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The Achievements of Luther Trant
Except for its characters and plot, this book is not a work of the imagination. The methods which the fictitious Trant -- one time assistant in a psychological laboratory, now turned detective -- here uses to solve the mysteries which present themselves to him, are real methods; the tests he employs are real tests. Though little known to the general public, they are precisely such as are being used daily in the psychological laboratories of the great universities -- both in America and Europe -- by means of which modern men of science are at last disclosing and denning the workings of that oldest of world-mysteries -- the human mind.
268 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1910
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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July 14, 2018like a 3.5
This is pure reading happyland for me. This book (1910) gives us quite possibly the first ever "detective" to employ scientific psychology to solve crimes.
In the space of these nine stories, we watch as the main character Luther Trant evolves from a "callow assistant in a psychological laboratory" into a man whose fame has spread so widely that he could
"not now leave his Club, even on a Sunday, without disappointing somewhere, in the great-pulsating city, an appeal to him for help in trouble."
Indeed, after his first case, "The Man in the Room", in which he proved that a suicide was actually a murder, young Trant asks for a leave of absence from his university job to "try the scientific psychology again," putting his talents to work in solving the mystery of the murder of Chicago's prosecuting attorney. If that is successful, he notes, he'll resign and "keep after crime -- in the new way." As we learn from the authors in the foreword, Trant's methods are real, as are "the tests he employs," and are
"precisely such as are being used daily in the psychological laboratories of the great universities -- both in America and Europe -- by means of which modern men of science are at last disclosing and defining the workings of that oldest of world-mysteries -- the human mind."
Trant's belief is that in scientific psychology
"there is no room for mistakes...Instead of analyzing evidence by the haphazard methods of the courts, we can analyze it scientifically, exactly, incontrovertibly -- we can select infallibly the true from the false."
and by using these methods, which generally include some sort of "apparatus" or "device," including plethysmographs, automatographs, galvanometers (all real -- I looked them up), etc. (one time adding banana oil to the mix), scientific psychology will be the future of police work. While most of the cops have tried everything but failed to solve the cases Trant is eventually brought into, they also start wary of his methods. For example, in "The Empty Cartridges," one policeman asks him if he'll be doing his "psycho-palmistry," but has to sort of eat his words when all is said and done.
Of course with nine stories, some are better than others, and my favorite in this collection is "The Chalchihuitl Stone," which in a very big way reads like a cross between a mystery story and a good, old-fashioned pulp fiction yarn, complete with ancient Aztecs and an expedition to Central America. Another that reads as a pulp adventure is the above mentioned "The Empty Cartridges," which I have to say is also one of my favorites in this volume. Some are pretty easy to figure out for the armchair detective, but all in all, it's a great collection, of definite interest to crime fiction/mystery fans as well as to fans of pulp adventure/detective stories.
scientific detective sampler here: http://www.crimesegments.com/2018/07/...
This is pure reading happyland for me. This book (1910) gives us quite possibly the first ever "detective" to employ scientific psychology to solve crimes.
In the space of these nine stories, we watch as the main character Luther Trant evolves from a "callow assistant in a psychological laboratory" into a man whose fame has spread so widely that he could
"not now leave his Club, even on a Sunday, without disappointing somewhere, in the great-pulsating city, an appeal to him for help in trouble."
Indeed, after his first case, "The Man in the Room", in which he proved that a suicide was actually a murder, young Trant asks for a leave of absence from his university job to "try the scientific psychology again," putting his talents to work in solving the mystery of the murder of Chicago's prosecuting attorney. If that is successful, he notes, he'll resign and "keep after crime -- in the new way." As we learn from the authors in the foreword, Trant's methods are real, as are "the tests he employs," and are
"precisely such as are being used daily in the psychological laboratories of the great universities -- both in America and Europe -- by means of which modern men of science are at last disclosing and defining the workings of that oldest of world-mysteries -- the human mind."
Trant's belief is that in scientific psychology
"there is no room for mistakes...Instead of analyzing evidence by the haphazard methods of the courts, we can analyze it scientifically, exactly, incontrovertibly -- we can select infallibly the true from the false."
and by using these methods, which generally include some sort of "apparatus" or "device," including plethysmographs, automatographs, galvanometers (all real -- I looked them up), etc. (one time adding banana oil to the mix), scientific psychology will be the future of police work. While most of the cops have tried everything but failed to solve the cases Trant is eventually brought into, they also start wary of his methods. For example, in "The Empty Cartridges," one policeman asks him if he'll be doing his "psycho-palmistry," but has to sort of eat his words when all is said and done.
