On the guaiacum process for the detection of blood in medico-legal cases : the antozone test / by Alfred S. Taylor.

  • Taylor, Alfred Swaine, 1806-1880.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the guaiacum process for the detection of blood in medico-legal cases : the antozone test / by Alfred S. Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    porcelain the guaiacum and peroxide may be mixed in like proportions in order to compare the results. This experiment should also be performed with a watery solution of the red colouring matter of blood. 7. If no solid coagulum can be obtained from the article under examination, or if the stain has been so washed as to dif- fuse the blood in a most diluted form over a large surface or through the fibres, then the only process available is to apply the guaiacum and peroxide directly to the stuff, not only where it is stained, but where it is not stained, and after a time press these portions while still wet on a surface of white blotting paper. The blue colour not visible on the dark stuff will become visible on the wdiite paper. This, when proper precau- tions are taken, will indicate the presence of blood. 8. This process, like the spectroscopic examination of blood, enables the operator to say that the results, if affirmative, show that the red colouring matter of a red-blooded animal is present. It does not indicate whether the blood has been derived from the human body, or from any one of the four great classes of animals,—mammalia, birds, reptiles and fishes. Then, in reference to the body, it throws no light upon the questions, -whether the blood is arterial or venous, derived from the male or the female, or from a foetus, adult or aged person. Under all these varied conditions the chemical * results of the guaiacum process are the same. It will be seen from these remarks that the use of guaiacum adds another and valuable chemical test to those hitherto employed for the detection of blood. It enables a chemist to speak with reasonable certainty to the presence of blood when in very small quantities, and to trace it in those cases in which an attempt has been made to remove the marks by washing. On the other hand, when the results are negative, it enables him to say that a suspected stain w'as not caused by blood— a fact of considerable importance in some medico-legal in- quiries.