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Crime investigation—Physical evidence and the police laboratory
BOOK
REVIEWS
Crime Investigation-Physical Evidence and the Police Laboratory. By PAUL L. KIRK, Professor of Biochemistry and Criminalistics, University of California, Berkeley, California. Interscience Publishers, New York, 1953. viii + 806 pp. Price $10.00. This work surveys the whole field of the science and technology of crime investigation and is divided into two sections. Section one deals with physical evidence in general criminal investigation and covers this part of the text thoroughly including such topics as soil, paint, casts, tool marks, glass, firearms, fingerprints, poisons and narcotics, alcohol, photography, documents, and physical evidence from fires and from explosions. This section concludes with a chapter on the training and extent of Criminalistics as well as an important chapter on the expert witness in which the author stresses that the crux of every investigation is the trial and the courtroom presentation. A chapter on special chemical evidence is especially interesting to the chemist, and the chapter on poisons and narcotics is well done. The references following the chapter on alcohol omit any reference to the work done by A. 0. Gettler who was for many years city toxicologist for the City of New York although a reference to him is made at the end of the chapter on poisons and narcotics. Section I contains 34 chapters and consists of 525 pages. Section II deals with laboratory operations and techniques, starting with the design and organization of the laboratory, and then takes the reader through many of the operations performed by chemists and other laboratory workers. The physical and, chemical properties of numerous substances are discussed. Various techniques are made use of such as the chemical microscopy techniques of Chamot and Mason, Feigl’s spot tests, emission and absorption spectrography, and absorptiometry. The chapters on blood-test,ing and identification of miscellaneous physiological fluids are of special interest to the biochemist. The part that microchemistry plays in crime detection could be elaborated furt,her. In fact the entire second section is comprised of only 237 pages in contrast to bhe 525 pages for the first section. It is this reviewer’s opinion that this work could have been readily presented in two volumes devoting the second volume entirely to laboratory operation and techniques in crime investigation. This would have allowed the author to give further information concerning actual laboratory work of which he is most capable of doing. The great amount of information in this book will appeal to a wide circle of investigators. Section I which may be studied independently from sec. II is of interest t)o lawyers, police officers, and writers of mystery stories and radio script,s or plays, as well as to the general layman. Section IT is of particular value to thy rhemist and t,he general laboratory worker. The test. is supplemented by 161 figures and 21 tables. Bibliographirs are apl~erltied to each chapter enabling the render to pursue any given sul)jcct furthcl if ho so desires. 495
496
BOOK
REVIEWS
The book is set in large type, the figures and tables are well reproduced, and the book is printed on extra heavy gloss paper. The whole volume is well bound and should last for many years. LEO K. YANOWSKI, New York, New York Annual Review of Biochemistry, Vol. 21. Edited by J. MURRAY LUCK, Stanford University. Annual Reviews Inc., Stanford, California, 1952. 781 pp. Price $6.60. The arrival of each Annuul Review of Biochemistry is a very welcome event, for the biochemist knows without doubt that here he has a valuable work of reference which, with its comprehensive indexes, will be in constant use throughout the coming year and longer. How much further benefit he may receive, how much widening of horizons and even inspiration, varies with successive volumes. This, the twenty-first year of the series, is a good year. In accordance with tradition, two early chapters are devoted to Proteolytic Enzymes (by A. K. Balls and E. F. Jansen); and Non-Proteolytic, Non-Oxidative Enzymes (by K. I. Altman and A. L. Dounce). Although these chapters do contain valuable commentary, it is inevitable that treatment of such themes should involve much compilation of little-related facts. One wonders whether in such chapters, as well as in some of the chapters concerned with chemical fields, use might not be made of tables, with a saving of space and of readers’ effort. The chapters on chemistry include Carbohydrates (by R. Montgomery and F. Smith); Lipids (by H. J. Deuel, Jr. and R. Alfin-Slater); Steroids, including metabolism (by L. T. Samuels and H. Reich); Amino Acids and Proteins (by H. B. Bull); Nucleic Acids, Purines and Pyrimidines (by D. 0. Jordan); Carotinoids (by G. Mackinney) ; Alkaloids (by L. J. Sargent and L. F. Small) ; Non-Steroid Hormones (by C. H. Li and J. I. Harris). Those on Steroids, Alkaloids, and Nucleic Acids, etc. are outstanding for generous provision of structural formulas; and the last of these three is also distinguished for some good tables compiled from several different sources. There are two contributions each of which constitutes something of a new departure: that by K. Bloch on Interrelationships of Lipid and Carbohydrate Metabolism; and that by A. D. Welch and C. A. Nicol on Water-Soluble Vitamins concerned with One- and Two-Carbon Intermediaries. At certain stages of knowledge, the effort to link up one field with another can be, as here, very rewarding; and it is highly satisfactory that at any rate some of the water-soluble vitamins can now be classified and considered from the viewpoint of their intimate biochemical function. Other chapters concerned with metabolism are on Fat (by A. C. Fraser) ; Amino Acids and Proteins (by H. Tarver) ; Fat-Soluble Vitamins (by A. R. Kemmerer) ; Nutrition (by E. J. Bigwood); Muscle, with treatment also from the chemical standpoint (by M. Dubuisson); Neoplastic Tissue (by P. C. Zamecnik); Antibiotics (by T. S. Work); Comparative Biochemistry (by M. Florkin); Carbohydrates (by S. Ochoa and J. R. Stern). Those on Amino Acids and Proteins and on Carbohydrates are particularly masterly expositions of rapidly expanding and complex fields. The contributions on Nutrition, Biochemistry of Neoplastic Tissue, Antibiotics, and Comparative Biochemistry are marked by a sense of per-
