are not produced at the present time by Abiogenesis, they
must have gone on reproducing under their present simple
form, unchanged in all essential respects for countless ages.
For the consideration of those who would hold living matter
to be something mysterious, endowed with a force unlike that
which we see in other things, Haeckel submits the following
grouping:
a. Natural world: simple combinations of the elements,
salts, alcohol, acetic acid, which have been formed synthetically by chemists.
b. Supernatural world: Felspar, Fluorspar, Augite, most
other minerals, albumens, chitin, &c.: all bodies which have
not been artificially made yet, and which, therefore, are said
to have arisen by " creation," that is, by supernatural ways
through some external, mysterious, creative power.
An enumeration of the Monera as they now stand finishes
this most interesting collection of "studies," with which we
will conclude our review.
a. Gymnomonera. Protammba (8 freshwater, 2 marine
species). Protogenes (1 species, marine). Bathybius (1
species, marine).
Lepomonera. Protomonas (1 freshwater, 1 marine species).
Protomyxa (1 spec, marine), Vampyrella (3 freshwater, 1
marine species), Myxastrum (1 spec, marine).
It is probable, the author observes, that the common
Actinophrys sol belongs here. Of the 15 known species
Haeckel described 11, Cienkowski 3, and Huxley 1. They
are widely distributed, occurring in ponds at Jena, in the
Atlantic, and off Norway. It is probable that they will prove
to be very numerous.
Principles
and Practice
of Medical Jurisprudence, by
ALFRED SWAINE TAYLOR, M.D., F.K..S.
London : J. and
A. Churchill.
I F any one will take the trouble to compare this work with
those that have preceded it, he will at once perceive to how
large an extent the study of medical jurisprudence is indebted to inquiries conducted by the aid of the microscope.
It was an early hope of those who had investigated the
tissues of the animal body with the microscope, that one
day its results would influence decisions in our courts of
law, and that its power to detect the nature of blood-produced stains might take from the murderer his too frequent
excuse, that the spots of blood on his garments were those of
69
some of the lower animals. These hopes have been more
than realised by the application of the microscope yto almost
every department of medico-legal inquiry. In the great
work which has been produced by Dr. Taylor, and which
may be justly regarded as the most important and reliable in
the British language, he has everywhere indicated where
the inquiries of the medical jurist may be aided by the use
of the microscope. It would be impossible for us here to go
through the details of this great work on medical jurisprudence, to show where the mici-oscope is needed; but we will
endeavour to pass in review some of the points where medicolegal inquiries may be justly regarded as imperfect without,
the aid of this instrument.
There is a large class of agents derived from both the
mineral and vegetable worlds which act as poisons on the
human system, and which only a few years since were
regarded as impossible of detection but by the agency of
chemical analysis. It is in these cases that recently the
FIG.
1.
microscope has not only come to the aid of the chemist, but
has supplied the means of discovering these agents where
chemistry has entirely failed. Of the many substances from
the mineral kingdom to which we might allude, we refer
70
only to arsenic. This substance, so well known of old to the
criminal poisoner as an agent that might he introduced into
the system without fear of detection on account of the small
quantities required to produce a deadly effect, is now not only
detected by chemists in quantities that could not produce a
poisonous effect, but by the microscope in such small proportions, that even a quantity accidentally introduced by
medicine or other sources can be easily recognised. When
chemical reagents fail dearly to indicate the presence of
arsenic, the process of reduction may be employed, and the
sublimate on the sides of an ordinary glass tube will by
th-e aid of the miscroscope yield conclusive evidence under
the powers of the microscope of the presence of arsenic. We
give here from Dr. Taylor's book the appearance of
sublimated arsenious acid under a glass magnifying 30
diameters (fig. 1).
A solution of the same substance will throw down crystals
by evaporation, which present the same unmistakable forms
as presented by the engraving, showing the same under a
power of 20 diameters.
FIG.
2.
Crystals of arsenious acid by subliination, magnified 20 diameters.
Kg. 3.
Crystals of arsenious acid, ftnagnified 124 diameters, p. 203.
It is calculated that 4 0 ' 0 o th of a grain of arsenic may be
detected in solution by chemical tests, but the microscopical
test is said to be applicable equally to 3 o i u u th of a
grain.
What is true of arsenic is also true of other poisonous agents
belonging to the mineral kingdom. Thus corrosive sublimate,
the bichloride of mercury, and tartarised antimony, the
potassio-tartrate of antimony, have both been too peculiarly
brought before the public as agents by which the secret
poisoner seeks to pi'oduce a destructive effect on the lives of
71
others. These agents are undoubtedly not difficult to detect
by chemical agency, but here again the skilful microscopist
by the aid of his instrument renders almost certain the
presence of these agents where chemical evidence hesitates
with regard to its results. We give the appearance of
crystals of corrosive sublimate and tartar-emetic under a
power of only 30 diameters.
FIG. i.
