Sherlock Holmes:
Pioneer of Forensic Science
A detective strides into a room and examines every piece of evidence. He pokes, prods, measures, and smells, not coming to any conclusion until he discovers all the evidence. By examining the evidence, this detective makes astounding deductions and conclusions. This detective is none other than the famous, fictional character Sherlock Holmes. His ability to make deductive conclusions from his observations is loosely based on one the author’s professor from medical school. Even though Holmes is fictional, he uses advanced techniques that are many years ahead of his time: fingerprints, footprints, ballistics, trace evidences, handwriting, and use of a forensic lab. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character Sherlock Holmes forever changed the field of forensic science in late Victorian England through his approach and preservation of a crime scene, the disciplines he uses to solve cases, and the application of a forensic science lab to help solve mysteries. On the misty streets of London, criminals lurked in the shadows. It was not until the late 1820s that the first full time police force was established in London through the
…show more content…
As mentioned earlier the police would trample all over the scene of the crime ruining and contaminating it. Holmes, in addition to his open-minded approach, would preserve a crime scene and would be annoyed at the police for destroying a piece of evidence. In A Study in Scarlet one of the detectives on the case confirms to Holmes that everything had been untouched. Holmes then remarks that the pathway has been run over by a “herd of buffaloes” (33). It is the police who have run over the pathway putting evidence in disarray. Even though the police had ignored that piece of evidence, ultimately destroying it, Holmes still discovered the tracks of the cab providing the mode of transportation for the