MISCELLANEOUS. 191 



An Erroneous Judgment respecting Apparent Stains of Blood, 



A murder having been committed in France, and a rusty sabre 

 and knife found in the possession of a person accused of the mur- 

 der, they were pronounced by a medical man, to be actually spot- 

 ted with blood, and certainly used in the commission of the mur- 

 der, notwithstanding the spots resembled rust rather than blood. 



Mr. Vauquelin was therefore desired to examine these spots 

 chemically, to determine their nature. For this purpose he scrap- 

 ed oif from the sabre some of the red matter, and put it into a 

 small glass tube closed at one end, and stopped the other with a 

 strip of litmus paper, which had been previously turned red by an 

 acid. The tube and red powder were then heated by a lamp, a 

 yellow steam was produced, which restored the reddened paper 

 to its original blue. 



The same experiment was made with the powder scraped from 

 the knife, and the same elFects were produced. As this alteration 

 of the color showed the presence of volatile alkali in the red spots, 

 and this alkali is well known to be present in all animal matters, 

 the suspicion? previously raised, were considerably strengthened ; 

 but Mr. Vauquelin was not thoroughly satisfied. 



The experiment was therefore made with rust scraped from a 

 piece of iron found by accident in the Judge's closet, which gave 

 the same result as the other rust ; and thus destroyed the suspicions 

 that the unguarded assertion of the medical man had occasioned. 



These experiments prove that when rust is formed in houses, it 

 is capable of absorbing and even retaining the volatile alkaline va- 

 pors usually floating in the air in inhabited rooms. Rust also ap- 

 pears to absorb animal vapors, for in the experiments some traces 

 of a brown oil were observed on the surface of the glass tube. 



Mr, Laugier has examined some rust found in his own laborato- 

 ry, and not only confirmed the observations of Mr. Vauquelin, but 

 also detected the presence of sulphuric acid in the rust. 



[Lond. Mech. Joiirn. 



Recoveri/ from DroToning, 



M. Bourgeois had occasion accidentally to give assistance in a 

 «:ase, where, after a person had been 20 minutes under water, he 

 was taken out, and by a very common but serious mistake, carried 

 with his head downwards. The usual means were tried unremit- 

 tingly, but unsuccessfully, for a whole hour, but at the end of that 

 time, a little blood flowed from a vein that had been opened, and 

 a ligature being placed on the arm, ten ounces of blood were with- 

 drawn : the circulation and respiration were then gradually re- 

 established, horrible convulsions, and a frightful state of tetanus 

 coming on at the same lime ; copious bleeding was again effected, 

 after which a propensity to sleep came on ; a third bleeding the 

 following morning was followed by the recovery of the patient. 

 Mence M. Bourgeois concludes that the means of recovering a 

 drowned person, should never be al)andoned, until the decomposi- 

 tion of the bodv has commenced. {Bull. Univ., C xt. 213. 



