188 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [August, 



the cotton had been packed about the wounds in order to stanch the flow 

 of blood and thus insure greater safety in its transmission from place 

 to place. 



Captain Villiers picked the cotton out and placed it upon his table. 

 Captain Villiers used to be a doctor, and his examination of the cotton 

 led him to believe that the murder must have been committed some time 

 after midnight. Some of the absorbent material was still soft with 

 blood, and there was a pool of fresh blood in one corner of the trunk. 



Careful examination of the cotton revealed other things to the officer. 

 He found a lock of dark brown hair, which was almost as fine as a 

 w^oman's. but not so glossy. This was the only possible tangible clew 

 as to the identity of the victim. The lock of hair was placed under a 

 microscope. It was found to \)e filled with blood and particles of cot- 

 ton. The lock looked as though it had been chopped oft' with a blunt 

 instrument. It had not been pulled out of the scalp, but the hairs were 

 all of uneven length, and looked as though they might have come off" 

 the cranium near the forehead. The inside of the cover was bespattered 

 with blood. vSome of the life fluid had trickled down the exterior of 

 the trunk, presumably when the body was dragged out upon the ground. 

 There were no marks on the trunk, and aside from the lock of hair 

 there was absolutely nothing left for the officers to hold for identification. 



Investigating the effect of remedies by the Microscope. — A 



new method of research, savs Dr. Schneidemiihl. has been proposed by 

 Prof. Ellenberger and Dr. Baum who. by means of the microscope, 

 study the effect of drugs on organs. The remedies or drugs were ad- 

 ministered to animals, and these having been killed their livers were 

 sectioned in order to find out if the liver cells showed the regular dark 

 granulation of rest, or if on account of increased activity they showed 

 only faint granulation at their periphery. The hepatic activity was 

 found to be stimulated by pilocarpin, muscarin, aloes, salicylate of soda, 

 benzoate of soda, while atropin. sulphate of magnesia, acetate of lead, 

 hydro-chlorate of ammonia, and calomel were inhibitory. — yournal 

 R. M. S.. page 1060. 



Naphthol alpha, — This drug is reported by ^Slaximowitsch as an 

 antiseptic of extraordinar}- efficiency in hindering the development of 

 pathogenic micro-organisms. In solutions containing from i to 2^ 

 parts of the drug in 10,000 of liquid, it intercepts the propagation of the 

 lyphoid and the Tuberctdose bacilli ; while it is reported to be 700 

 times less active in specific physiological effect on the human organism 

 than Mercury Bin-iodide. As to its anti-zymotic effect — i part of 

 alpha-naphthol to 10,000 of glucose-solution j^revents the latter from 

 passing into alcoholic fermentation. — ^lercFs Bulletin^ vol. /, p. J2. 



Miss Ella M. Drury, of Natick. Alass., has been in charge of the 

 department of microscopv at the Martha's Vineyard Summer Institute. 

 She teaches the use of turn-table and cell-making; balsam, dry and 

 fluid mounts ; caustic potash preparations, staining and double staining 

 of ferns, sections, and animal tissues; section cutting of both vegetable 

 and animal materials. Dishes, bottles, microscope, microtome, all 

 media, reagents, and materials are furnished. The laboratory is open 

 from 8 A. M. to 6 P. M. The five-weeks' term closes August loth. 



