It makes sense as an extrapolation—chemical technology was advancing rapidly, so obviously the potential to do such things was there already or would have been shortly, and while maybe actual police investigators had never even really considered involving scientists in their work, Doyle with his outside perspective could spot the obvious connection and use it as a over plot idea to reinforce just how clever and innovative his genius detective was.
It’s possibly another argument for why this happens: fiction can be a really good outlet for laypersons with not enough credentials to put ideas out there and give them high visibility. Once the idea is read by someone with the right technical chops, it can then spark actual research and the prophecy fulfills itself.
It makes sense as an extrapolation—chemical technology was advancing rapidly, so obviously the potential to do such things was there already or would have been shortly, and while maybe actual police investigators had never even really considered involving scientists in their work, Doyle with his outside perspective could spot the obvious connection and use it as a over plot idea to reinforce just how clever and innovative his genius detective was.
It’s possibly another argument for why this happens: fiction can be a really good outlet for laypersons with not enough credentials to put ideas out there and give them high visibility. Once the idea is read by someone with the right technical chops, it can then spark actual research and the prophecy fulfills itself.