Sherlock Holmes 7 rules of scientific thinking:,and the insects to solve a murder ..

1: �One should always look for a possible alternative and provide against it. It is the first rule of criminal investigation."

2: "I never guess. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

3: "Use your time sparingly. Determine what you have. Then determine what you need. Then look for what you need in the place where it must be."

4: �There is nothing so important as trifles. Never trust to general impressions, but concentrate yourself upon details."

5: "Singularity is almost invariably a clue."

6: "It is a mistake to confound strangeness with mystery. The most commonplace crime is often the most mysterious, because it presents no new or special features from which deductions may be drawn."

7: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Forensic Entomology

'Shou' means 'long life' but ...

The earliest account of someone using insects to solve a murder comes from Ancient China. A peasant had been hacked to death. The investigator, Sun T'zu, asked all the villagers to bring their harvesting sickles and lay them on the ground. Neighbourhood flies that could sense odours not detected by humans, settled on one of the sickles that contained small traces of human tissue. Thus the murderer was identified and he confessed his crime....

I always loved Sherlock Holmes even if he did have a taste for the coca #7 is on of my all time favorites.

I have read the Art of War never knew that about Sun T'zu learn something new every day well if that is the same Sun T'zu truly a man ahead of his time on and off the battle field it would seem

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Never truer words spoken.

Oh...and everyone knows...when in doubt, arrest the Butler.

"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Hercul Poirot..right,hastings..???

One interesting development out of the need to identify victims is Forensic Art. When a body has deteriorated so badly that its surface features are no longer informative, police rely on experts to examine other parts that may still yield clues, such as comparing teeth with dental records. However appearance remains the most often and widely remembered characteristic about an individual. In the film Gorky Park, a Forensic Professor assists the police investigator (played by William Hurt). He intentionally uses fly larvae to remove the last remains of flesh adhering to the skull of a victim, so that the exact contours of the bone can be studied. He then proceeds to sculpt the face back on to the clean skull using modelling compounds.


[edit on 8-12-2004 by Horus_Re]