y admit a dose of deadly poison.

[Illustration: THE OLD STYLE DETECTIVE--EXAMINING SCENE OF MURDER.]

Many medical men, indeed, wear rubber gloves, and those less careful
generally cover their hands with a layer of sticky ointment. It takes
from two to four hours to do the job thoroughly.

But it is not all cutting up, as most people think. The first thing done
is to notice the position of the body, and whether there are any
weapons, bottles, or glasses near.

Then it is examined from head to toe for scratches, cuts, bruises,
moles, tattoo marks. Everything about the hair, eyes, teeth, nose, ears,
and other parts, is written down. The height, the age, the muscular
development, are all noted.

Of course, this inspection alone often reveals the cause of death.
Suppose, however, that no external injury is found and no organ is
diseased, the suspicion of poisoning naturally arises. In that case, the
doctor looks for certain marks that the commonest poisons make, and then
he places the stomach and other parts in glass jars, which are securely
covered, sealed, labelled, and handed to the analyst.

Poisoning is not much favoured by the Briton as a means of killing
either himself or anybody else. He generally does the deed in a more
open, if more brutal, way. But it is to be feared that a great many more
people get rid of undesirable contemporaries in this manner than is
popularly supposed.

[Illustration: THE DETECTIVE--NEW STYLE--IN THE LABORATORY.]

Probably, in most cases, the ordinary medical attendant is able to tell
whether a person is dying a natural death or is being carried off by
some deadly drug. His position, however, is not a pleasant one. It is
impossible to be certain; and, in order to make a full investigation, he
must suggest either that the victim is committing suicide, or that
someone else, perhaps his wife or son, is committing murder. And, after
all, the signs in the living are very obscure. Of course, if a person is
foolish enough (as many are) to drink sulphuric or nitric acid, his
mouth and throat are burned as if he swallowed coals of fire, the
former leaving black and the latter yellow stains; but when the poison
is arsenic, or opium, or strychnine, the symptoms are very like those of
certain diseases.

When the cholera was last in London, a father, mother, son, and daughter
dined together. Immediately after dinner, all, except the son, became
suddenly ill, and died in a few hours, with the