Chemistry:Science of smells

The odorology or science of smells is a technology used mainly in criminology for judicial identification. The technology is based on the analysis of smells by dogs notably to merge the criminals or to identify the smell of objects (explosives, drugs).

History

Olfaction of dogs is used for a long time by the police (location of drug, of explosives, of weapon, body of missing persons, criminals' identification) or the services of rescue (bodies buried under avalanches). From 1910, a dog handler Friedo Schmidt describes in his book Verbrecherspur und Polizeihund («The criminal links and the police dog») how smells left by a criminal on a crime scene can be stocked in glassy jars for identification for purposes.

The dog's olfaction, as criminalistics technology, developed thanks to works of a Hungarian doctor in 1970s in countries of Eastern Europe during Cold War, notably to identify dissidents.

See also

• Forensic science
• Olfaction

Bibliography

• "The apple never falls far from the tree." Thierry Colombie; Rouergue edition, 2010. ("La pomme ne tombe jamais loin de l’arbre" de Thierry Colombié (Éditions du Rouergue, 2010). A detective story in which the detectives itemize the techniques of the odorology.