APPLICATIONS OF THE MICROSCOPE. 105 



whether skin, that had been exposed to the 

 air for many years, " was human or not ?" 

 " If there are any hairs on the skin/' was the 

 reply, " their examination under the Microscope 

 will at once determine the question/' The an- 

 swer was tested, and passed through the ordeal 

 with triumph. A tradition long existed at 

 Worcester, that, centuries ago, a man had been 

 seized in the very act of robbing the Cathedral, 

 and that for this sacrilege the offender had been 

 flayed alive, and his skin nailed to the door of 

 the Cathedral. A few years ago, the old doors 

 of the Cathedral being under repair, a portion 

 of skin, with two hairs, was found under the 

 rusty hinges of the door. This skin, to which 

 Sir B. Brodie had referred, was placed under 

 the Microscope, and it at once appeared that the 

 old tradition was true, as the hairs on this frag- 

 ment of skin were, beyond a doubt, those of a 

 man ! 



The author of these pages is obligingly in- 

 formed by Mr. Quekett, that there are no less 

 than three other places where human skin has 

 been proved by the Microscope so to exist, at 

 Copford and at Hadstock (both in Essex), and 



