GEOLOGY 483 Fall Semester 1998 Professor John C. Crelling

FORENSIC GEOLOGY

I. - THE CONTRIBUTION OF MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES

"The idea of using science as an aid in criminal investigation was foreshadowed in the fictional works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at the turn of the century. However, Holmes' creator could scarcely imagine the resources that would eventually be applied to such endeavors. Currently in the United States there are nearly 250 public laboratories employing the services of about 3500 scientists in the scientific examination of crime scene evidence." (From Forensic Science: Winds of Change in Chemistry and Crime edited by Samuel M. Gerber, 1983)

"Therefore all the knowledge which he possessed was such as would be useful to him. I enumerated in my own mind all the various points upon which he had shown me that he was exceptionally well informed. I even took a pencil and jotted them down. I could not help smiling at the document when I had completed it. It ran in this way: Sherlock Holmes--his limits Knowledge of Literature.--Nil. " " Philosophy.--Nil. " " Astronomy.--Nil. " " Politics.--Feeble. " " Botany.--Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening. Knowledge of Geology.--Practical, but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received them. Knowledge of Chemistry.--Profound. " " Anatomy.--Accurate, but unsystematic. " " Sensational Literature.--Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century. Plays the violin well. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman. Has a good practical knowledge of British law." (From A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Problems may be solved in the study which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to utilize all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits in a very precise fashion." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the main points of my analysis." (From The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips by Arthur Conan Doyle)

"For example, observation shows me that you have been to the Wigmore Street Post-Office this morning, but deduction lets me know that when there you dispatched a telegram." "Right!" said I. "Right on both points! But I confess that I don't see how you arrived at it. It was a sudden impulse upon my part, and I have mentioned it to no one." "It is simplicity itself," he remarked, chuckling at my surprise--"so absurdly simple that an explanation is superfluous; and yet it may serve to define the limits of observation and of deduction. Observation tells me that you have a little reddish mould adhering to your instep. Just opposite the Wigmore Street Office they have taken up the pavement and thrown up some earth, which lies in such a way that it is difficult to avoid treading in it in entering. The earth is of this peculiar reddish tint which is found, as far as I know, nowhere else in the neighbourhood. So much is observation. The rest is deduction." "How, then, did you deduce the telegram?" "Why, of course I knew that you had not written a letter, since I sat opposite to you all morning. I see also in your open desk there that you have a sheet of stamps and a thick bundle of postcards. What could you go into the post-office for, then, but to send a wire? Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth." (From The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle) The English Solicitor Case