smaller corpuscles were consistent with the presence of sheep's blood." The jury disagreed as to their verdict, but the majority were in favor of the defendant. Under the circumstances, the government being satisfied that there was no more evidence against Sawyer than against Emerson, and it being doubtful, even, if there had been a murder, consented to the release of the prisoner, upon nominal bail. SEMINAL STAINS. The seminal fluid is a viscous and opaline fluid of peculiar odor and slight alkaline reaction. It contains about eighty-five per cent. of water and fifteen per cent. of solid constituents. But little is known in regard to the nature of these solids beyond the fact that they contain albuminous principles, extractive matters, a small amount of fat, and salts. The latter are principally calcium phosphate and sodium in combination as albuminates. There are no characteristic chemical tests by which this secretion may be identified in a dried stain. Examined by the microscope under a power of three hundred or four hundred diameters, the fluid is seen to contain more or less numerous socalled animalcules, or spermatozoa. These structures consist of a flattened pear-shaped portion called the head, and a long filament or tail. The latter is thickest at the end nearest the head, and has a terminal portion of extreme fineness. The tail is ten or twelve times the length of the head, and on account of its extreme transparency may be invisible except in its thicker portion, thus appearing much shorter than its actual length. The addition of a drop of solution of eosin or of iodine in potassium iodide brings out the entire length of the tail with distinctness. The head at its broadest part is a little more than one third the diameter of the human blood-corpuscle. According to Lehmann, the head measures from 1-5300 to 1-4500 of an inch in length, and from 1-16,000 to 1-9000 of an inch in breadth; the tail has a length of from 1-600 to 1-450 of an inch, but may be, in some specimens, no more than 1-1000. The seminal fluid contains also epithelial scales, mucus-corpuscles, and spherical bodies called seminal granules. Seminal stains on cotton or linen when held near the fire become pale yellow. According to Orfila, this effect of heat is characteristic, and is different from its action upon all other discharges. If moistened with water and warmed, there is developed the peculiar odor of the seminal fluid. These tests must be regarded only as indications, and in no case should a stain be pronounced as of seminal origin unless the microscope shows the presence of spermatozoa. It is true that under certain conditions these bodies may be absent from the secretion, but in such a case there can be no absolute proof that the suspected stain is of spermatic origin. The following method, proposed by Koblanck in 1853, may be adopted for the preparation of specimens for microscopical examination: A portion of the stained linen about one-half inch square is moistened with a few drops of pure water contained in a watch-glass. The glass is covered to protect it from dust, and the linen allowed to absorb the water for an hour or more. The stain should be moistened only, not immersed in the water, and the latter should be in no greater quantity than is sufficient for the purpose. When the stain has been softened it is scraped lightly with a scalpel, a portion transferred to a microscope-slide, a drop of eosin solution added, and covered with a thin glass. Hamlin (Proc. Amer. Soc. Micros., 1883, p. 83) has described a process for the investigation of seminal stains which the writer has found to be much more satisfactory in its results than the usual method. If the stain is upon a fabric of cotton, linen, silk, or wool, a small piece about oneeighth inch square is cut out and laid upon a slide previously moistened with water, and allowed to soak for a half-hour or more, renewing the water as it evaporates. The cloth is then carefully frayed out into threads by needles, and covered with a thin glass for examination. Specimens prepared in this manner show the spermatozoa clinging to the fibers or lying in masses in the meshes of the fabric. By the usual process of soaking and scraping the greater portion of the spermatozoa are destroyed, and in stains of known origin evidence of their presence is only obtainable after long and persistent search, and even then but few specimens are to be found. Hamlin's method shows them at once and without difficulty. The appearance of the spermatozoa under the microscope is highly characteristic, and there can hardly be a mistake in regard to their pres No separated parts should be regarded. Spermatic granules may be mistaken for detached heads, and minute filaments from the stained fabric may appear like portions of the tail. Nothing less than the presence of complete spermatozoa should be deemed conclusive evidence that a stain is of seminal origin. In the examination of stains upon the linen of females careless of personal cleanliness and containing vaginal mucus, there may possibly be observed an animalcule described by Donné (Recherches Microscopiques, Paris, 1837) as trichomonas vagina. This organ ism has four or six short cilia attached to the head; the head is granular, and three or four times larger than that of the spermatozoon. The latter has no cilia, and both in its head and tail is transparent and structureless. Spermatozoa present in dried stains resist decomposition by atmospheric influences, and, if not subjected to abrasion by rough handling, may be detected even after the lapse of several years. BIBLIOGRAPHY. A List of some of the Most Important Publications on the Medical Jurisprudence of Blood-stains. 