m the
unjust accusations of interested rogues. The range of observations in
investigations of written documents with the microscope is a broad
one. We may begin with the characteristics of the paper upon which the
writing is made, which may enable us to ascertain many facts of
importance; for instance, a great similarity might indicate, with
associated facts, that the documents were prepared at about the same
time. A marked dissimilarity might also have an important bearing upon
the case. The difference of the paper may exist in the character of
the fibres composing it, the finish of the paper whether rough or
smooth, the thickness, modifying the transmissibility of light, the
color, all of which may be ascertained with the microscope.

"The ink used in the writing may then be examined. If additions have
been made to the document within a reasonable time of its making,
microscopic examination will in all probability demonstrate the
difference by keeping the following facts in view: Some inks in drying
assume a dull, or shining surface; if in sufficient quantity, the
surface may become cracked, presenting, when magnified, an appearance
quite similar, but of a different color, to that of the dried bottom
of a clayey pond after the sun has baked it for a few days. The manner
in which the ink is distributed upon the paper, whether it forms an
even border, or spreads out to some extent, is a factor which may be
also noted. The color of the ink by transmitted or reflected
illumination is also a very important factor. This in one case which I
had in hand proved of great importance and demonstrated the addition
of certain words which completely annulled the value of the document
in a case involving several thousand dollars. And in a certain case
where the lines of a certain document were written over with the idea
of entirely covering the first written words, the different colors of
the inks could not be concealed from the magnified image as seen under
reasonably low powers of the microscope."

The value of the microscope in this field of research is so great and
the facts elicited by it so vital, I wish to emphasize its practical
utility as strongly as possible. Of course the principal object in
such an examination of written or printed documents is the erasures or
additions; then the coloring of different inks applied and the mode of
their execution. As to erasures, this can be accomplished in two ways,
either by the use of