Sherlock Holmes: Father of Scientific Crime Detection

Author(s): Stanton O. Berg

Source: The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science , Sep., 1970, Vol.
61, No. 3 (Sep., 1970), pp. 446-452
Published by: Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law

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THE JOIJRNG OF CRIMINAL LAW, CRIMINOI.OGY AND POLICE SCIENCE Vol. 61, No. 3
Copyright t 1970 by Northwestern University School of Law Prsnted in U.S.A.

SHERLOCK HOLMES: FATHER OF SCIEAlUlC CREE DETECTION

STANTON (). BERG

The author is a consulting firearms expert in Minneapolis, Minn. He is a fellow in the American
Academy of Forensic Sciences and a member of the International Association of Identification and
several organizations interested in firearms. Mr. Berg has contributed to this Journal and other techni-
cal publications. He writes of his long interest in Sherlock Holmes, and this interesting presentation
traces the interrelationship of the Sherlock Holmes stories and the growth of scientific crime detec-
tion. EDITOR.

Reading has always been one of my most to attach a significance to the literature that is
enjoyable pastimes. This interest resulted in my greater then pure and simple entertainment.
early introduction to Arthur Conan Doyle's Aside from some admitted personal bias, I feel
Sherlock Holmes. I spent many enjoyable hours a strong case can be made that the Qamous sleuth
during my youth devouring the series of stories. had a decided stimulating influence on the develop-
A re-reading of the tales in later years has however ment of modern scientific crime detection. I do
been a continuing source of pleasure to me. not claim that this theory is original with me as
other writers have briefly touched on the idea
UNIVERSAL APPEAL
from time to time. I do not however find any in
The Sherlock Holmes stories have presented a depth treatment of the concept that Holmes acted
phenomenon of universal appeal. The master as a catalyst in the evolving of the modern investi-
detective employing observation, deductive rea- gative, identification and forensic sciences. I
soning, and scientific knowledge has fascinated the think it would be interesting at this point to
young and the old, the rich and the poor. Somerset review what others have had to say on this theory.
Maugham has written of the great admiration of
Doyle and Holmes by the intelligentsia. Sherlock OTHER AUTHORS
Holmes has appeared in 60 narratives (56 short
The Criminologist Ashton-Wolfe writing in
stories and 4 full length novels) published be-
The Illustrated London News (27 February 1932)
tween 1887 and 1927. The stories have enjoyed
said:
enormous international popularity down through
the years. Scores of articles, essays, and books "Many of the methods invented by Conan Doyle are
have been written analyzing the stories, their today in use in the scientific laboratories. Sherlock
origin and the characters of both Holmes and Holmes made the study of tobacco ashes his hobby.

Dr. Watson. A number of "Holmesian" clubs are It was a new idea, but the police at once realised the
importance of such specialised knowledge, and now
in existence of which the "Baker Street Irregulars"
every laboratory has a complete set of tables giving
is the most famous. President Franklin RooseveltX
the appearance and composition of the various
a Holmes fan, is reported to have christened the
ashes . . . mud and soil from various districts are also
Intelligence Department "Baker Street" during
classified much after the manner that Holmes de-
the Second World War. Even in the present space scribed . . . poisons, hand-writing, stains, dust, foot-
age there is little indication that the public prints, traces of wheels, the shape and position of
affection for the "Holmesian" lore is about to die wounds. . . the theory of cryptograms, all these and
out. This current interest is evidenced by literature many other excellent methods which germinated in
to be found in a diverse array of publications. Conan Doyle's fertile imagination are now part and

The literature can be found in university publi- parcel of every detective's scientific equipment."

cations, professional journals, newspaper feature

Henry Morton Robinson in his book Science
articles, and even as full page color cartoons in
Catches the Critninal (1935) states:
PZayboy magazine.
"When Sherlock Holmes whipped out his magriifying
A GREATER SIGNIFICANCE
glass to examine a flake of Latakia tobacco found on
Because of the pleasure Mr. Holmes has given the smyrna rug in the Boscombe Valley aiiair, he be-
me, I suppose it is not unusual that I would seek came not merely a very charming character in de-
446

