1889.] . MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 197 



Forensic Microscopy, or the Microscope in its Legal Relations.* 



By W. J. LEWIS, M. D., 



HARTFORD, CONN. 



The occasion which brings us together at this the Twelfth Annual 

 Meeting of our National Organization is one of unusual interest. Ours 

 is a society composed of persons representing every department of natu- 

 ral science, diligent seekers after truths, penetrating more and more as 

 the years roll on the innermost secrets of nature and lifting the shroud- 

 ing veil of mystery from the dogmas of old ; its members engaged in 

 special pursuits, apparently widely separated, into which, partly from 

 taste, partly from environment, we have as individuals been led, yet 

 united in the one distinctive field of requiring the aid of that king of in- 

 struments, the microscope, in our varied and multitudinous investiga- 

 tions. 



Coming from widely-separated parts of a great country, we meet once 

 a year to glean from one another the experiences of a twelvemonth ; 

 to acquire in a few days, through such interchange of ideas and thought, 

 a practical knowledge -which might otherwise necessitate years of un- 

 aided individual work to encompass. It is surprising that the need of 

 such an organization should ever have been questioned ; surprising, too, 

 that its necessity was not sooner appreciated. 



No instrument yet devised by the ingenuity of man equals the micro- 

 scope in its universal application to research in the broad domain of 

 science, and this evening I purpose to call your attention, in a brief 

 way, to some of its special relations to jurisprudence. 



Taking advantage of that subtle power of the human mind to ignore 

 space, let us for a moment glance into the past, that we may better ap- 

 pi-eciate the present status of science ; briefly review some of its victo- 

 ries over superstition and ignorance and recall to mind those who, hav- 

 ing gone before, have laid much of the foundation for that edifice 

 wherein rapidly-increasing knowledge is enlightening its devoted stu- 

 dents. 



Medical jurisprudence, to which science the microscope, in its legal 

 relations, is most closely allied, dates from the early part of the seven- 

 teenth century, when the first treatise' on forensic medicine appeared, a 

 work written by Zacchias, then one of the Pope's physicians. In it he 

 devoted chapters to prophecy, miracle, sorcery, torture, and kindred 

 subjects. Suffice it to say, this once able work by the father of legal 

 medicine is no longer cited as an authority. The new-born science, re- 

 ceiving little encouragement in Italy, was soon transplanted to Ger- 

 many, where it was carefully nurtured under government protection 

 until the favorable legislation of 1532 made it obligatory on courts- to 

 take the evidence of medical men in all cases involving medico-legal 

 questions. From that time, aided by subsequent legislation, until the 

 present Germany has held her supremacy in forensic medicine. The 

 work of Zacchias was superseded as early as 1730 by the justly-cele- 

 brated productions of Albertus, Valentina, and Teichmeyer. 



France, in about 1600, enacted laws similar to those then in vogue 

 in Germany, and made considerable progress in the science until 1692, 



* Annual address before the American Society of Microscopists, read at the Buffalo meeting, August 

 24, 1889. 



