42 
occupants of the room from which taken; from finger-nail, 
deposits the food, occupation, habits, and whereabouts 
of the person from whom they were taken, for a week or 
so prior to that time; and often substantially the same 
information from a shred of clothing, or even from knives 
or other articles much handled by him. The microsco- 
pist can identify beyond question deer or other game 
meat or blood, as against beef, chicken, etc., and often 
such things as soil on a boot as being the same as that 
taken from the locality of a fire or other offense, hair on 
a blanket as that from a particular horse, or human hair as 
that from a certain suspect. « 
The microscopist, chemist, or other scientist, however, 
is not the only expert who can serve us. The dentist (as 
to teeth marks, etc.), the shoemaker, the blacksmith, the 
locksmith, the printer or other paper expert, the observant 
clothing or dry-goods merchant, or any other man who 
works in some special line can often tell us more than we 
can see ourselves respecting some clue relating to their 
specialty. The investigator must be constantly on the 
lookout for chances to make use of such help. Anything 
requiring expert help of a kind not locally available 
should be submitted to the district forester or the matte 
taken up with him, unless it is possible to get quicker 
help, as, for example, in the case of fingerprints, from the 
experts of the police department of some near-by city. 
It should also be borne in mind that expert testimony 
which is usually in the nature of opinion rather than fact, 
must be given by the expert responsible for it and not by 
proxy, and arrangements should be anticipated for hir 
attendance at court. 
ORAL AND DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE. 
Material clues or objects of evidence will seldom or 
never be all that is necessary to prove a case. If no mate¬ 
rial clues can be found, the only recourse is to investigate 
until some person or persons can be discovered who know 
something about the offense and the offender. This takes 
time, patience, and skill, often more than the adminis¬ 
trative ranger feels he can spare; but it must be done. 