Of course with nine stories, some are better than others, and my favorite in this collection is "The Chalchihuitl Stone," which in a very big way reads like a cross between a mystery story and a good, old-fashioned pulp fiction yarn, complete with ancient Aztecs and an expedition to Central America. Another that reads as a pulp adventure is the above mentioned "The Empty Cartridges," which I have to say is also one of my favorites in this volume. Some are pretty easy to figure out for the armchair detective, but all in all, it's a great collection, of definite interest to crime fiction/mystery fans as well as to fans of pulp adventure/detective stories.
scientific detective sampler here: http://www.crimesegments.com/2018/07/...
March 11, 2025
Something different: An early (1910) presentation of a detective using psychological science to solve cases.
Unfortunately, much of the psychological science of 1910 is bunk, and those parts of it that are valid are badly oversold. For example, the authors take it for granted that anyone who's lying will be stressed, and therefore detectable using early predecessors of the polygraph. There's a reason that polygraph evidence isn't accepted in courts: it's not that simple, not that clearcut, and not that reliable.
It reminds me, in fact, of every overhyped technology ever (such as AI today), which, when you actually start trying to apply it, comes up against the fact that the real world - and particularly the human part of it - is a lot more complicated than the technology evangelists have allowed for.
It's not all polygraph; in fact, there's quite a lot of variation, and no two stories use exactly the same method. There's some stuff about "hysteria" that, I think, takes a few laboratory experiments that were probably exaggerated in their writeup and interpretation, and turns them into "known facts" that apply generally. In one chapter, the detective solves a case based on giving a brief word-association test to a group of bank employees. In another, he measures the speed of response in a word-association test using an elaborate apparatus (all the scientific instruments are mechanical or electro-mechanical, in this time before electronics) in order to discover the guilty party. The response speeds quoted seem extremely slow for what is supposed to be a "word you first think of" test, and could easily be distinguished without using a clock accurate to a tenth of a second. We also don't ever get a discussion of how this young man, who's implied to be off a Midwestern farm, can afford to set himself up with all this presumably expensive precision equipment (once he leaves the university and goes out on his own, that is).
The whole thing takes psychological effects which, if real at all, are probably only visible in a large-scale statistical analysis, and makes them act like universal laws that apply to every subject every time, and can be easily and quickly measured outside a lab setting.
So, treat it as science fiction. But the mysteries are clever, and it's not just the same thing over and over; each story in the book presents a different type of puzzle and a different type of solution, so points to the authors for that.
For a book of its time, it isn't well edited, which means it's about average or even above average for a book of today. There are a few apostrophes in the wrong place, some commas missing or misplaced, an occasional quotation mark error.
There is generally a young woman in each story, but she's always engaged or married to someone already, and Trant - young, handsome and athletic as well as highly intelligent - never has a romantic interest. He is, like most early detectives, more of a crime-solving plot device than a character with his own life and interests outside detection. But if you enjoy a clever puzzle, and can suspend disbelief about the "psychological science," it's an enjoyable collection.
Unfortunately, much of the psychological science of 1910 is bunk, and those parts of it that are valid are badly oversold. For example, the authors take it for granted that anyone who's lying will be stressed, and therefore detectable using early predecessors of the polygraph. There's a reason that polygraph evidence isn't accepted in courts: it's not that simple, not that clearcut, and not that reliable.
It reminds me, in fact, of every overhyped technology ever (such as AI today), which, when you actually start trying to apply it, comes up against the fact that the real world - and particularly the human part of it - is a lot more complicated than the technology evangelists have allowed for.
It's not all polygraph; in fact, there's quite a lot of variation, and no two stories use exactly the same method. There's some stuff about "hysteria" that, I think, takes a few laboratory experiments that were probably exaggerated in their writeup and interpretation, and turns them into "known facts" that apply generally. In one chapter, the detective solves a case based on giving a brief word-association test to a group of bank employees. In another, he measures the speed of response in a word-association test using an elaborate apparatus (all the scientific instruments are mechanical or electro-mechanical, in this time before electronics) in order to discover the guilty party. The response speeds quoted seem extremely slow for what is supposed to be a "word you first think of" test, and could easily be distinguished without using a clock accurate to a tenth of a second. We also don't ever get a discussion of how this young man, who's implied to be off a Midwestern farm, can afford to set himself up with all this presumably expensive precision equipment (once he leaves the university and goes out on his own, that is).
