Show Perils That Beset the Path of the Chemical Detective By Prof Charles A Doremus The value of the expert analytical chemist now known as the chemical detective through his cooperation with the New York police department and detective bureaus Is greater than is indicated merely by his work In ferreting I fer-reting out poison mysteries His field of usefulness is by no means limited to that one class of crime Many cases are on record where the chemical chem-ical detective alone has been able to unmask the most ingenious forgeries of wills deeds and other papers His expert knowledge of the composition the Ingredients and the nature of ex polslves is rolled upon to solve explosion ex-plosion mysteries particularly bomb explosions and to furnish clews based on his Investigations without which it would often be next to Impossible to make an arrest or secure a conviction Tremendous risks must be taken by the chemist employed to fathom an explosion mystery The loss of a limb an eye disfigurement for life or even death may follow the slightest slight-est mishap while he Is making his tests Yet It Is a risk which must often be taken In order to throw every possible light on the case and to develop de-velop every clew no matter how work The poisoner Is cunning HO I rarely uses poisons without Inforirlng himself of their action and the sjjse i quent traces of them that l11al bd found In the body Ho often leaiiis of other poisons that will counteract the effect of the first poison One of tho first signs of morphine poisoning Is n contraction of the pupils of the eye Yet ono murderer was shrewd enough to use belladonna In tho eyes of his victims to offset the contraction caused by the first poison he administered It Is tricks of that character that the chemical detective must constantly guard against When he begins his analysis ho matches his brains against thoso of a cunning desperate man who has taken every precaution ho can thlnl of to hide traces of his crime That tile chemist Is successful as often as ho Is is a tribute to I science and a positive proof of the value and need of a chemical department depart-ment to work In constant cooperation with the detective bureau in solving crimes which too often arc allowed to go on record as unsolved mysteries |