ABSTRACT
The primary goal of this chapter is to present a microscopic guide for the identiÞcation and characterization of the components of dust specimens mounted in a single refractive index medium, namely Cargille’s Melt Mount (MM) 1.539. It is intended that the procedures discussed will provide light microscopists with a reference that will serve as an introductory guide to examining common trace materials encountered in specimens of dust during routine casework. Emphasis is placed on the use of polarized light microscopy (PLM), stereoscopic microscopy (SM), and MM 1.539 to achieve these goals.
