158 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Jun 



In a recent trial at Middletown, Conn., in the case of 

 the State vs. Hough, for the murder of Chadwick in July 

 last, the microscope furnished important evidence. A red 

 stain on a stone, found at the scene of the homicide, was 

 shown by the microscope to be covered with corpuscles in 

 all respects similar to those of human blood, while min- 

 gled with the blood corpuscles were a few hairs like the 

 hair on the murdered man. Both these discoveries, and 

 the coincidences of the two, gave convincing evidence 

 that the stone in question had been used to make certain 

 scalp wounds on the head of the deceased. 



Although Prof. Ewell, Medico-Legal Journal, Vol. X, 

 page 201, has questioned the possibility of deciding that 

 any hairs examined, or blood corpuscles recovered from a 

 stain, are human, yet when blood corpuscles exactly like 

 those of a man and hair similar to those of a man are 

 found in the same stain it is hard to doubt that both are 

 human. Thus, notwithstanding possible doubt in some 

 cases, the value of the microscope in medico-legal cases 

 is clearly demonstrated. The use of the microscope for 

 the identification of crystals of arsenious acid, (white 

 arsenic,) though not giving absolute proof, as shown in a 

 recent case in New Jersey, continues to be used as an im- 

 portant aid in diagnosis in cases of poisoning. In the cage 

 of State of Connecticut vs. Mrs. Anderson, charged with 

 the murder of her husband by administering rough on 

 rats in coffee, where he died in twelve hours after taking 

 the fatal dose, several hens died in the yard where he 

 vomited. In the crop of one of these hens an octagonal 

 crystal having all the appearance of arsenic was discov- 

 ered and identified by the microscope ; and chemical an- 

 alysis confirmed the diagnosis given by the microscope. 

 In the body,8tomach , liver and kidneys of the murdered 

 man arsenic was obtained by chemical analysis, and crys- 

 tals obtained by Reinsch's test where shown by the mi- 

 croscope to have the octahedral form of arsenious acid. 



