242 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XX. No. 508 



away in a seed catalogue, a weekly agricultural paper, or even a 

 college monthly. Fortunately there is a growing tendency to 

 have articles reprinted and distributed more or less freely among 

 contemporaries. In addition to these various channels of publica- 

 tion, we have the thousands of books, pamphlets, and sheets de- 

 voted more or less to botanical subjects. 



It is obviously impossible for a station botanist to have ready 

 access to even a tenth-part of the accumulated literature. It is 

 only at the larger public institutions that an attempt toward com- 

 pleteness is made. 



But in botany, as in other sciences, the period has long since 

 been reached when classification of its literature was necessary. 

 Thus with the proper aids it is possible for ev^pry botanist to be- 

 come fairly familiar with the literature on any subject. 



Probably there are as many opinions as there are station bota- 

 nists as to the selection to be made of these aids, and it is the ob- 

 ject of this paper to give one opinion out of the many. 



First, as to the periodicals; assuming, as is generally the case, 

 that the funds for library purposes are quite limited. Most of us 

 take from our own country at least the Botanical Gazette and the 

 Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. The latter is especially 

 useful for its "Index to Recent Literature Relating to American 

 Botany." 



Of foreign periodicals I would mention the Botanisches Cen- 

 tralblatt, for its "Referate," under which heading are given 

 classified reviews of important articles, and for its " Neue Lit- 

 teratur," which is an index, and a very complete one, to the cur- 

 rent literature in all languages; the Revue Generate de Botanique, 

 for its excellent reviews of the work done in various departments 

 of botany during a given period ; and the Societatum Litterae, 

 giving monthly a classified list of articles published in the pro- 

 ceedings of scientific societies. 



All will agree that by far the most important work is Just's 

 Botamscher Jahresbericht . This gives an abstract, long or short, 

 according to importance, of all the botanical articles published 

 during the year. It is well indexed and classified. 



Most of the station botanists are working more or less in special 

 lines. The above-mentioned works will enable him to get at least 

 the titles, and often an abstract of the contents, of neatly all the 

 articles that have been published on his special subject. The most 

 difHcult period to cover is the last few months. Just's Jahres- 

 bericht is about two years behind, and the Centralblatt usually at 

 least a few months. 



Having at hand the titles and authors on a given subject, it is 

 often desirable, or even necessary, to obtain the articles. Books, 

 pamphlets, and reprints can usually be picked up through dealers 

 in second-hand books. Separate numbers of the current periodi- 

 cals and proceedings can usually be obtained. There remain such 

 articles as are to be found only in the back numbers of serials. 

 These are often very important and difficult to obtain. It is out 

 of the question to think of purchasing these expensive works, for 

 station libraries have too limited an income for this purpose. 

 A good way is to be on the lookout for separate volumes contain- 

 ing the articles desired. But this requires some knowledge of the 

 serials. 



Three important works for this purpose and for botanical bibli- 

 ograpby in general are Pritzel's ''Thesaurus Literaturae Botani- 

 cae," Bolton's "Catalogue of Scientific Periodicals," and Scudder's 

 "Catalogue of Scientific Serials." 



After one obtains all the articles possible in this way, there will 

 still be many that are unattainable. For these one must consult 

 a large library. Short articles can then be copied, and notes can 

 be taken of long ones. Photography will doubtless, in the future, 

 play an important part in copying rare articles and plates. This 

 can be done at a comparatively small expenditure of time and 

 money, and has the immense advantage of being certainly cor- 

 rect. 



I have said nothing about the selection of general works of 

 reference and other books, as this depends so much on individual 

 opinion and the line of work followed; but the above-mentioned 

 aids to the botanist seem to me to be a necessary part of the equip- 

 ment of every experiment station. 



Agricultural College Experiment StatloD, Maubattac, Kacsas. 



FORENSIC MICROSCOPY. 



HARDING, B.SC, PH.D. 



Forensic Microscopy, like Forensic Medicine, has a close con- 

 nection to law; it also deals with cases which are closely inter- 

 woven with the administration of justice, and with questions 

 that involve the civil rights and social duties of individuals, the 

 detection of poisons as well as the treatments of the recovery of 

 poison^from the poisoned. More and more in the history of the 

 criminal courts is the demand occasioned for the application of 

 the microscope, and microscopical toxicology. Although of late 

 a certain line of medico-legal research has been obliged to com- 

 bat with the works of the undertaker, who, when preserving the 

 bodies of the dead, employs preservative compounds, largely 

 composed of arsenical and mercurial compounds, while there is 

 no question as to their preservative properties, yet the question 

 arises, Is it good policy, is it for the good of the community at 

 large, to employ embalming fluids composed of such poisonous 

 substances? Criminals may easily hide their heinous crimes by 

 having their victims embalmed, and who is there to tell which 

 of the poisons was administered by the hand of the coward who 

 did not dare to do his work before the world and openly, who for 

 pecuniary or other reasons sought this road to remove a good 

 man, nay, perhaps the man least to be spared, and who is there- 

 to identify the poison introduced by legitimate (?) means from 

 that introduced with murderous designs? Yet, despite this op- 

 posing energy, despite the seemingly unsurmountable difficulties 

 which surround forensic microscopy and toxicology on every 

 side, we are still making progress and demonstrate that " forensic 

 microscopy " is destined to be a branch of science which cannot 

 be ignored, try as the opposers may. 



If we measure the future by the work and benefits the micro- 

 scope has done in the past, it will be seen that a very bright pros- 

 pect is awaiting us indeed. No instrument yet devised by the 

 ingenuity of man can compare with the microscope in its universal 

 application to research in the broad domain of science, and I 

 will endeavor in a brief way to call attention to a few of its spe- 

 cial relations to law. 



The direct application of the microscope to law dates back to 

 about 1835, and ever since that time it has made a record for itself 

 in convicting the guilty and protecting the innocent. The expe- 

 dient taught to us by Albertus in 1226, that the victim's wounds 

 would open afresh in the presence of the slayer, or the custom 

 honored from time immemorial of watching the effect upon the 

 suspected criminal as he touched the dead body of his supposed 

 victim, we no longer are obliged to resort to. In the early age- 

 of forensic microscopy, its applifation was simply confined to a 

 few questions of criminal law; but the more it attained perfect- 

 ness in lenses, the excellent means of determining minute meas- 

 urements, the adaptation of the spectroscope, and numerous valu- 

 able mechanical appliances, it has claimed so much attention in 

 civil and criminal law that its usefulness cannot be denied. 

 Although the microscope has played a very important part for a 

 number of years in noted criminal and civil cases, its proper rela- 

 tion to law seems to be little understood. It is true that many 

 underrate its value, and throw aside all testimony attained! 

 through its use as worthless, while others again largely overrate- 

 its powers. It is a well-known fact, though an unfortunate exist- 

 ing condition of affairs, that persons are permitted to give ex- 

 pert testimony in branches where they have but little more knowl- 

 edge than the court before whom they testify. It is largely from- 

 this cause that so much discredit has been thrown upon the whole- 

 field of expert testimony, especially in this country. This condi- 

 tion of fact does not alone relate to forensic microscopy, but it 

 has invaded all branches of expert testimony. 



When, however, persons expert in the use of the microscope- 

 are called upon to give testimony, there ought not to be any disa- 

 greement as to the result of the examination they may make; as, 

 for instance, if they examine a stain, and blood corpuscles are- 

 found by one, it should be verified by the other; and, if measure- 

 ments of these corpu.scles are made, their measures should cor- 

 respond without a doubt. There should be no difference on sucb 

 matters of fact, though this is not meant to imply that they shouM 



