Originally posted by Abby Normal
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They couldn't tell what species it was, they couldn't tell what gender it was, they couldn't actually tell if it was a right or left kidney despite the fact they thought they could, and they weren't working with a whole kidney, just a part. And it might not have been a big enough part to know for sure it was a kidney, though given the differences of the average kidney I would trust that determination. And unfortunately the preservation technique used creates the same kind of damage to the organ as kidney disease. So they couldn't even tell if the kidney had been damaged before being immersed unless somehow they found scar tissue, which wasn't found in Eddowes other kidney, so that would be weird. They really had nothing other than there was a kidney missing and heres a nub of a kidney. Which is absolutely suggestive, but clearly they had been getting a boatload of prank letters, so a certain amount of suspicion would be warranted...
I get that a guy looking at it under a microscope would find enough there to feel dread. But the biology and the optics of the era simply weren't good enough. The could tel a chicken kidney from human one because of size differences. But without either seeing the kidney come out, or being able to match the piece they had with a kidney in situ, the way they matched the piece of cloth to the apron, they had no way to know. They could make guesses, and in certain instances make good guesses. But they couldn't know for sure. So if we want to doubt, we have good reason to.
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