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1970] SHERLOCK HOLMES SCIENTIFIC CRIME DETECTION 447

tective fiction but an exponent of a whole new way of Afterwards he gives proof of his skill by instantly
looking at life. The enormous popularity of Conan recognising the origin of a mud stain."
lZoyle's hero and the downright affection in which he
has been held for nearly fifty years can perhaps be Luke S. May (Criminologist, Director of the
best explained by identifying him with that elusive Scientific Detective Laboratories, President of the
wraith known as the time spirit - the protean shadow Institute of Scientific Criminology and President
that hovers over an age, compelling it to think, act, Emeritus of the Northwest Association of Sheriids
write its stories and catch its criminals in a highly and Police) in his book Critne's Netnesis (1936)
particularized manner. For Sherlock Holmes dra-
states the following:
matically typified the new spirit of investigative
curiosity that broke over the world during the latter "However, many of Bertillon's exploits in the sci-
half of the nineteenth century; while he was endear- entiXic investigation of crime outrival those of Sher-
ing himself to us with his lenses and test tubes, other lock Holmes, the figment of Conan Doyle's imagina-
searchers and analysts-detectives all were track- tion. Without disparaging progressive police officers
ing down the constituent elements of matter, and of all nations, I believe that the writings of Conan
delving into the atomic mystery of life itself . . . a Doyle have done more than any other one thing to
new heaven and earth were unrolling before men's stimulate active interest in the scientific and analyt-
eyes, a heaven and earth that demanded to be ex- cal investigation of crime. All of these men helped
plained in terms of the new scientific method." introduce a fundamentally new technique in crime
detection."
Sir Sydney Smith (Professor of Forensic Medi-
cine, Edinburgh University and formerly Medico- CONTE1EPORARIES 0E HOL1WES
Legal Expert to the Ministry of Justice, Egypt)
Probably the greatest evidence of the value and
in his autobiography Mostly Murder (1959) com-
influence of the Holmes stories can be found by
ments as follows:
looking to Holmes contemporaries in the fields of

"Therein lies the value of the Sherlock Holmes the police and forensic sciences. In this area we
stories apart from their excellent entertainment. will examine some of the prominent pioneers who
Today criminal investigation is a science, and the were responsible for developing our modern
plodding policeman gaping admiringly at the gifted scientific crime investigation and identification
amateur is an anachronism. This was not always so methods. We will find that they were willing to
and the change owes much to the influence of Sher- give credit to Sherlock Holmes both as a teacher
lock Holmes. An author may feel satisfaction when
of scientific investigative methods as well as a
his fiction is accepted as true to life. Conan Doyle had
germinator of the ideas they later fostered into
the rare, perhaps unique, distinction of seeing life
being.
become true to his fiction.... Full of significance
Bertillon is one of these. Alphonse Bertillon
and interest, however-especially to anyone con-
cerned professionally with the detection of crime and (1883-1914) a French criminologist is regarded by
criminals is the anticipation of modern scientific some as the creator of the forensic science. He
methods of investigation. For instance, the use of the encouraged the development of scientific methods
hand lens and the microscope; the measuring tape; in all areas of criminal investigation. He founded
the plaster cast of footprints; the extraction and the Department of Judicial Identity in Paris and
examination of dust and the like from clothing; and was its first chief. He is noted for devising the
the discrimination between bloodstains and other
first scientific system for the identification of the
stains."
person through a number of detailed anthropologi-

In the book Conan Doyte A Biography by cal measurements (Anthropometry). He also

Pierre Nordon (l967) we find the following pionered a standard system of criminal (Mugg)

reference: photography utilizing a full front and profile view.

