The use appears when the knowledge has been acquired.
But in this case, if it should be possible to determine the age of any organic substance by its reaction to X-rays, the discovery might be of some value in legal practice--as in demonstrating a new seal on an old document, for instance.

But I don't know whether Thorndyke has anything definite in view; I only know that the preparations have been on a most portentous scale." "How do you mean ?" "In regard to size.

When I went into the workshop yesterday morning, I found Polton erecting a kind of portable gallows about nine feet high, and he had just finished varnishing a pair of enormous wooden trays, each over six feet long.

It looked as if he and Thorndyke were contemplating a few private executions with subsequent post-mortems on the victims." "What a horrible suggestion!" "So Polton said, with his quaint, crinkly smile.

But he was mighty close about the use of the apparatus all the same.