Thermal analysis methods have been introduced into forensic sciences only in recent times. Though thermoanalytical instruments have been available commercially for some decades it was not until the beginning of the seventies that forensic scientists became interested in them. At that time some state forensic science laboratories in the Federal Republic of Germany made use of differential thermal analysis for forensic soil investigations. The forensic science section of the city police of ZUrich, Switzerland, applied an instrument (differential thermal analysis and thermogravimetry) for...