Forensic science — up close and personal

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Photo courtesy of National Library of Medicine Sometimes scientists must assemble together clues in a suspicious death. Click here to enlarge this photo Photo courtesy of National Library of Medicine Children love playing detective with this Inkless Stainless G-Men Fingerprint Set from 1937.

The exhibit is grim, gross and at times gripping, with loads of objects to observe, including a real heart perforated by a bullet, graphics outlining the life cycle of a bug inside a decomposing body and an in-depth account of how Kirk Bloodsworth was the first death row inmate to be exonerated using DNA testing.

The focus on forensic medicine started in 1621 when Spanish doctor Paolo Zacchia wrote treatises on a variety of perplexing questions: how to determine if a woman died a virgin; if an infant was stillborn at birth or someone committed infanticide, and if a person’s drowning was intentional. One researcher even devised a test to determine if the corpse was a witch.

Figuring out the cause of death back then wasn’t even close to a science. Untrained coroners decided the cause of death, and medical experts were rarely involved. By the 1800s, the methodology improved slightly. Doctors and surgeons, still with no special training in performing autopsies, began to testify in court cases.

The Industrial Revolution helped escalate a need and an interest in developing forensic science. With people moving from rural areas into teaming cities, suspicious deaths couldn’t so easily be hidden. The slumbering yet necessary science was awakening big time.

Sure, this macabre science is necessary, but the fact that the subject seems to fascinate people doesn’t surprise exhibition curator Dr. Michael Sappol, a cultural historian at NIH.

‘‘The human body in death is powerful,” he explains, and for most of us, the nitty-gritty aspects of dying and death are ‘‘veiled.” Throughout history ‘‘people respond with funerals, burials and rituals,” but then they can’t get enough of murder. Witness the popularity of the children’s board game Clue and Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories of Sherlock Holmes.

Of course, Sappol admits, deciding exactly how graphic and gory to make said experience, especially when including the autopsy film, was ‘‘tricky.” In fact, the movie clip is respectful, with organizers choosing this film over another, in which the examiner was mugging for the camera and ‘‘taking too much pleasure” in his job.

Fortunately, the TV screen was placed discreetly inside a tabletop case and is invisible to anyone simply perusing the exhibition hall. Hidden or not, the footage attracts visitors like ‘‘bees to honey,” NIH outreach educator Jiwon Kim notes.

And while understanding the importance of an autopsy can’t be underestimated, visitors soon learn that dissection often isn’t enough. With the availability of chemicals in the 1800s, people could be poisoned without apparent physical signs. Thus, the science of toxicology came to be. At the same time, guns made their entrance into the mass market and ballistic testing was added to the mix.

Even entomologists are part of the suspicious death equation. These specialists scavenge the body for insects in their various stages and use this information to estimate the time lapsed since death. Identifying the species also helps with the time line, since different insects are attracted to a body by its degree of decomposition.

The exhibit isn’t just Body Parts 101. The curators designed this exhibit for inquisitive adults and older elementary age through high school students – with worksheets available for the varied age groups. And visitors can sit at a computer, exploring a death scene mock-up and searching for clues to the cause of death.

After this intense and fascinating exhibit, walking outdoors into the light feels almost like a rebirth. The show is entertaining, but sobering as well. Ultimately the victims of crime must not be forgotten.

‘‘Visible Proofs: Forensic Views of the Body” is open weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., through April 16, 2008, at the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda. Admission is free. Photo identification is required to enter NIH. Three-hour metered parking is available in front of the library at 25 cents for every seven and a half minutes. Call 301-594-1947 or visit NLMExhibition@mail.nim.nih.gov.