The Microscope. 15 



" Fourth of July style," as is so frequently done by those who mount 

 elides in which the circle is the only redeeming feature. 



This process will leave the muscles, etc., in their natural posi- 

 tion, which would not be the case had the insect been first dried. 



" CAN HUMAN BONE BE TOLD FROM OTHER BONE 

 BY MD OF THE MICROSCOPE ?" 



C. H. STOWELL, M. D., F. R, M. 8. 

 Professor of Histology and Microscopical Technology, University of Michigan, 



A CASE recently came under my observation. It was very 

 ■*■ ^ important to the prosecution to decide whether certain small 

 pieces of bone were human or not. 



There was the strongest circumstantial evidence to show that 

 after this murder was committed the criminal took an ax and 

 chopped the body into small pieces and burned it in a large box 

 stove. Afterwards, fearing detection, he took the ashes from the 

 stove and threw them near a stump in a yard where several animals 

 were in the habit of gathering. Several small pieces of bone were 

 here found. If it could be proved that these pieces were from 

 human bone it would be an additional link in a very complete chain 

 of circumstantial evidence. 



A careful investigation of the subject led me to believe that 

 never before had such a question been raised in the courts. Practi- 

 cal experience had shown me that there was a difference between 

 the compact bones of man and many of the lower animals. What 

 was this difference? Was it definite enough to enable one to put 

 himself on record as to just wherein this difference consisted ? In 

 the. case of the compact bones of the ox, for instance, the lacunae 

 appear smaller, and the number of Haversian canals with their sys- 

 tem of lamellae, more numerous than in man ; but how accurate 

 would this test be if certain compact bones from man were compared 

 with certain less compact bones fr'om the ox ? And how general 

 could such a test be made in the case of many other animals ? 



As a result of some labor in this line I was obliged to testify 

 substantially as follows : If the question were between a certain 

 known bone from man and a certain known bone from the ox or 

 from any of the lower animals, I believed the microscope would 

 enable us, many times, to decide to which animal the bone belonged, 

 even when we were in the possession of a comparatively small piece. 



In answer, however, to the very general question at the head of 

 this article a general negative must be given. 



