of the animal source depends may be absent in any single hair. Thus the medulla of human hairs—whose appearance and relative diameter to that of the entire shaft are important features-disappears in some sections of the hair, especially near the point; the pigment-granules also, whose size and distribution are characteristic of human hairs, may be nearly or quite lacking in individual specimens.

The domestic animals whose hairs approach most nearly in structure those from man are the dog and cow; yet the distinction is rarely difficult to one familiar with them all.

Thorough study of the structural peculiarities of hairs from all available sources must precede the attempt to identify given hairs in a judicial inquiry.

The usual method of preparing hairs for microscopic examination is to wash thoroughly with water, dry carefully, immerse in turpentine oil, and mount in Canada balsam.

1, Hair of ox (x 200). 2, Pig's bristle (x 200). 3, Cat's hair (X 200). 4, Mouse's hair (X200). 5, Horse's hair (X200). 6, Donkey's hair (x 200). 7, Goat's hair (x 200).

DEATH FROM POUNDED GLASS AND OTHER MECHANICAL IRRITANTS.

SHARP-CORNERED or pointed objects, especially particles of glass, are popularly supposed to be an efficient means of producing death, and have been considerably resorted to, more particularly by the insane, for the purpose of suicide; they have also occasionally been administered with homicidal intent.

Although such articles are frequently spoken of as poisons, they are not such in the true acceptation of the word. They are practically insoluble, and do not, therefore, enter the circulation. Their effects are not produced after absorption, but are purely mechanical and local. They do not, consequently, strictly come under the head of poisons, but are included in the expression "other noxious things" of the statutes.

While any object with sharp points or angles is capable of producing gastro-intestinal irritation, the article of greatest interest from a medicolegal standpoint is pounded glass, and this, therefore, deserves chief

attention.

Pounded glass is commonly looked upon as extremely dangerous when taken internally, and is often spoken of as an efficient "poison." There can be no question that the ingestion of particles of glass of a certain size may lead to such injury of the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines as to cause death. A number of cases are on record of its fatal use, and in Russia death from its criminal administration is said not to be infrequent. It is a favorite method of destroying certain of the lower animals, like dogs, rats, and mice, and its efficiency has led to its extensive use by the official rat-catchers of Manila and of other Oriental cities in their war against the rodent. propagators of the plague.

3

Still there can be no doubt that the dangers of broken glass and of other similar objects have been greatly overestimated. The results of experiments and the experience of professional glass-eaters indicate that they are far less dangerous than is commonly supposed. Glass suitably powdered has even been proposed as a remedial agent, Johns claiming that it is an efficient vermifuge and, if properly pulverized, is harmless; and in some parts of Russia there is a popular belief that it is a valuable

1 See page 300 in section on General Principles of Toxicology.

2 Virchow's Jahresbericht, 1893, vol. i., p. 505.

3 Med. Record, vol. Ixiv., p. 25.

4

Lancet, February 19, 1825, p. 217.

remedy in certain diseases. Death, however, has sometimes resulted from its use for this purpose.'

Observations made by one of the writers (Haines) in conjunction with Dr. E. F. Ingals on a professional glass-eater are of interest in this connection. He was a strong young negro who claimed and appeared to be in excellent health. He gained a livelihood by exhibiting himself in cheap museums and at fairs as a glass-eater. He voluntarily placed himself in our hands for scientific investigation. On one occasion he ate, in our presence and at our office, the following articles, all being provided by us personally: half a dozen six-inch test-tubes, two goodsized lamp chimneys, an ordinary four-ounce medicine bottle, two picces of window-glass, each four inches square, and three slips of colored glass each an inch wide and three inches long. In eating them he bit the glass off, chewed it up, and swallowed it much as if it had been any ordinary article of food. He asserted that he could distinguish by the taste glass of different colors, and it was for this purpose that the colored slips were given him. He was thoroughly blindfolded when he ate them, but he promptly indicated the color.

Before and after eating the glass the man's mouth and throat were carefully examined by Dr. Ingals with a mirror and laryngoscope. They were found perfectly normal except that the gums and inside of the cheeks were whiter and thicker than normal, and, after eating the glass, they were bleeding from a number of small cuts. The man was kept under observation for several hours after eating the articles mentioned, but he at no time showed the least unfavorable symptom. At the end of the first hour slight emesis was provoked by tickling the fauces. The vomited matter consisted of partially digested food mixed with a large number of fragments of glass and an excessive amount of thick mucus, The man admitted that he had eaten a hearty meal before submitting to the test, and that this was his custom before each exhibition. He died two or three years subsequently from a subacute gastro-enteritis, presumably from the irritation produced by his long-continued glass-eating. Gracy reports another case of glass-eating very similar to the above, and the experiments of Lesauvage, published at Paris in 1810 in an inaugural dissertation,3 are of similar import. He states that 23 drams of pounded glass were given to a cat without injury, and that a dog took 6 or 7 ounces in eight days without suffering the slightest inconvenience, although care was taken to administer it while the animal was fasting and the fragments were frequently a line in length. He himself swallowed a considerable number of pieces, up to 2 millimeters (0.08 inch) long, without producing any bad effect.

2

A consideration of such facts as the above has led some medicolegal authorities (compare the first case under Illustrative Cases, below) to question altogether the dangerous properties of pounded glass, forgetting the

' Virchow's Jahresbericht, loc. cit.

2 Med. and Surg. Reporter, 1888, vol. lviii.,

p. 61.

3 Lesauvage, Recherches sur les effets du verre et des substances vitriformes portés à l'intérieur des organes digestifs.