1848. Schmidt, Carl, "Diagnostik verdächtiger Flecke in Criminalfallen." Milan und Dorpat, 1848. 1852. Freidberg, "Forensische Diagnostik des Blutes." Berlin, 1852. 1857. Robin, "Memoire concernant l'examen à l'aide du microscope de taches de sang," etc. "Annales de Hygiene," 1857, vol. viii., p. 368. 1859. Fleming, C., "Blood-stains." "Amer. Jour. Med. Sciences," 1859, vol. xxxv. 1865. Sorby, "Quarterly Journal of Science." London, 1865, vol. vi., p. 9. 1869. Richardson, J. C., "Amer. Jour. Med. Sciences," 1869, vol. lviii., p. 50. 1869. Sonnenschein, "Handbuch der gerichtlichen Chemie." Berlin, 1869. 1869. Briand, J., et Chaudé, E., "Manuel Complet de Médecine Legale avec une Traité de Chimie Legale par J. Bouis." Paris, 1869. 1873. 1874. 1875. 1875. 1875. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1880. Mialhe (avec Mayet, Lefort, et Cornil), "Instruction pour servir à determiner Richardson, J. C., "Amer. Jour. Med. Sciences," 1874, vol. lxviii., p. 102. Otto, "Anleitung zur Ausmittelung der Gifte und zur Erkennung de Blut- Woodward, J. J., "Blood-Corpuscles of Man and the Dog." "Amer. Jour. Med. Woodward, J. J., "Medical Jurisprudence of Blood-stains." "Trans. Amer. Woodman, W. B., and Tidy, J. M., "Forensic Medicine and Toxicology." Clement, "Conferences pratiques de Médecine Legale." Paris, 1880. 1880. Piper, R. U., "Expert Testimony and the Microscopic Examination of Blood." 1881. Hoffman, "Nouveaux Elements de Médecine Legale." Paris, 1881. "Annales de Hygiene," Paris, 1885, series iii., vol. xiii., p. 393. 1885. Wormley, T., "Microchemistry of Poisons." Second edition, Philadelphia, 1885. 1888. Formad, H. F., "Comparative Studies of Mammalian Blood." "Jour. of Comp. Med. and Surgery," 1888, vol. ix., p. 254. 1890. Ewell, M. D., "North American Practitioner," 1890, pp. 97 and 173. 1892. Bell, C., "Blood-stains in Medical Jurisprudence." New York, vol. x., p. 129. Medico-Legal Journal," 1892. Taylor, A. S., "Manual of Medical Jurisprudence." Philadelphia, 1892. HAIRS AND FIBERS. BY JAMES F. BABCOCK. THE presence upon weapons or the clothing of a defendant of hairs from animals or of various fibers used in the manufacture of textile fabrics has in numerous cases proved to be of great importance in trials for homicide. In the trial of Rubenstein for the murder of Sarah Alexander a fragment of corn-husk and a fiber of wool from the shawl worn by the girl, found attached to a blood-spot upon the boot of the defendant, proved to be very important evidence. Taylor gives the case of a woman accused of murdering her child, upon whose clothing were found spots of blood with hairs from a victorine worn by the victim. In the Piper case, in which the sexton of a church was tried and convicted of the murder of a child in the belfry, a single hair found upon the person of the defendant was claimed by the government to be identical with that cut from the head of the deceased. Hairs found upon weapons or clothing may be from the head or other parts of the human body, or from some domestic animal. As in the case above cited, they may be from the fur of a very large number of animals, of which many varieties are used in different forms as articles of apparel. Fibers may be of silk, wool, cotton, linen, or a mixture of these in the various kinds of textile fabrics employed for clothing. The identification of hairs and fibers is, in most cases, conclusive and satisfactory-i.e., it can be asserted with certainty that a given hair is human or from some animal, and in most cases the animal, or at least, the class to which it belongs, can be determined. The diameters, length, and peculiar markings of hairs when observed in the microscope furnish the means for distinguishing them. Indeed, these are practically the only data by which reliable conclusions can be drawn. Hairs from the human body may be classed in three different varieties: 1. Long, soft hairs from the head, from one to three or more inches in length; 2. Short, thicker, and more rigid hairs from one fourth to one half inch in length, as in the eyelashes; 3. Short and very fine hairs from one twelfth to one sixth of an inch in length, as the down or woolly hairs from the face, back, or extremities. In the microscopic examination of hairs two structures are visible: a median, more or less dark, and somewhat irregularly granular portion, the medulla or pith; and an outer fibrous-looking portion, colored according to the color of the hair, the cortex or cortical portion. Under certain conditions of focussing, hairs from the head show a very light portion in the center, giving the appear Microscopical Appearance of Hairs from Various Sources, and Vegetable and other Fibers. Figs. 22 to 35.-22, horse (back); 23, mouse; 24. cat; 25, chinchilla; 26, large hair from seal; 27, hair from head of female, age, eighteen; 28, hair from head of man after treatment with caustic soda; 29, fine hair from back of hand; 30, from head of child; 31, cross-sections of hairs from the head; 32, silk; 33, cotton; 34, flax; 35, wool. [J. F. Babcock-Del.] |