FORENSIC CHEMISTRY – LEC

BY: PINGAD, POTOT, CORONG

SEMEN
The of wearing apparet that has relations to ans offerims must be made posible
because it hat often happened that an important trace has been destroyed by the
washing of the clothes. The most common parts of wearing appen eautying seminal
stains are chemise, panties, trousers or drawern, and skirts. The pack wearing appunt
or objects carrying seminal stains must be made that there is m hatsoever against the
stains. W in dried arm very heittle and art Rable tu hetak into small particles which can
be lost. The etion may tho cause the breaking yaho cause the breaking of the
spermatorna. It is very important that the cimen should not be rolled for transport. It
should be gently laid berwocnt two sheets cardboard or similar material which am tied
together with a string ib avoid friction. Simaller objects like hairs, should be placed in
test tubes and corked. Linder no instance hould mixing of several specimens be
allowed. The specimen must be thouroughly dried before packing

fluid semen is found, it should be placed in a test tube. In cases when the specimen is
nearly dry, it is preferably to allow it to dry thoroughly before it is trans ported. During hot
weather, when them is danger of putrefaction, seminal fluid may be preserved by a few
drops of tokiol or of a 10% solution of formalin.

COMPOSITION OF SEMEN: The normal quantity of seminal fluid is a single ejaculation

is from 1.5 to 3.5 ce. There are wide variations among individuals and even in the same
individual from time to time. The total number of spermatozoa contained in a single
ejaculate from a healthy young man is about 400 to 500 millions but there aside from
those persons who are sterile, of ejaculationa without spermato are cases, zos, if the
subject from whom the seminal fluid came suffered from sepermia or

oligospermia. The fresh ejaculats is of a viscid gelatinous, sticky character but after
exposure to the air for half an hour, it tends to become more liquid in character due
probably
to enzyme action. Semen consists of two parts, the seminal fluid and the formed cellular
elementa including spermatozos epithelial cells and crystalls composed of choline and
lecithin. It is slightly alkaline in reaction.

EXAMINATION OF SEMEN AND SEMINAL STAINS: If the specimen is fresh the

examination is relatively easier. When undried, seminal fluid has a characteristic alks
line odor which is easily noticeable. The most convenient method is to transfer a drop of
the specimen to a glass slide, add a drop of water or normal saline solution and cover
the preparation with the cover slip. Examine under the high power of the microscoper
Spermatozoa, if present, will be seen as small objects with a pear-shaped head, be
which is short neck and then a tail of about ten times as long as the head, Before the
introduction of the phase contrast microscope, it was necessary to stain the sperma-
tozos to get a better view. Spermatozoa may be stained with several solutions, among
them are the Giemsa's stain. Loeffler's methylene blue, carbol, fuchsin, etc.

When the seminal fluid is dry or in the form of stain, the examination may be carried out
by the following methods: (1) physical; (2) chemical; (3) microscopical and (4) biological.

1. Physical Examination: When dry, semen gives a stiff starchy feeling to

the cloth and produced slight deepening of the color with the disappearance of the

odor. There are cases, however, when stiffness of the fabric may disappear if the gar

ment was not property dried in the open air before being packed. It is believed that in
the presence of moisture certain bacteria act on the protein constituent of semen, digest
the dried protein and thus destroy its stiffness. The bacteria will not only remove the
albuminous matter but also disintegrate the spermatozoa beyond recogni tion.

Invisible and softened seminal stains on cloth can be rendered visible when the material
is inspected under ultra-violet light. Seminal stains exhibit bright bluish fluorescence
provided the cloth is clean and not dark colored. More often than not, the victim's
underwear is so dirty that ultra-violet light is not very helpful. Moreover, bhuish,
flourescence is not specific for seminal stains and may be seen in some other
albuminous materials,
2. Chemical Examination: There are three chemical tests for seminal stains, namely
Florence test, Barberio's test, and acid phosphatase test.

