8127/frame/fm

 
The
American Journal of Police Science
, Locard wrote:
I hold that a police expert, or an examining magistrate, would not find it
a waste of his time to read Doyle’s novels. For, in 
 
The Adventures of Sherlock
Holmes
, the detective is repeatedly asked to diagnose the origin of a speck
of mud, which is nothing but moist dust. The presence of a spot on a shoe
or pair of trousers immediately made known to Holmes the particular
quarter of London from which his visitor had come, or the road he had
traveled in the suburbs. A spot of clay and chalk originated in Horsham; a
peculiar reddish bit of mud could be found nowhere but at the entrance to
the post office in Wigmore Street. Nevertheless, one is not to be persuaded
that even with the genius of a Sherlock Holmes there would not be the risk
of numerous failures in identification of such spots by merely viewing them
at a distance. But even such an inspection may develop something signifi-
cant and one might profitably re-read from this point of view the stories
entitled: 
 
A Study in Scarlet
, 
 
The Five Orange Pips
, and 
 
The Sign of Four
.
Elsewhere Holmes insists upon the interest and fascination to be found in
collecting tobacco ashes, on which he says he has “written a little monograph
concerning one hundred and forty varieties.” (
 
The Boscombe Valley Mystery
)
On the latter point one should again read 
 
The Sign of the Four
and also 
 
The
Resident Patient
(Locard, 1930).
It is worth pointing out several other references by Conan Doyle, a
physician by training, to the importance of physical evidence. In “A Study in
Scarlet,” Sherlock Holmes devises a specific test for blood which ostensibly
improved on the guaiacum test in use at the time. He also points out several
attributes of a useful forensic test for blood.
“I’ve found it! I’ve found it,” he shouted to my companion, running toward
us with a test-tube in his hand. “I have found a re-agent which is precipitated
by haemoglobin, and by nothing else.” … “Why, man, it is the most practical
medico-legal discovery for years. Don’t you see that it gives us an infallible
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The Evolution of Forensic Science
25
test for blood stains?” … “Beautiful! Beautiful! The old guaiacum test was
very clumsy and uncertain. So is the microscopic examination for blood
corpuscles.* The latter is valueless if the stains are a few hours old. Now,
this appears to act as well whether the blood is old or new. (Doyle, 1887)
In “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box,” he brings to our attention indi-
vidualizing attributes of the human ear (Figure 2.2). We also see an example
here of literary license in deducing kinship from ear traits.
“As a medical man, you are aware, Watson, that there is no part of the body
which varies so much as the human ear. Each ear is as a rule quite distinctive
and differs from all other ones. In last year’s 
 
Anthropological Journal
you
will find two short monographs from my pen upon the subject. I had
therefore examined the ears in the box with the eyes of an expert and had
carefully noted the anatomical peculiarities. Imagine my surprise, then,
when on looking at Miss Cushing I perceived that her ear corresponded
exactly with the female ear which I had just inspected.” … “Of course I at
once saw the enourmous importance of the observation. It was evident that
the victim was a blood relation and probably a very close one.” (Doyle, 1893)
It is not unusual, even today, for a young person to choose a career in
forensic science because of an early fascination with the Sherlock Holmes
stories. In fact, the smoking pipe and deerstalker’s cap have become imme-
diately recognizable symbols of crime detection to an entire generation of
aspiring criminalists. Unfortunately, the somewhat pompous and omniscient
attitude that draws us to Sherlock Holmes as a literary character becomes a
liability when transferred to reality. Humbleness and modesty are generally
better companions to a seeker of the truth.
Although less commonly recognized in the forensic community, Edgar
Allen Poe is credited in literary circles as creator of the detective genre. In an
odd twist, Doyle acknowledges Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin as the inspiration for
the Sherlock Holmes character (“Study in Scarlet”), and, in typical Holmesian
fashion, immediately derides him as an inferior template.
“It is simple enough as you explain it,” I said, smiling. “You remind me of
Edgar Allan Poe’s Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist
outside of stories.” … Sherlock Holmes rose and lit his pipe. “No doubt you
think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin,” he
observed. “Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow. That trick
of his of breaking in on his friends’ thoughts with an apropos remark after
a quarter of an hour’s silence is really very showy and superficial. He had
* No doubt a reference to Orfila’s work in the early 1800s.
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26
Principles and Practice of Criminalistics
some analytical genius no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenom-
enon as Poe appeared to imagine.”
Doyle, through the Holmes character, continues his derision of Holmes’
literary predecessors.