APPLICATIONS OF THE MICROSCOPE. 113 



examine the hatchet ; and to such a man as 

 Orfila his request was not refused. Orfila, on 

 submitting the blood and the hairs to the scru- 

 tiny of the Microscope, ascertained that the 

 hairs were the hairs of a deer, and the blood 

 the blood of the same animal, which the accused 

 HAD SAID he had found wounded, and had killed 

 with his hatchet, as he returned from his daily 

 toils ! Orfila communicated the results of his 

 microscopic trial a thrilling sensation ran 

 through the audience the counsel were con- 

 founded the judge felt himself constrained, at 

 the eleventh hour, to find that the charge was 

 not proved, and the pannel was released from 

 the bar, and as from under the sharp axe of the 

 guillotine. The worth of the testimony of the 

 Microscope, and the justice of the decision of 

 the court, were soon proved to the satisfaction 

 of all, for the real murderer was thereafter dis- 

 covered, acknowledged his guilt, and was exe- 

 cuted. 



(2.) As in this last case the Microscope saved 



the innocent, so in our own country it has often 



condemned the guilty. Many melancholy proofs 



have recently appeared, that unprincipled mem- 



H 