(a) Florence test: This is known after the name of Dr. Florence of Lyons, who first
introduced it. It is based on the formation of characteristic crystals of choline periodide,
when a solution of a seminal stain is treated with Florence's reagent which is prepared
as follows: Dissolve 1.65 grams of potassium iodide and 2.54 grams of iodine in 30 cc.
of distilled water. The reaction is shown by the formation of dark brown cyrstals, rhombic
or needle-shaped, Sometimes they occur singly or in crossed or even grouped in
clusters. The crystals resemble haemin crystals in shape, size, and color. The following
procedure is recommended:

The stained portion located by use of ultra-violet light is cut with a pair of scissors and
divided into small bits which are soaked in saline solution. A wet piece is transfered to a
slide, carefully teased and the fluid allowed to evaporate. Add a drop

of Florence's reagent and cover with a cover slip. Examine under the microscope.
attributed to absence of seminal fluid or that the spermatic fluid may have not reacted It
is claimed that this test is extremely dilicate. A negative reaction may be due to the very
low choline content as a result of is merely preliminary and like the elimineteat for blood,
the presence of seminal stain must be confirmed by the detection of spermatozoa. over-
dilution.
4. Biological Examination: The spermato-precipitins are of value in the identification of
seminal fluid in certain cases like, for example, bestiality where it might be desirable to
differentiate between the human seminal fluid from that of the animal. This test was
originally proposed by Farnum in 1901. He used human semen or testicular emulsion
for the antigen and injected 5 to 10 cc. of it into the peritoneal cavity of a rabbit from 5 to
8 times at intervals of from 6 to 8 days. He found that the serum obtained from the blood
of the rabbit thus treated gave a precipitate with both recent and old emulsions of hunan
semen which had been dried and kept for 34 days. In 1928, Hektoen and Rustinant
showed that an antiserum produced by immunizing rabbits with human semen is both
specie specific and semen specific, ie, it gives a positive reaction with human blood and
also with human semen.
OTHER STAINS OF MEDICO-LEGAL INTEREST:
1. Obstetrical and Gynecological Stains: Examination at the scene of the crime in cases
of criminal abortion, infanticide, and sex offenses may lead to the discovery of bed linen,
towels, chemise, shirts, mattresses, blankets, etc. which have stains. The determination
of the origin of these stains is sometimes very important.

2. Excrements: Excrements may be found at the scene on paper as stains which are
sometimes mixed with obstetrical stains. Excrements of adults are normally yellowish
brown and solid; that of infants are greenish yellow, contains undigested cheesy lumps
and shows microscopically lumps of milk and firie needles of fatty acid. A thorough
analysis of excrements is very difficult and seldom carried out for the purpose of police
work. Generally a microscopic diagnosis of the components is suffi cint. For this
purpsse th excrement should preferably be washed in a special apparatus called
"coprolysator". Since this may not be available here, a centrifuge tube may be
substituted.

Many times characteristic parts of the excrement such as fruit cores, parasites, etc.
have led to the apprehension of the criminal. 3. Paint Stains: The criminal, in committing
a crime may have brushed

against a newly painted wall or wall with loose water cement paint and may therefore
carry some of the paint on his clothing. Likewise the tools used may carry small ad-
herent particles of paint. This is also very common in motor accidents and hit-and-run
cases. Microscopic examination and microchemical analysis may leaf to the identi-
fiation of the paint and possible connection of the suspect to the crime. 4. Rust Stains:
Rust stains on knives and steel weapons often look like

dried blood stains, but they seldom have a dark and glazed appearance and do not fall
off in scales when the other side of the blade is heated. Similarly, rust stains or iron
mould stains on linen may present the apperance of old dried blood stains but these
stains do not stiffen the cloth. They are reddish-brown in color and insoluble. in water
but are soluble in dilute acids. The usual test for iron may be employed to differentiate
them from blood stains.
Synthetic Dye Stains: These stains often resemble old blood stains but they are easily
recognized by treating them with strong acids and alkalies. Nitric acid, for example,
changes then to yellow color and a strong alkali may restore the red color in most
cases. No such reaction takes place in blood stains.
6. Mineral Stains: These are msotly due to red paints containing oxides of iron. They
can be differentiated from blood stains by dissolving in HCI and then testing for iron.

7. Stains of Vegetable Origin: Stains resembling blood may be produced by fruit juices
like mulberry, mangosteen, and jambans. These stains can be distinguished from blood
by the fact that their color may be changed to greenish-yellow upon add tion of
ammonia and are usually bleached by chlorine water, Blood do not show such changes.