Sir.

Arthur Conan Doyle

Subject: Personal Identification Techniques

Activity Title: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Activity no: 3

Introduction
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a Scottish-born physician, was instrumental in the
development of criminal profiling. Arthur Conan Doyle, Hans Gross's contemporary, is
best known for creating the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.
Body
In Edinburgh, Scotland, on May 22, 1859, Arthur
Ignatius Conan Doyle was born. Both his mother, Mary
Foley, and his father, Charles, were Irish Catholics who
were born in England. Arthur's father was a lifelong
alcoholic, thus when he was still a young man, he lived
in poverty. His family educated him and enrolled him in
Hodder Place in Stonyhurst, a Catholic Jesuit
preparatory school, when he was nine years old. He
then attended Stonyhurst College from there till 1875.
From 1875 to 1876, he was a student in the Feldkirch,
Austria, Stella Matutina school, which was run by
Jesuits. He became an atheist after abandoning all
forms of religion by the time he graduated from the University of Edinburgh
Medical School, where he studied medicine.

Few are aware of the full extent of Doyle's influence on the advancement of
forensic and actual criminal investigation methods. Doyle was 120 years ahead of
his time in everything from blood to ballistics, fingerprints to footprints. His fictional
detective, Sherlock Holmes, was constantly guarding crime scenes from
contamination, looking for minute traces of evidence, and looking for things the
human eye could not see. He was also a keen observer and possessed lightning-
quick deductive abilities.

The study of tobacco ashes

Initially intrigued by the clues revealed in cigarette ashes,
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional private investigator Sherlock
Holmes professed his interest in them. In his 1887 novel A Study
in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes stated: "I have made a special study
of cigar ashes. I flatter myself that I can distinguish at a glance the
ash of any known brand either of cigar or of tobacco." Many years
later, in the early 1920s, the French criminologist Dr. Edmond
Locard wrote a paper on the study of tobacco ashes and added:
"Sherlock Holmes was the first to realize the importance of dust. I
just repeated his strategies.
 Identification of typewriters
In the 1891 Sherlock Holmes short story A Case of
Identity, typewritten letters ultimately link a fraudster to his crime.
It is believed that this fictional work has the earliest recorded
reference of the forensic importance of typewritten documents.
The method was used for the first time in a criminal investigation
three years later.

Firearms and powder markings

In the 1893 novel the final problem, Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle gave Sherlock Holmes permission to look into powder
marks left by a gun on the body of the victim. Five years after
the publication of the story, powder mark study was finally
covered in scientific literature.

Conclusion
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle also popularized the idea of examining blood stains,
the location and nature of wounds, and fingerprints. He didn't apply these
techniques in his fictional works until the time of the era's criminal investigators.
Matter of fact, they appeared for the first time in his writings at the same time that
they started to be used.

Reference
 Davidmalocco. (2015, May 22). Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) author,
doctor, forensic scientist, criminal profiler. David Elio Malocco. Retrieved March
16, 2023, from https://davidmalocco.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/sir-arthur-conan-
doyle-1859-1930-author-doctor-forensic-scientist-criminal-profiler/
 StoryTourist. (2021, March 22). Sherlock Holmes – the father of modern forensics.
StoryTourist. Retrieved March 16, 2023, from
https://www.storytourist.com/sherlock-holmes-the-father-of-modern-forensics
%E2%80%8B/

Name Date
Prepared by Peralta, Rica Joy C. March 16, 2023