The methods so far described of detecting forgeries may well be as old as the practice of forgery itself. Certainly, they form the basis of all investigations of which we have records, as well as of those made today. Their efficiency, however, has been immensely increased by the development of scientific methods of investigation. The first great step forward came with the use of photography, which permitted comparison of suspicious objects with genuine examples in a way hitherto impossible. Next came the application of various scientific techniques to the analysis of the physical constitution of an object. So spectacular have been the results in some cases as to create a blind faith in such methods of investigation, almost as though a piece of scientific apparatus were an oracle which when consulted would answer “Yes” or “No” to the question of whether an object is genuine. The limits of scientific investigation are, however, clearly marked. This method is solely concerned with the physical make-up of an object, and is completely indifferent as to who made it, when and where it was made, and why it was made. All that it does is to make possible the discovery of physical facts bearing upon these matters, which have to be observed and interpreted by human minds and used as the basis for human judgments. [Illustration: ABOVE: A forgery of a painting by Utrillo adapted from a genuine example, compared with another genuine picture (BELOW). Note the clumsy handling of paint and drawing in the forgery.] [Illustration: (genuine example)]