Editing Forensic entomology (section)

==History==
Historically, several accounts of applications have been for, and experimentation with, forensic entomology. Aside from an initial case report in China from the 13th century, the primitive observation and correlation between arthropods and forensic contexts has been documented in Germany and France. This observation was conducted during a mass exhumation in the late 1880s by Hofmann and Reinhard.<ref name = "Benecke_2001">{{cite journal | vauthors = Benecke M | title = A brief history of forensic entomology | journal = Forensic Science International | volume = 120 | issue = 1–2 | pages = 2–14 | date = August 2001 | pmid = 11457602 | doi = 10.1016/S0379-0738(01)00409-1 }}</ref> However, only in the last 30 years has forensic entomology been systematically explored as a feasible source for evidence in [[criminal investigation]]s. Through documented experiments and focus on arthropods and death, the works of [[Sung Tzu]], [[Francesco Redi]], [[Louis François Etienne Bergeret|Bergeret d'Arbois]], [[Jean Pierre Mégnin]] and the physiologist [[Hermann Reinhard]] form the foundations for today's modern forensic entomology.

===Song Ci===
The Song dynasty (960–1279) [[forensic science]] book ''[[Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified]]'' published by a court judge, physician, medical scientist, and writer [[Song Ci]] in 1247 contains the oldest known case of forensic entomology.<ref name="Haskell_2006">{{cite book | vauthors = Haskell NH | date = 2006 | chapter = The Science of Forensic Entomology | title = Forensic Science and Law: Investigative Applications in Criminal, Civil, and Family Justice | pages = 431–440 (432) | veditors = Wecht CH, Rago JT | location = Boca Raton | publisher = CRC Press, an imprint of Taylor and Francis Group | isbn = 0-8493-1970-6 }}</ref> In a murder case of 1235, a villager was stabbed to death and authorities determined that his wounds were inflicted by a [[sickle]]; this was a tool used for cutting rice at harvest time, a fact which led them to suspect a fellow peasant worker was involved.<ref name="Haskell_2006"/> The local magistrate had the villagers assemble in the town square, where they would temporarily relinquish their sickles.<ref name="Haskell_2006"/> Within minutes, a mass of [[Blow-fly|blow flies]] gathered around one sickle and no others, attracted to the scent of traces of [[blood]] unseen by the naked eye.<ref name="Haskell_2006"/> It became apparent to all that the owner of that sickle was the culprit, the latter pleading for mercy as authorities detained him.<ref name="Haskell_2006"/>

Song Ci (sometimes called Sung Tzu) was a judicial intendant who lived in China from 1188 to 1251 AD. In 1247 AD, Song Ci wrote a book entitled ''[[Washing Away of Wrongs]]'' as a coroner handbook.<ref>{{cite book | title=T'and-Yin-Pi-Shih: Parallel cases from under the pear-tree | vauthors = van Gulik RH | author-link=Robert van Gulik | edition=reprint | publisher=Gibson Press | orig-year=1956| year=2004 | isbn=978-0-88355-908-6 | page=18 }}</ref> In this book Song Ci depicts several cases in which he took notes on how a person died and elaborates on probable cause. He explains in detail how to examine a corpse before and after burial. He also explains the process of how to determine a probable cause of death. The main purpose of this book was to be used as a guide for other investigators so they could assess the crime scene effectively. His level of detail in explaining what he observed in all his cases laid down the fundamentals for modern forensic entomologists. He is the first recorded account of someone using forensic entomology for judicial means.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Tz'u S | translator-last1 = Mc Knight BE | date = 1981 | title = The Washing Away of Wrongs | publisher = Center for Chinese Studies The University of Michigan | pages = 1–34 | isbn = 978-0-89264-800-9 }}</ref>

===Francesco Redi===
{{Further|Francesco Redi}}
In 1668, Italian physician Francesco Redi disproved the theory of [[spontaneous generation]]. This was the accepted theory of Redi's day, and it claimed that [[maggots]] developed spontaneously from rotting meat. In an experiment, Redi used samples of rotting meat that were either fully exposed to the air, partially exposed to the air, or not exposed to the air. Redi showed that both fully and partially exposed rotting meat developed fly [[maggots]], whereas rotting meat not exposed to air did not develop maggots. This discovery completely changed how people viewed organisms' decomposition and prompted further investigations into insect life cycles and entomology in general.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://microbes.historique.net/history2.html | title=A History of Microbiology | publisher=Historique.net | date=30 April 2003 | access-date=12 March 2008}}</ref>

===Bergeret d'Arbois===
Dr. [[Louis François Etienne Bergeret]] (1814–1893) was a French hospital physician and was the first to apply forensic entomology to a case. In a case report published in 1855, he stated a general life cycle for insects and made many assumptions about their mating habits. Nevertheless, these assumptions led him to the first application of forensic entomology in an estimation of [[post-mortem interval]] (PMI). His report used forensic entomology as a tool to prove his hypothesis on how and when the person had died.<ref name = "Benecke_2001" />

===Hermann Reinhard===
The first systematic study in forensic entomology was conducted in 1881 by [[Hermann Reinhard]], a German medical doctor. He exhumed many bodies and demonstrated that the development of many different insect species could be tied to buried bodies. Reinhard conducted his first study in East Germany and collected many [[Phoridae|Phorid flies]] there. He concluded that the development of only some of the insects living near corpses underground was associated directly with decaying flesh since there were 15-year-old beetles who had little direct contact with the bodies. Reinhard's works and studies were used extensively in further forensic entomology studies.

===Jean Pierre Mégnin===
{{Further|Jean Pierre Mégnin}}
French veterinarian and entomologist Jean Pierre Mégnin (1828–1905) published many articles and books on various subjects, including the books ''Faune des Tombeaux'' and ''La Faune des Cadavres'', which are considered to be among the most important forensic entomology books in history.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Klotzbach H, Krettek R, Bratzke H, Püschel K, Zehner R, Amendt J | title = The history of forensic entomology in German-speaking countries | journal = Forensic Science International | volume = 144 | issue = 2–3 | pages = 259–263 | date = September 2004 | pmid = 15364399 | doi = 10.1016/j.forsciint.2004.04.062 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.503.3269 }}</ref> In his second book he did revolutionary work on the theory of predictable waves, or successions of insects onto corpses. By counting numbers of live and dead mites every 15 days and comparing the data with his initial count on the infant, he was able to estimate how long the infant had been dead.<ref name = "Benecke_2001" />

In this book, he asserted that exposed corpses were subject to eight successional waves, whereas buried corpses were only subject to two waves. Mégnin made many great discoveries that helped shed new light on many of the general characteristics of decaying flora and fauna. Mégnin's work and study of the larval and adult forms of insect families found in cadavers sparked the interest of future entomologists and encouraged more research in the link between arthropods and the deceased, and thereby helped to establish the scientific discipline of forensic entomology.