify the effects of poisons, their classification, evidences of 

 poisoning, and the various re-agents used. Then follows a 

 study of the inorganic poisons and vegetable poisons. The 

 " appendix " consists of about fifty pages on the Nature, Detec- 

 tion, and Microscopic Discrimination of Blood. The author 

 says that in medico-legal practice, when any account is given 

 of a suspected stain, the primary question usually presents 

 itself under one or other of the following forms : 1st. Is the sus- 

 pected stain blood ? 2d. Is it the blood of an oviparous animal ? 

 3d. Is it, or may it be, that of a specific mammal, or may it be 

 human blood? We read — " It has been asserted that the crys- 

 tals from the blood of different animals differ somewhat in 

 appearance ; but this is an error, since they are essentially the 

 same in form and character as produced from the blood of all 

 vertebrate animals." 



Another conclusion reached is given thus — " Hence, then, 

 the microscope may enable us to determine with great certainty 

 that a blood is not that of a certain animal and is consistent 

 with the blood of man ; but in no instance does it, in itself, 

 enable us to say that the blood is really human, or indicate 

 from what particular species of animal it was derived." 



The steel engravings are works of art of themselves ; none 



