Hans Gross was an Austrian criminal investigator and professor of criminology, and is recognized as the founder of scientific criminal investigation. He published the first handbook of methods being applied to crime investigation at the time, including information about forensic medicine, toxicology, serology, and ballistics, and suggested new methods that would later come to be used, such as forensic geology. It was not until 1904 that German forensic scientist Georg Popp first used earth materials as evidence in a murder case, using soil from the suspect's shoes to prove that not only had the suspect not been where he had claimed to have been, but also that he had been at the scene of the crime, which he had denied.
In the early 1900's, French forensic geologist Edmond Locard developed what is now known as the Locard exchange principle, which says that whenever two objects come into contact with each other, there is a transfer of material. This principle forms the basis for the collection and examination of all sorts of trace evidence, such as fingerprints, DNA evidence, or soil samples. By 1935, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation was using soil and mineral analysis in criminal investigation.
Dr. Raymond C. Murray's book Evidence from the Earth: Forensic Geology and Criminal Investigation discusses the history of forensic investigation from its beginnings in the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to some of the high tech methods currently in use in criminal investigation. Murray intersperses his descriptions of techniques with examples of how these techniques have been used in real-life criminal cases. In addition to discussing how soil and rock samples can be used as evidence, Murray also discusses how other trace evidence can be examined for mineral content, such as cosmetics and face powder to glass and other products, showing how broadly the subject of forensic geology can cover in investigations.
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