The Century of the Detective

"This is a fascinating book, written in 1964 by the German writer Jürgen Thorwald. In this encyclopaedic yet highly readable volume, Thorwald demonstrates that the late 19th century saw the birth of modern detective work, from toxicology to fingerprinting to biometry to crime scene analysis. He must have been working in half a dozen languages, and produced what I consider the sourcebook on the founding generation of modern detectives. Thorwald cites Dr Lacassagne’s analysis in the famous Case of the Bloody Trunk – the 1889 case that made Lacassagne world famous. Lacassagne pioneered forensic identification of old bodies , by examining inch by inch, almost microscopically, the body of a corpse until he could identify it. This really opened the door to modern forensic work. Yes, they had trouble identifying the body once the skin was decomposed. The issue of identity was extremely important to criminal scientists – the identity of both victims and perpetrators. Lacassagne and his colleagues explored ways to identify bodies, which involved examining bone formation and teeth, for example. They also developed ways to determine the time of death, such as showing that bodies putrefied on a timetable. They also learned that certain insect species inhabit a corpse at certain times, and therefore revealed when death had occurred. They also developed techniques to positively identify living criminals, who were forever trying to disguise their identity. One of these techniques, developed by Lacassagne’s colleague Alphonse Bertillon, presaged the biometric identification used in hi-tech facilities today. Thorwald’s book takes these discoveries and credits them to the appropriate scientists. It’s a monumental work, and is also quite readable."