tle old
ladies, and from their manner I should say they were by no means
convinced of the existence of William's brother Joseph.

The Oxford boys, by the way, insisted on chairing little William to the
"Blue Pig," down the Wilborough Road, and tried to induce him to enjoy
himself, but as he declined to touch anything stronger than gingerbeer,
there was no great harm done.

Mr. Sawyer stayed a couple of days with us, and offered us the cottage
free for next August, to make up for the annoyances we had suffered;
and, unless we hear that William Scorer has been taken ill again, and
that his brother Joseph has come to nurse him, we shall accept the
invitation.

[Illustration: "'THREE CHEERS FOR THE BABY! HIP, HIP, HURRAH!'"]

[Illustration: "TWO'S COMPANY."]

THE MEDICAL DETECTIVE AND HIS WORK.

CRIMINALS CONVICTED BY THE MICROSCOPE.

BY T. F. MANNING.

Owing to the fact that they often flatly contradict one another, medical
experts do not stand very high in popular repute; nevertheless, it is a
positive fact that a single medical expert is worth half Scotland Yard
in the detection and prevention of crime. Thousands of rivals in love,
disagreeable husbands, dangerous political agitators, harsh masters and
mistresses, rich uncles, and people of that sort, would be popped off
with a few grains of arsenic, or a drop of prussic acid, only that it is
well known the doctor has the eyes of a hawk for poison. And, on the
other hand, many and many a family is saved from the suspicion attaching
to the sudden death of a member, and even many an innocent man from the
scaffold, by the proof of natural death which the doctor supplies.

Although great poisoning, shooting, stabbing, and other homicidal trials
have a wonderful fascination for all newspaper readers, very few fully
appreciate the medical evidence, which is usually the most important
link in the chain. The evidence is of three kinds--that of the ordinary
medical man, who sees the patient dying, perhaps, and performs the
post-mortem; that of the chemist, who, in his quiet laboratory, traces
the poison or identifies the blood stain; and that of the expert, who
gives his inference from the facts stated by the first two. It is these
experts who often differ from one another.

In a large number of cases the _post-mortem_ examination is the first
step in unravelling a mystery.

The man who performs it is not to be envied, for the smallest scratch on
his hand ma