tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">26

PORTRAIT SENT BY “WIRELESS” 28 MAJOR RICHARDSON’S MAN-TRACKER “PATHAN” 30 FRENCH POLICE DOG 32 PURKENJE’S STANDARD FINGER-PRINTS 64 TYPES OF FINGER-PRINTS 66 HEREDITY IN HANDWRITING 71 INFLUENCE OF TRAINING ON HANDWRITING 74 SIGNATURES OF NAPOLEON AT DIFFERENT PERIODS OF HIS CAREER 77 WRITERS’ CRAMP 78 SPECIMEN OF AGRAPHIA 78 WRITING OF LENAU, BEFORE AND DURING INSANITY 79 WRITING OF HÖLDERLIN, BEFORE AND DURING INSANITY 79 MIRROR WRITING IN PARALYSIS 80 HYPNOTIC HANDWRITING 82 GARIBALDI’S SIGNATURE 83 DETECTION OF FORGERY BY MEANS OF CAMERA AND MICROSCOPE 100 FURTHER SPECIMENS OF DETECTION OF FORGERY, AND TESTS TO DISTINGUISH OLD FROM NEW INKS 102 ELIZABETHAN DOMESTIC RECIPE FOR INK 107 THE TINTOMETER 109 GOAT’S AND COW’S HAIR 162 KANGAROO’S AND HUMAN HAIR, AND THE HAIR OF A CAT AND A DOG 164 FIBRES OF CHINESE SILK 164 RABBIT’S AND HORSE-HAIR 166 WOOL FIBRES FROM DIFFERENT BREEDS OF SHEEP 168 COTTON AND FLAX FIBRES 170 ANNE TURNER 172

 

 

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Science and the Criminal

 

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

 

In the constant state of warfare between the law-maker and the law-breaker, which began when mankind first organised itself into communities and has existed ever since, every new invention or practical application of scientific discovery has supplied each side with new weapons frequently of much greater precision.

The advantage thus conferred tends to be on the side of the law-maker but not invariably so; for in spite of all the facilities of investigation now available it is surprising how many crimes remain undetected, or how frequently in suspicious cases it is impossible to discover the truth. The law-breaker’s primitive weapon of natural cunning has thus often proved more than a match for all the weapons at the disposal, of his opponent.

There is much to be said, therefore, for the suggestion which has recently been put forward on many sides that a department specially trained for the work of criminal investigation should be created.

Under the present conditions the rank and file of the detective force, recruited as it is from the best of the uniformed policemen, contains many men of acute intellect and reasoning capacity, but it cannot be doubted but that in many cases their efficiency would have been enormously increased by a scientific training.

The present system somewhat recalls that under which doctors acquired their knowledge of medicine in the early part of