Bertillon, an early Sherlock Holmes fan, is quoted,
"The fact that the publication of Conan Doyle's as saying:
first books coincided with progress in the science of
criminology raised the question as to whether these "I love detective stories. I would like to see Sherlock
could be cause and effect and if so to what degree. Holmes methods of reasoning adopted by all pro-
Conan Doyle's first novel was not exclusively con- fessional police."
cerned with detection, but he prepared the way by
insisting on the value of observation and scientific Dr. Edmond Locard (described below) ad-
methods. When Dr. Watson first meets Holmes, he vises that a medico-legal study of the Sherlock
finds him in the middle of a chemical experiment. Holmes stories was made by the faculty of medi-

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448 STANTON O. BERG [Vol. 61

cine at Lyons at the suggestion and request of "I hold that a police expert, or an examixiing magis-
Bertillon. (Even in the present day, the Sherlock trate, would not find it a waste of his time to read
Doyle's nove]s. For, in the adventures of Sherlock
Holmes stories are used as model investigative
Holmes, the detective is repeatedly asked to diagnose
examples as evidenced by an article in the March
the origin of a speck of mud, which is nothing but
1964 Journal of Criminol Law, Critninology and
moist dust. The presence of a spot on a shoe or pair
Police Science entitled "The Manly Art of Ob-
of trousers immediately made known to Holmes the
servation and Deduction" by Hogan and particular quarter of London from which his visitor
Schwartz). had come, or the road he had traveled in the suburbs.
Dr. Edmond Locard was also willing to credit A spot of clay and chalk originated in Horsham, a
Sherlock Holmes with having considerable influ- peculiar reddish bit of mud could be found nowhere
ence upon the development of scient;fic crimn but at the entrance to the post office in Wigmore

detection methods. Dr. Edmond Locard (1877- street."

1966) was a French criminologist of great renown. Further on in the paper Locard indicates that the
His formal education was both in medicine and interest of his laboratory in the study of dust
law. He sought the application of all kinds of resulted from absorbing the ideas put forth by
scientific and laboratory methods to criminal Holmes.
investigation. He was director of the Laboratory There has been the suggestion that perhaps
of Technical Police of the Prefecture of the Rhone. Hans Gross, an Austrian, is really the one to be
This laboratory became an international center for credited with the application of scientific methods
study and research for students world wide. He to the fields of criminal investigation and identi-
was founder and director of the Institute of fication. There is also the suggestion tbat Doyle
Criminalistics. He was the author of a number of may have actually gotten the ideas used in the
books and papers on the subject z f forensic science. Sherlock Holmes stories from reading Gross.
He is noted for development of the identification Hans Gross was an examining magistrate in Graz,
technique known as Poroscopy. He also did con- Austria and authored an early textbook on
siderable work in the area of dust analysis and criminal investigation, Handbuch fur Untersu-
authored papers on the results. He developed chungsrichter (Manuat for Examining Magistrates).
laboratory methods to facilitate questioned The book many times changed and revised is
document examination. This consisted of micro- still printed today under the title Crimiral
chemical medods of ink examination and a Investigation. In this book, Gross strongly ad-
metrical analysis of handwriting. Inring Wallace vocated the application of scientific methods.
in The Sunday Gentlemen (1965) quotes Locard: Historical chronology would however tend to
show that if anything, Gross received his ideas from
"Sherlock Holmes was the first to realize the im-
Doyle and Holmes. The book by Gross was first
portance of dust. I merely copied his methods."
published in 1893. The first Sherlock Holmes
In the novel A Study in Scarlet published iIl story was published in December 1887. (A Study
1887, Holmes makes reference to a monograph he in Scarlet) In fact by the time the Gross book
had written upon the subject of cigar ashes, their came out Doyle had tired of his hero and arranged
differences and distiIlctions. Dr. Locard turned for the literary death of Holmes in the gorge of
this literary fiction into fact by subsequently Reichenbach Falls. (The Final Problem, December
writing a paper on the identification of tobaccos 1893) The series of stories were later rejuvenated.
by a study of the ashes found at the scene of a There is of course no way of knowing whether
crime. Gross ever read the Sherlock Holmes stories,
Dr. Locard published a paper in 1922 (Paris) but history has established that the Holmes
under the title of "Policiers de Romains et Policiers methods were the first in print.
de Laboratoire," which attaches considerable im- Credit is also given to Sherloclt Holmes by the
portance to the influence of the Holmes stories on German cipher eSpert Sittig, another of his con-
modern scientific crime detection. Locard also temporaries. Ernst Sittig (1887- ) was a German
points out that the specialists in the field found linguist and cipher expert born in Berlin. He was
considerable interest in the Sherlod Holmes professor at Konigsberg in 1926 and Tubingen in
tales. In 1929 a paper was published in the Reaue f929. His special field was comparatirre Indo-
Internatiorale dRe Criminalistique titled "The European linguistics particuIarly Cyprian and
Analysis of Dust Traces," in which Locard states: Etruscan epigraphy, Germanistics and Lithuanian.