REVIEWS
Crime Investigation-Physical Evidence and the Police Laboratory. By PAUL L. KIRK, Professor of Biochemistry and Criminalistics, University of California, Berkeley, California. Interscience Publishers, New York, 1953. viii + 806 pp. Price $10.00. This work surveys the whole field of the science and technology of crime investigation and is divided into two sections. Section one deals with physical evidence in general criminal investigation and covers this part of the text thoroughly including such topics as soil, paint, casts, tool marks, glass, firearms, fingerprints, poisons and narcotics, alcohol, photography, documents, and physical evidence from fires and from explosions. This section concludes with a chapter on the training and extent of Criminalistics as well as an important chapter on the expert witness in which the author stresses that the crux of every investigation is the trial and the courtroom presentation. A chapter on special chemical evidence is especially interesting to the chemist, and the chapter on poisons and narcotics is well done. The references following the chapter on alcohol omit any reference to the work done by A. 0. Gettler who was for many years city toxicologist for the City of New York although a reference to him is made at the end of the chapter on poisons and narcotics. Section I contains 34 chapters and consists of 525 pages. Section II deals with laboratory operations and techniques, starting with the design and organization of the laboratory, and then takes the reader through many of the operations performed by chemists and other laboratory workers. The physical and, chemical properties of numerous substances are discussed. Various techniques are made use of such as the chemical microscopy techniques of Chamot and Mason, Feigl’s spot tests, emission and absorption spectrography, and absorptiometry. The chapters on blood-test,ing and identification of miscellaneous physiological fluids are of special interest to the biochemist. The part that microchemistry plays in crime detection could be elaborated furt,her. In fact the entire second section is comprised of only 237 pages in contrast to bhe 525 pages for the first section. It is this reviewer’s opinion that this work could have been readily presented in two volumes devoting the second volume entirely to laboratory operation and techniques in crime investigation. This would have allowed the author to give further information concerning actual laboratory work of which he is most capable of doing. The great amount of information in this book will appeal to a wide circle of investigators. Section I which may be studied independently from sec. II is of interest t)o lawyers, police officers, and writers of mystery stories and radio script,s or plays, as well as to the general layman. Section IT is of particular value to thy rhemist and t,he general laboratory worker. The test. is supplemented by 161 figures and 21 tables. Bibliographirs are apl~erltied to each chapter enabling the render to pursue any given sul)jcct furthcl if ho so desires. 495
496
BOOK
REVIEWS
The book is set in large type, the figures and tables are well reproduced, and the book is printed on extra heavy gloss paper. The whole volume is well bound and should last for many years. LEO K. YANOWSKI, New York, New York Annual Review of Biochemistry, Vol. 21. Edited by J. MURRAY LUCK, Stanford University. Annual Reviews Inc., Stanford, California, 1952. 781 pp. Price $6.60. The arrival of each Annuul Review of Biochemistry is a very welcome event, for the biochemist knows without doubt that here he has a valuable work of reference which, with its comprehensive indexes, will be in constant use throughout the coming year and longer. How much further benefit he may receive, how much widening of horizons and even inspiration, varies with successive volumes. This, the twenty-first year of the series, is a good year. In accordance with tradition, two early chapters are devoted to Proteolytic Enzymes (by A. K. Balls and E. F. Jansen); and Non-Proteolytic, Non-Oxidative Enzymes (by K. I. Altman and A. L. Dounce). Although these chapters do contain valuable commentary, it is inevitable that treatment of such themes should involve much compilation of little-related facts. One wonders whether in such chapters, as well as in some of the chapters concerned with chemical fields, use might not be made of tables, with a saving of space and of readers’ effort. The chapters on chemistry include Carbohydrates (by R. Montgomery and F. Smith); Lipids (by H. J. Deuel, Jr. and R. Alfin-Slater); Steroids, including metabolism (by L. T. Samuels and H. Reich); Amino Acids and Proteins (by H. B. Bull); Nucleic Acids, Purines and Pyrimidines (by D. 0. Jordan); Carotinoids (by G. Mackinney) ; Alkaloids (by L. J. Sargent and L. F. Small) ; Non-Steroid Hormones (by C. H. Li and J. I. Harris). Those on Steroids, Alkaloids, and Nucleic Acids, etc. are outstanding for generous provision of structural formulas; and the last of these three is also distinguished for some good tables compiled from several different sources. There are two contributions each of which constitutes something of a new departure: that by K. Bloch on Interrelationships of Lipid and Carbohydrate Metabolism; and that by A. D. Welch and C. A. Nicol on Water-Soluble Vitamins concerned with One- and Two-Carbon Intermediaries. At certain stages of knowledge, the effort to link up one field with another can be, as here, very rewarding; and it is highly satisfactory that at any rate some of the water-soluble vitamins can now be classified and considered from the viewpoint of their intimate biochemical function. Other chapters concerned with metabolism are on Fat (by A. C. Fraser) ; Amino Acids and Proteins (by H. Tarver) ; Fat-Soluble Vitamins (by A. R. Kemmerer) ; Nutrition (by E. J. Bigwood); Muscle, with treatment also from the chemical standpoint (by M. Dubuisson); Neoplastic Tissue (by P. C. Zamecnik); Antibiotics (by T. S. Work); Comparative Biochemistry (by M. Florkin); Carbohydrates (by S. Ochoa and J. R. Stern). Those on Amino Acids and Proteins and on Carbohydrates are particularly masterly expositions of rapidly expanding and complex fields. The contributions on Nutrition, Biochemistry of Neoplastic Tissue, Antibiotics, and Comparative Biochemistry are marked by a sense of per-