The whole thing takes psychological effects which, if real at all, are probably only visible in a large-scale statistical analysis, and makes them act like universal laws that apply to every subject every time, and can be easily and quickly measured outside a lab setting.
So, treat it as science fiction. But the mysteries are clever, and it's not just the same thing over and over; each story in the book presents a different type of puzzle and a different type of solution, so points to the authors for that.
For a book of its time, it isn't well edited, which means it's about average or even above average for a book of today. There are a few apostrophes in the wrong place, some commas missing or misplaced, an occasional quotation mark error.
There is generally a young woman in each story, but she's always engaged or married to someone already, and Trant - young, handsome and athletic as well as highly intelligent - never has a romantic interest. He is, like most early detectives, more of a crime-solving plot device than a character with his own life and interests outside detection. But if you enjoy a clever puzzle, and can suspend disbelief about the "psychological science," it's an enjoyable collection.
December 3, 2022
The first few mysteries were pretty dull...I almost stopped reading.
But then they got better and better with each one. I even liked most of the later ones better than Conan Doyle Sherlock mysteries, which is saying a lot!
Really interesting to see believable applications of psychology applied to criminology when it was in its infancy. The other thing is that the authors were far too optimistic about the reliability of these methods, but at the time, I can definitely see their enthusiasm for finding better ways of detecting crime and sorting the innocent from guilt. Lots of fun, ingenious early-1900s experimental apparatus and names too.
Besides the stories in this book, there are three other known Luther Trant stories that were published in Hampton Magazine, which I was able to get.
The Hammering from May 1910 issue
A Matter of Mind Reading from Oct 1910 issue
Daughter of a Dream from May 1911 issue
Hampton's magazine is available for free, scanned into the Google Books project.
But then they got better and better with each one. I even liked most of the later ones better than Conan Doyle Sherlock mysteries, which is saying a lot!
Really interesting to see believable applications of psychology applied to criminology when it was in its infancy. The other thing is that the authors were far too optimistic about the reliability of these methods, but at the time, I can definitely see their enthusiasm for finding better ways of detecting crime and sorting the innocent from guilt. Lots of fun, ingenious early-1900s experimental apparatus and names too.
Besides the stories in this book, there are three other known Luther Trant stories that were published in Hampton Magazine, which I was able to get.
The Hammering from May 1910 issue
A Matter of Mind Reading from Oct 1910 issue
Daughter of a Dream from May 1911 issue
Hampton's magazine is available for free, scanned into the Google Books project.
Want to read
June 13, 2023Read so far:
The man in the room --2
The fast watch --
The red dress --
*The private bank puzzle --
The man higher up --3
The chalchihuitl stone (aka Terror crystal)--
The empty cartridges (aka The duel in the dark)--
*The Axton letters --
The eleventh hour (aka The crime machine, aka The day and the hour)--3
The man in the room --2
The fast watch --
The red dress --
*The private bank puzzle --
The man higher up --3
The chalchihuitl stone (aka Terror crystal)--
The empty cartridges (aka The duel in the dark)--
*The Axton letters --
The eleventh hour (aka The crime machine, aka The day and the hour)--3
November 17, 2011
The methods described in this books to use science to solve crimes may seem quaint and not very convincing today. But they were the embryonic stage of the scientific approach so widely used today in the analysis of crimes and their perpetrators.
February 1, 2022
An interesting take on detective fiction.
Some of these stories may be shared in the future via public domain, on the AIC Stories Podcast.
But I wasn't blown away as they felt like they wanted to be amazing like Sherlock Holmes, yet seemed to fall just a little short.
Some of these stories may be shared in the future via public domain, on the AIC Stories Podcast.
But I wasn't blown away as they felt like they wanted to be amazing like Sherlock Holmes, yet seemed to fall just a little short.
Read
July 19, 2011According to the Haycraft-Queen list, the first book of short stories to make scientific use of psychology as a method of crime detection.
Want to read
September 13, 2013pdf American Library online
Want to read
November 26, 2018Synopsis: here we have nine short stories which cover the development of Trant's scientific approach to detecting.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews