- Xylotomy
Xylotomy is the preparation of small slivers of wood for examination under a
microscope , often using amicrotome .It is useful for providing forensic evidence in some
criminal cases where finding a fragment of wood on an individual and matching it to a weapon used in a crime would be helpful. [ [http://www.enotes.com/forensic-science/xylotomy] World of Forensic Science article] [ [http://www.library.uiuc.edu/idnc/Default/Skins/UIUC/Client.asp?Skin=UIUC&AppName=2&enter=true&BaseHref=TUC/1935/05/28&EntityId=Ar00812] Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection] One xylotomist, Arthur Koehler, was able to provide crucial evidence by linking a piece ofpine from a ladder used in akidnapping to one particular factory whose machinery was defective, and from there to one particularlumberyard . [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,872780,00.html] Nightmare remembered] Koehler searched for eighteen months for the yard, and presented his evidence dramatically in court by presenting the court with a chalkrubbing of the samples, which he made there and then, demonstrating that they were identical. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,788508,00.html] New Jersey v. Hauptmann (Cont'd)] He also matched other pieces of the ladder to a chisel used to create the joists, missing from the defendant's tool chest, and to a missing plank from the suspect's attic floor.It may also be useful in
forestry studies. Identifying thespecies of a piece of wood is not always easy, in which case axylotheque may provide samples with which the xylotomist can compare his own. Xylotomy may be carried out by a forensic biologist. People who specialize in xylotomy are difficult to obtain. The public have been known to confuse it with someone who plays the xylophone [ [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/LandingPage.aspx?type=nlp&search=xylotomist&] THE XYLOTOMIST, Post-Standard, TheThursday, September 22, 1910] and they do not tend to take much interest in the subject. [ [http://www.newspaperarchive.com/LandingPage.aspx?type=nlp&search=xylotomy&
] Washington Post, TheWednesday, August 24, 1910]
References
ee also
Wood Forensics
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