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Why Is Sherlock Holmes Important In The Field Of Investigation

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Sherlock Holmes novels mostly involve Sherlock being curious; using his powers of logic and deductive reasoning, which are very important skills for a forensic scientist to have. However, he also used forensic science techniques and principles that we still use today. The story The Adventure of the Norwood Builder (1903) mentioned many forensic techniques or types of evidence. The most prevalent part of the books was Holmes using his detective like skills of logic, deduction and observation. These skills are very important in the field. Specific details are always necessary and important in solving a case. In The Adventure of the Copper Beeches Sherlock says, “I am glad of all the details, whether they seem to you to be relevant or not” (Doyle, “Copper Beeches” 6). Every little bit of information counts, and can help strengthen the case. Evidence collection and analysis is very important in forensics, and to find evidence the scene needs to be thoroughly observed. Holmes was always careful to observe the scene and record or take note of all evidence he saw. He made sure to …show more content…

Holmes focuses on both handwritten documents as well as those written on a typewriter. Handwritten document analysis is used in 9 stories (O’Brien 1 of 2). In The Adventure of the Norwood Builder the analysis of a will showed that it was a forgery. Holmes deduced this because he could tell it was written on a train, and didn’t think such an important document would be written on a train haphazardly. “I can read the first few lines, and these in the middle of the second page, and one or two at the end. Those are as clear as print…but the writing in between is very bad, and there are three places where I cannot read it at all……That it was written in a train; the good writing represents stations, the bad writing movement, and the very bad writing passing over points” (“Norwood Builder”, Doyle,

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