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 SHER10CKE HOLMES SCIENTIFIC CRIME DETECTION 449
1970]

He published the Cypriote and the Etruscan in- which has puzzled many an expert, and why? Be-
cause there was no reliable test. Now we have the
scriptions for the Prussian Academy of Science.
Sherlock Holmes test, and there will no longer be any
He also authored several important works. Sittig
difficulty."
gives Holmes credit for a description of the tech-
rsique that he (Sittig) later used to decipher The importance of an accurate, sensitive and
Cretan inscriptions. In the connection with this dependable test for blood was not over rated by
creditby Sittig it is interesting to note the following Holmes. At the time this novel was published
passages from The Adventure of the Dancing Men (1887) considerable work was being done in the
(l)ecember 1903): area of blood or serology. It was near the end of
the l9th century that a 100% reliable technique
"I am fairly familiar with all forms of secret writings,
for the identification of bloodstains was dis-
and am myself the author of a trifling monograph
upon the subject, in which I analyze one hundred and
covered. This is the spectroscopic method. It was
sisty separate ciphers, but I confess that this is found that hemoglobin has a characteristic
entirely new to me. The object of those who inventedabsorption spectrum. Spectroanalysis was found
the system has apparently been to conceal that these to also be an effective means of identification for
characters convey a message, and to give the ideavery minute quantities of blood. It was in 1901
that they are the mere random sketches of children."that Paul Uhlenhuth, a German professor, developed
a method of distinguishung between animal and
Holmes then goes on to later describe in detail justhuman blood. Thereafter methods for blood
how he was able to decipher the coded characters.grouping and other serological discoveries quickly
followed. There are numerous references through-
EVIDENCE IN TEE STORIES
out the series of stories concerning Holmes in-
A review of the Sherlock Holmes stories and terest in chemical analysis and its application to
novels will quickly reveal the wide spectrum of the investigation of criminal matters. A typical
scientific methods and interests utilized by example can be found m The Naval Treaty tOcto-
Holmes in his many cases. Almost every one of theber 1893):
forensic sciences as we know them today is touched
upon in some manner or the other. While the "Holmes was seated at his side table clad in his
application of the many forensic sciences is dressing gown and working hard over a chemical in-
standard procedure today, they were not so in vestigation. A large curved retort was boiling furi-
Holmes' day. In the first Sherlock Holmes novel ously in the bluish fame of a Bunsen burner, and the
distilled drops were condensing into a two-litre
(A St?aly in Scarlet, 1887) Dr. Watson first meets
measure. My friend hardly glanced up as I entered,
Holmes m a chemical laboratory just as he made
and I, seeing that his investigation must be of im-
an important discovery: portance, seated myself in an armchair and waited.
He dipped into this bottle or that, drawing out a few
"I've found it! I've found it, he shouted to my drops of each with his glass pipette and finally
companion, running towards us with a test-tube in brought a test tube containing a solution over to the
his hand, "I have found a re-agent which is precipi-
table. In his right hand he held a slip of litmus paper.
tated by haemoglobin, and by nothing else."... You come at a crisis, WatsonX said he. If this paper
"Why, man it is the most practical medico-legal dis- remains blue, all is well. If it turns red, it means a
covery for years. Don't you see that it gives us an man's life. He dipped into the test-tube and it {lushed
illfallible test for blood stains?"... "The old guai- at once into a dull, dirty crimson. Hum! I thought as
acum test was very clumsy and uncertain. So is the much! he cried."
microscopic examination for blood corpuscles. The
latter is valueless if the stains are a few hours old.
Holmes' interest in tobacco ashes and their
Now, this appears to act as well whether the blood is
importance to criminal investigations was briefly
old or new. Had this test been invented, there are
hundreds of men now walking the earth who wouldmentioned above. The first reference to tobacco
long ago have paid the penalty of their crimes.". . .ashes carl be fourld in A Study in Scartet (1887)
"Criminal cases are continually hinging upon that
one point. A man is suspected of a crime months "I gathered up some scattered ashes from the iloor.
perhaps after it has been committed. His linen or It was dark in colour and flakyuch an ash as is
clothes are examined and browiish stains discovered only made by a Trichinopoly. I have made a special
upon them. Are they blood stains, or rust stains, or study of cigar ashes in fact, I have written a
fruit stains, or what are they? That is a question monograph upon the subject. I flatter myself that I

