Chemical Criminalistics

318 Pages·1981·15.681 MB·English

by  Andreas Maehly, Lars Strömberg (auth.)

Andreas Maehly Lars Stromberg
Chemical Criminalistics
With 70 Figures and 65 Tables
Springer-Verlag
Berlin Heidelberg New York 1981
Andreas Maehly Lars Stromberg
The Swedish National Laboratory of Forensic Science
Statens Kriminaltekniska Laboratorium
S-58101 Linkoping
ISBN-13: 978-3-642-68063-2 e-ISBN-13: 978-3-642-68061-8
DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-68061-8
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data. Maehly, Andreas Christian, 1917-.
Chemical criminalistics. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Chemistry, Forensic. 2. Crime
laboratories. 3. Forensic scientists. I. Stromberg, Lars, 1934-.
II. Title. HV8073.M224. 363.2'56. 81·5313. ISBN 0·387-10723-1 (U.s.). AACR2.
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the
material is concerned, specifically those of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
broadcasting, reproduction by photocopying machine or similar means, and storage in data
banks. Under § 54 of the German Copyright Law where copies are made for other than pri
vate use a fee is payable to "Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort", Munich.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1981
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1981
The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the
absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective
laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
Preface
In recent years, a number of textbooks on forensic science have
been published, most of them directed to two groups, viz. the
students of forensic science, and the customers so to say,
(prosecutors, police officers, judges, defense lawyers).
In this book, while covering fundamental concepts, we try to
go a little further and address also active workers in the field of
forensic chemistry. This is mainly achieved by relatively nu
merous literature references. We hope that they may assist the
forensic chemist in penetrating further into the subjects covered
in this volume.
At the end of most chapters there are examples of actual cases
handled at the Swedish National Laboratory of Forensic Science.
Many of these cases could, no doubt, have been investigated in
greater detail, but they reflect the compromises often necessary
for achieving a reasonable turnover.
Some parts of the book are quite strongly colored by the
personal opinions of the authors. We felt that these passages will
give a little more life to the text than in other treatises of a more
objective, but possibly duller character.
The authors welcome all constructive criticism which will
help to improve the book, should there be a second edition.
This reminds us of a well-known exchange of messages
between Winston Churchill and George Bernard Shaw, which
roughly went thus: Shaw sent two tickets for the first perfor
mance of one of his plays to W. C. with a note" ... one ticket for
you, and one for a friend - if you have any!" The tickets came
back with an answer: "Unfortunately, I am engaged that evening,
but will be delighted to attend the second performance - if there
is any."
Linkoping, Fall 1981
Andreas Maehly
Lars Stromberg
Acknowledgements
This book has been born with certain difficulties and would not
have succeeded without the help of many people.
The difficulties were mostly concerned with the lack of time.
Most of the book was written on weekends and holidays, and we
want to thank our families for the understanding and patience
they showed us.
The whole text was read and corrected for contents, style and
language by Xenia Maehly who sacrificed many hours of piano
studies and picture painting for this task.
Ms. Birgit Sellden, secretary to one of us (A. M.) typed the
whole manuscript - not only once, but often twice or thrice. In
her capacity as main librarian, she ordered all the necessary
literature not represented in our own library.
The chapter on "automobile painting" was written by
engineer Inge Horkeby, AB Volvo. The chapter on soil was
contributed by Dr. Jan Andrasko of this laboratory.
Several drawings were executed by Mr. Lars Lindstrom, and
numerous photographs by our photographers, all of this
laboratory.
The authors want to thank all of these coworkers for their
contributions.
Table of Contents
A. General Introduction. 1
I. Historical Notes 3
II. Forensic Science Today. 7
B. The State of the Art 15
I. Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. 17
II. Explosives. 65
III. Polymers 85
IV. Fibers. 107
V. Paints, Varnishes and Lacquers 129
VI. Glass . 155
VII. Soil. 171
VIII. Firearm Discharge Residues . 183
IX. Fire Investigation. 201
X. Questioned Documents . 215
Xl. Toxic Substances in Food. 237
XII. Restoration of Erased Markings 241
XIII. Miscellaneous 245
C. Auxiliary Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
I. The Forensic Significance of Physical Evidence and its
Collection. . . . . . 255
II. Reference Collections. . . . . . . . . . . 275
III. The Forensic Expert·. . . . . . . . . . . 279
IV. Sources of Information on Forensic Science. 283
V. The Organization of a Forensic Science Laboratory 291
Index . ....................... 315
A. General Introduction
I. Historical Notes
In the history of human civilization, there was an early urge for thought and
experimentation in the fields of religion, philosophy, medicine and law. This was of
course due to the basic needs of man, beyond the "natural" needs for food and
propagation. From these roots, the tree of knowledge grew and branched. Some
twigs from these branches eventually contributed to the field of forensic sciences. A
very recent development, from the historical point of view, was the emergence of
police forces about a century ago. A schematic diagram (Fig. A. 1) depicts these
relationships.
Since there is no established academic training in forensic science as such, the
workers in this field - bordering on law, medicine, philosophy and police operations
naturally have their basic training as lawyers, doctors, natural scientists or police
G
I I
Leg. Professional
Ph D sci 1<--_P_h_D_Ph_il_---'11<--__PO _h_c·_ e _Of_f._---'
I Forensic sciences I
Forensic /' Serology /' Comparison /' Criminology /'
odontology microscopy
Physics /' Sociology /'
Forensic /'
psychiatry Morphology /' Dactyloscopy /' Theory /'
of proof
Forensic /' Toxicology /' Bertillonage /'
medicine
Analytical /'
Pathology /' chemistry Scene of crime /'