Crystals of tartar emetic magnified 30 diameters, p. 251.
The substances we have mentioned are those derived from
the mineral kingdom, which are most commonly used for the
purposes of self-destruction or the murder of others. At the
same time it ought not to be forgotten that a large number
of mineral substances requiring to be exhibited in larger
quantity are constantly employed in the destruction of
human life. Of these, the most common are acetate of lead
and oxalic acid. These substances, though easily detected
FIG.
5.
Crystals of corrosive sublimate,
30 diameters, p. 227.
FIG.
6.
FIG.
7.
Mercury sublimed from corrosive sublimate, p. 227.
72
by chemical agents, are also recognisable by the aid of the
microscope, and it is in cases where only small quantities of
the fluids suspected to contain the poison can be procured
for inspection that the microscope lends its invaluable aid.
We give from Dr. Taylor's book illustrations of the crystals
of acetate of lead and oxalic acid as seen under low powers
of the microscope.
PIG.
8.
Acetate of lead magnified 30
diameters.
FIG.
9.
Oxalic acid magnified 30
diameters.
Were it our object here to give an exhaustive account of
where the microscope can be used with advantage in medical
jurisprudence, we could from the pages of Dr. Taylor's work
show how large a number of other mineral poisons may be
detected most successfully by its aid. The salts of potassium,
sodium, barium, and strontium have all occasionally acted as
poisons, and the definite forms which these salts assume even
when crystallised from the weakest solutions are far more
secure guides than any mere chemical analysis.
We follow, however, Dr. Taylor in his illustrations, and
arrive at the group of poisons, which in their separated forms
are known as vegetable alkalies and alkaloids. Here we
have a series of substances which from the earliest times have
been known to exert the power of destroying life. Although
we have to thank chemistry for revealing to us a knowledge
of the existence of these substances in plants where poisonous
powers have been known in all countries and in all times, it
is to the microscope that we are indebted for a knowledge
of the fact that these alkalies and alkaloids have definite
forms by which their presence may be detected in much more
minute quantities than by the aid of chemical analysis. We
know that this position may be controverted by the chemist,
but we know that it could be only controverted by the
chemist who is destitute of that ability to use the microscope
73
which is possessed by few chemists at the present day. The
preparation of liquids and substances containing small quantities of the poisonous agents to which we have alluded is
not to be attained by a rude handling of the microscope,
but can only be acquired by long training in the art of
observation by its aid. It is, in fact, one of the things
to be deplored at the present day, that almost any person
who possesses a microscope thinks that by putting their
eyes at the one end of a microscope they are capable of
making accurate observations on anything they put at the
other end. The fact is, to detect vegetable alkalies and
alkaloids under a microscope requires a special training.
When this training has been accomplished, such alkaloids
as morphine—the • active principle of opium, strychnia—
the alkali of nux vomica, and atropine, and daturia, the
active principles of deadly nightshade and stramonium, may be
easily detected. The following illustrations from Dr. Taylor's
work show the forms of these alkaloids under low power.
FIG.
10.
FIG.
Crystals of morphia, 124 diameters,
p. 293.
PIG.
11.
Crystals of strychnia, 124; diameters, p. 828.
12.
Crystals of strychnia obtained by adding ammonia to the sulphate,
magnified 124 diameters, p. 338.
74
Not only is the microscope of value in detecting the minute
crystals of these poisonous agents, but portions of vegetable
PIG.
13.
Crystals of sulphate of atropia,
30 diameters.
EIG.
U.
Crystals of daturia, 30 diameters,
p. 370.
substances which are taken or administered and act as poisons
on the system, are detected by its aid. Various poisons are
used as medicinal agemtes in the form of powdei?. Thus
savine, foxglove, henb«k©, hemlock, nightshade, tobacco,
and other plants are use«l in the form of powder. These
may all cause death by being taken or given in large
quantities. Chemistry in these cases is entirely unavailable
and useless, but the microscope detects in the intimate
structure of the various parts of the plants peculiarities by
which their presence can be positively indicated. In a large
number of cases coming before our criminal courts, not only
is a knowledge of the crystalline structure of vegetable compounds under the microscope of importance, but also the
structure of vegetable tissues. Poisons are frequently
administered in the form of powder, and portions of the
vomit or contents of the stomach being placed under the
microscope, will by careful inspection be found to reveal the
nature of the poison employed. We make no doubt that a
much larger number of cases of poisoning occur amongst
children from eating poisonous berries and leaves from gardens
and waysides than are at present apprehended. In all cases
where anomalous symptoms set in suddenly with vomiting,
the vomited matter should be submitted to investigation by
the microscope. The number of our native wild plants and
in our gardens that are poisonous are not numerous, and
every medical practitioner should be made acquainted with
the structure of' their tissues under the microscope.