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450 STANTON O. BERG [Vol. 61

can distinguish at a glance the ash of any known not very sharp knife, and two have had the ends
brand either of cigar or of tobacco." bitten off by a set of excellent teeth. This is no suicide,
Mr. Lanner. It is a very deeply planned and cold
Further comment can be found in The Sign of Pour blooded murder."
tFebruary 1890):
Mention was made earlier of Holmes' interest
"Oh, didn't you know?" he cried, laughing. 4'Yes, I
in the value of clues consisting of dust and dirt
have been guilty of several monographs. They are all
particles. An example is found in The Five Orange
upon technical subjects. Here, for example, is one
Pips (November 1891):
Upon the Distinction Between the Ashes of the
Various Tobaccos. In it I enumerate a hundred and
"You have come up from the south-west, I see."
forty forms of cigar, cigarette, and pipe tobacco, with
"Yes, from Horsham." "That clay and chalk mixture
coloured plates illustrating the difference in the ash.
which I see upon your toe caps is quite distinctive."
It is a point which is continually turning up in crimi-
nal trials, and which is sometimes of supreme im-
portance as a clue. If you can say definitely, for Other examples are found through out the stories
example, that some murder had been done by a man and such references can be found in A Study in
who was smoking an Indian Lunkah, it obviously Scarlet and The Sign of the Four.
narrows your field of search. To the trained eye there The science of fingetprinting also receives some
is as much difference between the black ash of a treatment in the Sherlock Holmes stories. One
Trichinopoly and the white fluff of birds-eye as there case briefly touches on fingerprints as a means of
is between a cabbage and a potato."
identification with an attempt at forgery of a
thumb impression. The Adventure of the Norwood
One can find other similar comments and
Builder published in October 1903, contains the
illustrations in The Boscombe Valley Mystery
following account:
(October 1891):

"He had stood behind that tree during the interview "As he held the match nearer, I saw that it was more
between the father and son. He had even smoked than a stain. It was the well marked print of a
there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special thumb. "Look at that with your magnifying glass,
knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce Mr. Holmes." "Yes, I am doing so." "Your are aware
as an Indian cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some that no two thumb marks are alikeP22 "I have heard
attention to this. . . Having found the ash, I then something of the kind." "Well then, will you please
looked round and discovered the stump among the compare that print with this wax impression of
moss where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, young McFarlane's right thumb taken by my orders
of the variety which are rolled in Rotterdam." "And this morning?" As he held the waxen print close to
the cigar-holder?" "I could see that the end had not the bloodstain, it did not take a magnifying glass to
been in his mouth. Therefore he used a holder. The see that the two were undoubtedly from the same
tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the cut was thumb. It was evident to me that our unfortunate
not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." client was lost . . . Very simply when those packets
were sealed up, Jones Oldacre got McFarlane to
As a last example of Holmes' use of tobacco secure one of the seals by putting his thumb upon the
ashes is the one found in The Residen! Patient soft wax. It would be done so quickly and so natu-
(August 1893): rally, that I daresay the young man hirr3self has no
recollection of it. Very likely it just so happened, and
"Here are four cigar-ends that I picked out of the Oldacre had himself no notion of the use he would
fireplace." "Hum!" said Holmes, "have you got his put it to. Brooding over the case in that den of his, it
cigar-holder?" "No, I have seen none." "His cigar- suddenly struck him what absolutely damming
case, then?" "Yes it was in his coat-pocket." Holmes evidence he could make against McFarlane by using
opened it and smelled the single cigar which it con- that thumb-mark. It was the simplest thing in the
tained. "Oh, this is a Havana, and these others are world for him to take a wax impression from the seal,
cigars of the peculiar sort which are imported by the to moisten it in as much blood as he could get from a
Dutch from their East Indian colonies. They are pin-prick, and to put the mark upon the wall during
usually wrapped in straw, you know, and are thinner the night, either with his own hand or with that of
for their length than any other brand." He picked up his house-keeper. If you examine among those docu-
the four ends and examined them with his pocket- ments which he took with him into his retreat, I will
lens. "Two of these have been smoked from a holder lay you a wager that you find the seal with the
and two without," said he. "Two have been cut by a thumb-mark upon it."