I
I Medicine I Science Police work I Law
"- Logic
I Philosophy I
Fig. A.I. Schematic and simplified view of the growth of forensic sciences from the roots of human
endeavor - medicine. philosophy. and law-as well as the additional fields of science and police work. On
the top of the figure some of the professionals working in forensic science are listed: the medical doctor.
the natural scientist. the sociologist. the police officer, and the member of a legal profession
4 A.1. Historical Notes
officers. They have to acquire some knowledge of each others' fields and have to
learn to understand each others way of reasoning (Fig. A.1).
The judicial systems vary widely in space and time, and it would be a major task
indeed to follow their development within each cultural region. It has become
costumary to treat historical developments in the western world alone, beginning,
say, with Egypt, and continuing through Greece, ancient Rome, medieval Europe
and North America. Within this limited region one might observe a general trend
toward carrying out criminal court procedures. The earliest way for obtaining proof
of guilt was often semi-religious, where god(s) were supposed to influence certain
tests. Later, this system was modified or supplemented by the instrument of torture.
Whereas torture unfortunately still is in inofficial practice, it has been largely
replaced by other evidence, foremost the hearing of witnesses under oath.
Eventually, a special kind of "witness" began to enter the scene, the professional
expert. The expert was only exceptionally a witness proper of a crime, but had to
testify on an expert opinion, based in turn on observations and experimentation.
The first experts to be heard by courts were almost always doctors or surgeons.
These medical experts gave their opinion on wounds and other trauma inflicted in
fights or accidents, and before all, on causes of death in capital crimes.
It is thus not surprising that the medical profession was the pioneer in the field of
forensic science. Departments of forensic medicine emerged in many Western
Countries in the 19th century and became centers for research and teaching, initially
almost exclusively in pathology.
At the beginning of that century, in 1813, the Spanish-born Mathieu Joseph
Bonaventure Orfila, working in France, published a 2-volume textbook on
toxicology. Orfila was also one of the first to use animals for toxicity studies. The
first application of chemical analysis to a forensic case was probably the isolation
and identification of nicotine in the digestive tract of a murder victim by Jean
Servais Stas in Belgium 1851. The murderer, a count Bocarme, had forced his
brother-in-law to drink a strong solution of the alkaloid prepared from tobacco.
It was not until the end of the 19th century that other professions than medical
doctors and chemists began playing a role in court. Of course, in special cases - such
as accidents - building engineers, manufacturers of various machines etc. were
heard as expert witnesses. But the specialists in providing criminal evidence
emerged quite late. It is hard in this context not to mention Conan Doyle (1859-
1930) whose novels describe the work of a personality we today would call a
criminalist.
The time around the turn of the century saw the emergence of the pioneers in
criminalistics in France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the United States,
Argentina and India. The first main field of activity was the establishment of the
identity of an individual. This was to take two different paths. One approach was the
comparison of fingerprints, first suggested by Henry Faulds in 1880, and put into
practical use by two schools of workers, i. e. Francis Galton in England (1892) and
Edward R. Henry in India on the one hand, and Juan Vucetich in the Argentina
(1891) who had read Galton's earlier work on the other hand. The two systems, with
numerous variations, still exist side by side.
The other approach to the identification of criminals was devised in France by
Alphonse Bertillon. In 1885 he described his system of anthropometrics (measure-
A.1. Historical Notes 5
ments of various parts of the human body), later expanded by the "portrait parle",
describing numerous features of the body. These procedures became known as
"bertillonage" and competed for several years with the fingerprint method.
The turn ofthe century saw the development of criminalistic theory and practice
in many other fields, such as ballistics, tool mark investigation, and eventually the
analysis of handwriting. The pioneers ofthe emerging new science were inter aliaH.
Gross (Linz), R. A. Reiss (Lausanne), R. Heindl (Berlin), and E. Locard (Lyon). These
scientists had an enormous influence on the development of forensic science and
educated a new generation of criminalists who were active between the two world
wars. The methods used were mainly optical observation by sophisticated
microscopical and photographic procedures.
During this period, the first forensic science laboratories were organized, often
against great opposition by the policy makers.
A new, almost explosive development of criminalistics took place after the
Second World War and was largely due to the introduction of modern in
strumentation in analytical chemistry. Thus we could date the birth of forensic
chemistry at around 1950.
Among the chemists who got interested in this field we find one outstanding
personality, the American Paul L. Kirk (1902-1970) who had the gift of being an
outstanding researcher as well as an inspiring teacher. At the University of
California in Berkley he established a school of criminalistics where - for the first
time - degrees in criminalistics could be obtained. Many of his pupils are still
concentrated in California and make this state a center for criminalistics in the
United States.
Kirks most active period occurred at a time when it was still possible for one
individual to master the whole field of criminalistics. He established the concept of
the "generalist", the criminalist who could, and was supposed to, tackle any problem
and investigation in the field.
Table A. 1 (p. 6) gives a short list of the major historical events in criminalistics
and forensic chemistry.
The International Reference Organization in Forensic Medicine (INFORM)*)
has compiled a bibliography on the history of criminalistics with 295 references
prior to 1974.
*) W. G. Eckert (ed.), St. Francis Hospital Wichita, Kansas 67214, USA