Topic 4 Flashcards
is one of the oldest forms of physical evidence. Its use is older than fingerprints. It is valuable because the hair of each kind of animal is different and distinct for all others.
Hair examination
– This refers to a specialized e epithelial outgrowth of the skin which occur everywhere on the human body except on the palm of the hands and the sole of the feet.
Hair
– This refers generally to long and stiff hair.
Real Hair
– This refers generally to short, fine at times curly and wooly hair.
Fuzz Hair
– This refers to portion of embedded in the skin.
Root
– This refers to portion above the surface of the skin. It is the most distinctive part of the hair.
Shaft
– This refers to distal end of an uncut hair shaft. It is refers sometimes to point.
Tip
– This refers to the outermost covering of the hair. It is consists of one layer of non – nucleated polygonal cells which overlaps like the scales on fish.
Cuticle
– This refers to the intermediate and the thickest layer of the shaft and is compose of elongated, spindle shaped fibrils which cohere. They contain pigment granules in varying proportion depending on the type of the hair.
Cortex
– This refers to the central canal of the hair that may be empty or may contain various sorts of cells more or less pigmented and begins more or less near the root
Medulla or Core
– This can be examine using the naked eye or under the microscope.
Color
– This refers to the brownish – black pigment in the hair, skin, etc. It is the chemical responsible for the color of the hair. Black and brown hair differs only on the amount of melanin. Red hair is thought to be due to iron.
Melanin
– Tip of the hair may show whether a hair has been cut. Tips of body hair become rounded from rubbing against the cloths. Hair of human usually shows a fine tip. Men’s hair tip is apt to be cutoff square.
Character of the Hair Tip if present
– The size, the general shape and the irregularity of the scales are observed.
Character of Cuticle
– Structural features is studied under the microscope. Cortex is embedded with the pigment granules that impart hair with color. It is the color, shape and distribution of these granules that provides the criminalist with important points of comparison between the hairs of the different individuals.
Character of Cortex
– Dyed hair can be distinguished from natural hair. Under the microscope dyed hair has a dull appearance and the color tone is constant, whereas natural is not and the individual pigment granules stand more shapely.
Presence of Dye in Hair
– This refers to the innermost layer of your hair. It consists of a soft, thin core of transparent cells and air spaces (Kingsley, 2016).
Medulla
– This refers to the relationship between the diameter of the medulla and the diameter of the whole hair usually expressed in fraction. Its determination is performed under a microscope provided with micrometer eyepiece.
Medullary Index (M.I.)
Contain heavy pigment distributed unevenly
A thin cross section
Hair is usually kinky with marked variation in the diameter along the shaft
Negroid Race Hair:
Hair contains dense pigment distributed more evenly than Negroid race hair.
Cross section of the hair will be round to oval in shape.
Hair is coarse and straight with very little variation in diameter along the shaft of the hair.
Usually contains a heavy black medulla or core.
Mongoloid Race Hair:
Hair contains very fine to coarse pigment and more evenly distributed than is found in Negro or Mongolian.
Cross section will be oval to round in shape
Usually straight or wavy and not kinky
Caucasian Race Hair:
cannot be definitely determined from a hair examination.
Sex