Another curious set of cases in which the microscope is of
75
the utmost importance in our criminal courts is the investigation of the clothes and persons of murderers, and the
suspected instruments of murder with the microscope. Here
a knowledge not only of vegetable but of animal histology is
of the greatest importance. The presence of a cotton hair
or linen fibre, or a human hair upon a knife or other instrument, may by identity with the clothes or hair of a murdered
person become a link in the chain of evidence. The presence
of a human hair under a nail in the sole of a boot has connected the owner of the boot with the crime of trampling on
the face of the dead person he has murdered. The examination of mud and dirt on clothes has connected suspected
persons with the mud and dirt of the ground where persons
have been found murdered. In a case near Hull the skilful
microscopists of that town showed in the presence of peculiar forms of diatomacese on the sole of a boot that the
possessor had been at the spot where a dead man lay murdered.
Of all the applications of the microscope to criminal cases,
the detection of the stains of human blood have gained the
most interest in the public mind. Ever since the discovery
of the persistent character of blood-globules the investigation
of the nature of blood-stains has occupied the attention of
microscopical observers. Unfortunately, however, for medical
jurisprudence, the human blood-globule cannot always be
distinguished from the blood stains of the lower animals.
From a vast number of investigations, more especially those
FIG. 15.
Blood-globules, 319 diameters.
o. Of the horse. 6. Of the sheep, c. Of the common fowl. d. Of the
salamander.
of Mr. Gulliver, the size of the blood-globules of a large
number of the lower animals has been ascertained. Where
the size or the form of the blood-globules of the lower animals
differ much from the human globule they may be dis-
76
tinguished, but it requires a very practised eye to say to
what animal a particular globule belongs. In the accompanying figures the size and form of globules of some of the lower
animals are given approximatively.
The oblong forms of the globules of birds, reptiles, and
fishes are the great distinction of the blood-globules of the
classes below the mammalia. Size is the great distinction
between the various groups of mammalia, but in some
instances, as in the dog, their size approaches so near that of
man, that it is difficult to recognise the difference. It is very
evident that in the present state of our knowledge of this
subject, great caution is required in giving opinions on facts
where the lives of individuals are concerned. It is, however,
a matter for especial regret that these subjects are not
brought more systematically before the mind of the medical
TIG.
16.
FIG.
17.
Blood-corpuscles, 319 diameters.
a. Of the cow. 4. Of the pig. a. Of the dog. b. Of the mouse.
c. Of the ox. d. Of the cat.
c. Of the rabbit, d. Of the ass.
student in his ordinary course of study. It is on the
medical man in ordinary practice that the law, through the
Medical Witnesses' Act, throws the whole burden of making
these investigations, and yet the law gives the right to men
who have, undergone no examination on these subjects to
assume the position of witnesses on these important subjects
in all our courts of law.
There are many other subjects connected with our law
courts in which the microscope is an instrument of the
greatest importance. Thus, in the present volume Dr. Taylor
devotes a chapter to the subject of rape. Some of the most
important points connected with this subject can only be
made out by the aid of the microscope. The detection of
spermatozoa in linen and on the person can only be done
77
by the aid of the microscope, and its use in the hands of
those accustomed to its employment has supplied the most
important evidence in these cases.
Even in the common-place cases which are occurring before
us from day to day, where women are accused of destroying
the lives of children by starving or improper feeding, the
microscope may be used in discovering the nature of food
found in the stomach, and thus to confirm or contradict the
statements of the witnesses.
In past times the causes of sudden death have often been
inscrutable to the medical witnesses in our coroners' courts,
but now that the microscope has revealed pathological conditions inconsistent with life, the mystery of sudden death is
frequently cleared up. This is more especially the case with
that condition of the tissues of the heart known as fatty
degeneration. A person dies suddenly, and to the naked eye
no token is to be found that will account for death, but no
sooner is a portion of the tissue of the heart no bigger than a
mustard-seed placed under the microscope, than the deficiency
of striped tissue and the presence of fatty matter at once reveals
the cause of death. It is very obvious that any mere general
inquiry into the causes of sudden death, or of persons found
dead at the present day, without a thorough examination of
the body after death by a skilled person, must be unsatisfactory, but it will also be seen that in a large proportion of
cases, unless the medical witness who is called upon to
make the inspection is thoroughly acquainted with the use
of the microscope, his conclusions may be altogether erroneous.
Just in proportion as the facts collected by microscopic observers are found to bear more or less on the causes of death
or other incidents connected with our legal courts, is it
important that the medical evidence should be given by men
thoroughly instructed and competent to observe with the
microscope. Dr. Taylor even raises the question in this
work, as to whether it is possible to instruct the ordinary
medical practitioner in such a way as to make him a reliable
witness on microscopic points in a court of law. At any rate,
it appears that the time is coming when encouragement should
be given to the special education of a class of men who should
be independent of all the calls of practice, and who, by their
great knowledge of subjects involving microscopic examination, should be called in, in all cases where such acquirements
may be required in cases before our coroners and criminal
courts.