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1970] SHERLOCK HOLMES-SCIENTIFIC CRIME DETECTION 451

Obviously much work had already been done in It is a subject to which I have devoted some little
the broad area of fingerprints prior to the above attention."

Sherlock Holmes adventure appearing in print in

In the matter of the identification of typewriters,
October 1903. There had been the work of Her-
it appears that Holmes was the first to recognize
schel, Faulds, Purkinje, Galton, Vucetich, and
this potential. In the March 1967 issue of the
Henry. Their work was however largely in the
Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police
area of the anatomy, recording and classification
Science, there is an interesting article by David
of fingerprints. The results were almost entirely
A. Crown entitled "Landmarks in Typewriting
in the personal identification area of the field.
Identification." The following is quoted from
Very little was being accomplished by way of
this article:
latent print or crime scene -identification of
criminals. [Only Faulds had suggested it in his "The earliest known reference to the identification
early publication. Ed.] It appears that the first potential of typewriting, curiously enough, appears
recorded case of a crime scene fingerprint resulting in "A Case of Identity", a Sherlock Holmes story by

in a conviction was a case in Argentina in 1892. A Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . . . It has been established
that Doyle recorded in his diary that he finished
woman was convicted of murdering her two sons
writing "A Case of Identity" on April 10, 1891. The
based on the discovery of several of her bloody
source of Doyle's data has not been ascertained, but
fingerprints on the door of the children's room.
it is of interest that his approach to typewriting
The next case arose in India in 1897 where a
identification is sound and that his terminology is
conviction was obtained on a theft charge based precise. The earliest comment in writing by a docu-
on "two brown smudges" obtained at the scene. ment examiner on typewriting identification was by
The third reported case occurred in Paris in 1902. Hagan in 1894."
This was a murder case in which several latent
In the Hound of the Baskervilles (Atlgust 1901)
prints were discovered on a section of glass from
numerous suggestions are made concerning ques-
a cabinet door. Bertillon (an old Sherlock Holmes
tioned document examinations. Holmes was
fan) was credited with the identification which
involved in the examination of a threatening note
resulted in a conviction in 1903, the same year as
made up of words cut out of a newspaper and
the above Holmes story appeared. It is alleged
attached to a sheet of paper to make up the
that this is the 7irst case where a criminal was
message. The message read:
identified solely by fingerprints from a record
file at a time when he was not yet a suspect and "As you value your life or your reason keep away
his identity was still unknown. The first case in from the moor."
the United States was in New York in 1906. While
Holmes identified the words as having been cut
the idea of crime scene fingerprint evidence was
out of the Tixnes due to the difference in printers
not entirely new when the Holmes story came out,
type. The words were determined to have been
it was still almost unheard of. I am sure that it
cut out with a very short bladed scissors, "since
served to focus some much needed attention on a
the cutter had to take two snips over 'keep
very important area of criminal investigation
away'. " The words had been attached with
and identification.
"gum rather then paste. " Holmes further con-
There is considerable material to be found in
cluded that the message was composed by a well
the Sherlock Holmes stories in the area of ques-
educated man because the Times is "seldom found
tioned documents. Many of the stories would be
in the hands of any but the highly educated. "
delightful reading for our document examiners.
Because the words were not gummed to the paper
An interesting example is found in A Case of
in an accurate line, he concluded that the com-
Identity (September 1891):
poser of the message was careless or agitated
and in a hurry. He also examined the "Foolscap"
"It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a
typewriter has really quite as much individuality as upon which the words were pasted to determine
a man's handwriting. Unless they are quite new, no if there was a water-mark to be found. In the
two of them write exactly alike. Some letters get more Adventure of the Norwood Builder (October 1903)
worn than others and some wear only on one side . . . Holmes is involved in the analysis of a will:
I think of writing another little monograph some of
these days on the typewriter and it's relation to crime. "Holmes had picked up the pages which formed the

