Sherlock Holmes on his knees with a magnifying glass is quite "out of the picture," in view of the latest methods of examining microscopic evidence connected with crime. Swedish criminals, I learn, are finding themselves countered at every turn by the authorities in that country, who are adopting all the latest scientific aids in their efforts.
One of the most recent is the police vacuum cleaner, the invention of a Stockholm university professor. The cleaner absorbs and preserves the dust and other particles attached to suspects persons and objects, and from the results investigators and chemists are able to obtain new and valuable sources of information.
Previously clothes and other objects had been placed in a bag, which was then beaten with a cane; but this method was found to be far from trustworthy. The new invention, I am told, has already given great satisfaction, but it seems a pity that its abilities do not extend to an equally successful sifting of a case's evidence.
The Irish Times, May 12th, 1931