i, 
by the aid of the microscope, and its use in the hands of 
those accustomed to its employment has supplied the most 
important evidence in these cases. 
Eyen in the common-place cases which are occurring before 
us from day to day, where women are accused of destroying 
the lives of children by starving or improper feeding, the 
microscope may be used in discovering the nature of food 
found in the stomach, and thus to confirm or contradict the 
statements of the witnesses. 
In past times the causes of sudden death have often been 
inscrutable to the medical witnesses in our coroners’ courts, 
but now that the microscope has revealed pathological con- 
ditions inconsistent with life, the mystery of sudden death is 
frequently cleared up. This is more especially the case with 
that condition of the tissues of the heart known as fatty 
degeneration. A person dies suddenly, and to the naked eye 
no token is to be found that will account for death, but no 
sooner is a portion of the tissue of the heart no bigger than a 
mustard-seed placed under the microscope, than the deficiency 
of striped tissue and the presence of fatty matter at once reveals 
the cause of death. It is very obvious that any mere general 
inquiry into the causes of sudden death, or of persons found 
dead at the present day, without a thorough examination of 
the body after death by a skilled person, must be unsatis- 
factory, but it will also be seen that in a large proportion of 
cases, unless the medical witness who is called upon to 
make the inspection is thoroughly acquainted with the use 
of the microscope, his conclusions may be altogether erroneous. 
Just in proportion as the facts collected by microscopic ob- 
servers are found to bear more or less on the causes of death 
or other incidents connected with our legal courts, is it 
important that the medical evidence should be given by men 
thoroughly instructed and competent to observe with the 
microscope. Dr. Taylor even raises the question in this 
work, as to whether it is possible to instruct the ordinary 
medica] practitioner in such a way as to make him a reliable 
witness on microscopic points in a court of law. At any rate, 
it appears that the time is coming when encouragement should 
be given to the special education of a class of men who should 
be independent of all the calls of practice, and who, by their 
great knowledge of subjects involving microscopic examina- 
tion, should be called in, in all cases where such acquirements 
may be required in cases before our coroners and criminal 
courts. 