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452 STANTON O. BERG [Vol. 61

rough dra£t of the will and was looking at them with victim is clearly brought out. In the Reigate
keene'st interest upon his face. "There are some Squires Oune 1893) we find the following account:
points about that document, Lestrade are there not?"
said he pushing them over. The oflicial looked at "The wounds upon the deadman was, as I was able
them with a puzzled expression. "I can read the first to determine with absolute confidence, fired from a
few lines, and these in the middle of the second page, revolver at the distance of something over four yards.
and one or two at the end. Those are as clear as There was no powder-blackeniDg on the clothes.
print," said he, 'sbut the writing in between is very Evidently, therefore, Alec CuIliingham had lied
bad, and there are three places where I cannot read when he said that the two men were struggling when
it at all." "VVhat do you make of that" said Holmes. the shot was fired."
"Well, what do you make of it?" "That it was
written in a train. The good writing represents sta- Again in The Adventure of the Dancing Men e-
tions, the bad writing movement, and the very bad cember 1903) we find mention of the importance
writing passing over points. A scientific expert would of powder marks or stains:
pronounce- at once that this was drawn up on a sub-
urban line, since nowhere save in the immediate
"There was no powder marking either upon his dress-
vicinity of a great uty could there be so quick a suc-
ing gown or upon his hands. Accordig to the country
cession of points. Granting that his whole journey was
surgeon, the lady had stains upon her face, but none
occupied in drawing up the will, then the train was an
upon her hand. The absence of the latter means
express, only stopping once between Norwood and
nothing, though it's presence may mean everything"
London Bridge."
said Holmes."

Holmes does not over look the importance of

lt should be noted that apparently the first tech-
the preservation of evidence by the techniques
nical literature produced on the subject of powder
of casting. In The Sign of Four (February 1890)
markings was in the year 1898, some five years
we find the following:
after the first Sherlock Holmes story covered its
"You have an extraordinary genius for minutiae," importance. The literature was published in
I remarked. "I appreciate their importance. Here is France and was entitled "La Determination de
my monograph upon the tracing of footsteps, with La Distance a Laguelle un Coup de Deu a e'te
some remarks upon the uses of plaster of paris as a Tire." by Corin. (Determination of the distance
preserver of impresses." at which a shot has been discharged from a fire-
arm.)
Also in the same story is the following comments
Whether or not you accept the case I have pre-
on the identity of bodies:
sented in behalf of Sherlock Holmes as the father
"Here too is a curious little work upon the influence of modern scientific crime detection, for sheer
of a trade upon the form of the hand, with lithotypes relaxation and vicarious reading entertainment,
of the hands of slaters, sailors, cork cutters, com- let me recommend the following: On the next
positors, weavers, and diamond polishers. That is a evening of inclement weather, when the wind
matter of great practical interest to the scientific de- howls around your home and a cold rain or snow
tective-especially in cases of unclaimed bodies, or
is falling, light a fire in the fire-place, put some
in discovering the antecedents of criminals."
soft classical music on the stereo, have a glass of

The firearms examiner will also find many dry wine at your elbow, select a volume of Sherlock

Holmes stories that involve the use of firearms. A Holmes and relas in your easy chair

particularly interesting story is that of the Ad-

"It was on a bitterly cold and frosty morning, to-
uenture of the Empty House (September 1903). This
wards the end of the winter of '97, that I was awak-
story deals with the use of an early type and power-
ened by a tugging at my shoulder. It was Holmes.
ful air gun. Although the science of firearms iden-
The candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping
tification or forensic ballistics as we know it face, and told me at a glance that something was
today receives littIe attention, the importance of amiss. "Come, Watson, come!" he cried. "The game
powder stains and markings on the clothing of the is afoot". . .

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