EDITORIAL

More patterns in a labyrinth

One of the small services which this Journal performs is to dip into the stream of books touching on the forensic sciences and to provide critical reports on a selection of these for the interest of its readers. Over 850 books have so far been examined. A few stand out in memory: the others are accessible through "Sources and Origins" [I], the Journal's 20 year index, or more commonly by a frenzied search through the past 25 or so issues of the Journal. Many reviews, though pedestrian in style, may point to technical treatises which delight the specialists who paddle in their waters: while others, though describing the contents in laudatory terms, may sometimes disappoint upon further inspection. No claim is made to comprehensive coverage or to universal satisfaction. For one thing, the subjects which interest forensic scientists and the police, detectives and lawyers, who from time to time glance at this Journal, are so diverse that they come not just from one corner of the publishing business but from many: not from one country but from around the world. Most are offered to the Society by the publishers: some are tracked down by editorial perusal of promotional literature, by following up references in other publications, by word of mouth, by hopeful member's request, or even by furtive forays into the recesses of the more specialist bookshops. And of course they do not always please everybody. As Andre Maurois said "in literature as in love we are astonished at what is chosen by others". But in a Society whose members share widely differing standpoints it is hoped that some exposure of one to the writings of the others-r even just to the critical assessment of the writings of the others-may stir an interest or throw an occasional gleam of light. The Editor places some degree of faith in that Spanish proverb which says that "books are hindrances to persisting stupidity".

If all this is true of the general run of publications in the field, it is especially true of the books written by those closely connected with the Society. For these there is a special need to avoid being a judge in one's own cause, a need to be prejudiced neither in favour of nor against (the one is as bad as the other) because of propinquity to the author. A need not to abuse the marvellous platform which a journal, circulating amongst the world's largest congregation of forensic scientists, offers. Some of the minor upheavals in the Book Reviews Editor's life have proceeded from this need to find an unbiased critic who can treat such a book coolly and at arm's length. Such was the case when it was found that the publication of the monumental work on Isolation and Identification of Drugs in Pharmaceuticals, Body

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Fluids and Post-mortem Material by Dr EGC Clarke, the Society's first Secretary, had been entirely overlooked. Amends were made upon the publication of his second part, in Volume 17, page 76.

Another more recent such event was the publication (by his own publishing house) of Stuart Kind's brilliant and idiosyncratic "The Scientific Investiga- tion of Crime". To the lay observer this book seemed to encapsulate much wisdom of the kind which the reader eventually feels he has known all along. There is much reliance on logic, on following through the conse- quences of what is already known, if not of actual lateral thinking. The Society was fortunate to secure the willing co-operation of Philip Corbett, retired last autumn as Commander of the Serious Crimes Squad, a former Commandant of the Detective Training School and one-time second-in- command of the Anti-Terrorist Branch, to provide, from the police standpoint, a critical review of this important book-probably, like many of the best books-ahead of its time. It is likely that the book (to which we give exceptional space following the precedent set by Nicholas Fairbairn's review in Volume 6 at page 100 and by Ken Ullyett's review in Volume 7 at page 105) will give rise to much fruitful discussion, being the catalyst which Stuart Kind surely intended it to be.

Reference 1 . Holleyhead R (ed). Sources and Origins. A Twenty Year Index of the Journal of the

Forensic Science Society. Harrogate; Forensic Science Society, 1984.

Alistair R Brownlie