Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a man ahead of his time. One hundred and
twenty years ago he anticipated the utilisation of chemistry in the
battle against crime. His famous character, Sherlock Holmes, was
solving crimes using science a century before CSI.
In 2002 the Royal Society of Chemistry took the unusual
step of honouring a figure of fiction. Sherlock Holmes was bestowed
with an Extraordinary Honorary Fellowship of the RSC, and the
reason for this is that he was "the first detective to exploit
chemical science as a means of detection."
The evidence in the case includes:
Exhibit A - in 'A Study in Scarlet',
the first Holmes story, when Watson first meets Holmes it's in the
chemical laboratory at Barts, where Holmes is working on an
"infallible" test for bloodstains.
Exhibit B - in 'The Naval Treaty',
Watson comes into the room and Holmes is sitting at his chemical
bench. He says “you have come at a crisis, Watson. If this
litmus paper stays blue, all is well. If it turns red, it means a
man's life.” It does turn red. Holmes mutters, "I thought as
much" and sends a telegram to Scotland Yard, presumably to have the
murderer arrested.
Exhibit C - From 'The "Gloria
Scott"', we know that Holmes worked on organic chemistry
when he first came to London, and he did research into coal tar
derivatives in France during the Great Hiatus when he was presumed
to be dead.
Exhibit D – In the case before you
Holmes uses his knowledge of organic chemistry to reveal a
secret code written invisibly in lemon juice. He heats the paper
and the lemon juice starts to burn, thus causing a chemical
reaction releasing carbon. The brown writing is simply traces of
carbon left on the paper from the burnt lemon juice.
The cache is a black V bottle, containing logbook only. Bring your
own pen.
First to Solve Honours go to Geckoh
First to Find Honours go to funkymunkyzone and 10centcoin