CAUGHT BY CHEMIST

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXIII, Issue 11949, 20 May 1933, Page 9

CAUGHT BY CHEMIST

MODERN CRIMINAL’S FOE.

“Specimens were sent to the Home Office for analysis.” Behind- this statement in crime reports lies a romance of brain pitted against brain, chemist versus criminal.

1 ‘Alost- modern murderers favor arsenic as a poison because it gives rise to symptoms that might easily be mistaken for those of rheumatism ct sciatica,” said Hie. secretary of the British Association of Chemists to a “Tit-Bits” representative. ‘‘.The criminal gambles that the victim will be buried • without question. If, however, it is suspected that the person has been poisoned, the chemist can prove it with amazing suireuess. B? means of the Marsli-Berzelius test uu analyst can detect as little as 1-300'tli grain iu a pound of the suspected material, and this is about a thousand times less than a fatal dose!

SNATCHED FROM THE GUILLOTINE.

,v Fpr many years a chemist has been able to. tell definitely whether a stain on a weapon, or piece of cloth, i s blood or not. But it is only in comparatively accent years that we have been able to say whether it is human or animal blood. Now we. have a test that settles the question definitely by producing a precipitate or not, according to the species of blood. If the blood is fresh an examination with the microscope will decide the matter, for the corpuscles will still be- visible. They will be large if those of an animal, small if human.”

The chemist does not only detect murderers; ho also establishes the innocence of the accused. In Franco some time ago a man suspected of murder affirmed that the stains °n a certain weapon were made by lemon-juice. A chemist washed the stains into a tost tube, applied a chemical solution, and from the violent colour reaction proved that the stains were actually caused by the citric acid of lemon-juice. It was a near thing for the man thus siiathed from the guillotine.

Chemists are often called upon to define the quality of a tuft of hail found near the scene of a crime. They can tell not only whether 'it is human animal,, or vegetable fibre, such as cotton or silk, but, in the latter eases,. can even detect the area of it? manufacture.

Tt is often asked how a tiny speck of blood, perhaps soaked into a cap, or jacket, can provide sufficient matVtiil for a chemical test. The answer i a . that, the most minute particle of •i substance will -often give a violent colour reaction in certain solutions. Ladoux, the French criminal* drugged his victim in bis study', dragged the inert body to the stables,; and there smashed /in the head with T horseshoe tied to the end of a stick. At first it was thought, as the crafty Ladoux intended, that the • victim had been kicked to death by one.of the horses; but in the man's study a dark stain was found on the carpet, 1 and on being examined in tUc police laboratories it was found that the wjric which" had caused the stain contained morphine. ■ ’ ■■ t