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Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., M.D., M.D.S., a.k.a. 'The Thinking Machine', is a the central character in a series of detective short stories and two novels by Jacques Futrelle. In the stories, Professor Van Dusen solves a variety of different mysteries with his friend and companion, reporter Hutchinson Hatch. The professor is known as "The Thinking Machine", solving problems by the remorseless application of logic.

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Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., M.D., M.D.S., a.k.a. 'The Thinking Machine', is a the central character in a series of detective short stories and two novels by Jacques Futrelle. Futrelle.

In the stories, Professor Van Dusen solves a variety of different mysteries with his friend and companion, reporter Hutchinson Hatch. Hatch.

The professor is known as "The Thinking Machine", solving problems by the remorseless application of logic.
logic.

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* GirlInABox: The solution to [[spoiler:"The Problem of DressingRoom A"]] involves the missing actress having been hypnotized and then folded into one of the trunks of her room, so she was carried out with the rest of her luggage when the troupe moved cities.
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* AtTheOperaTonight: In "The Problem of the Opera Box", Van Dusen investigates when a young woman is stabbed to death while surrounded by her family in a opera box during a performance of ''Theatre/IlTrovatore''.
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* TheAlibi: In "His Perfect Alibi", a murder is committed and every single piece of evidence--including a dying declaration by the victim--points to one man. However, that suspect has the seemingly airtight alibi of having been in a dentist chair having a tooth extracted at the time of the murder. It is up to Van Dusen to work out how someone could seemingly be in two places at same time.
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* MadArtist: In "The Mystery of a Studio", a mad artist [[AbductionIsLove abducts the woman who was his muse]] when he learns she does not return his love. he [[BunkerWoman locks her in a closet in his studio]] so she can never leave him again.

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* ShootOutTheLock: In "The Mystery of a Studio", after Hutch and Mallory fail to break down a closet door, Van Dusen takes Mallory's revolver and shoots the lock



* ShootOutTheLock: In "The Mystery of a Studio", after Hutch and Mallory fail to break down a closet door, Van Dusen takes Mallory's revolver and shoots the lock.



* SuperWindowJump: Averted in "The Ghost Woman". A cracksman jumps through a closed windows and vanishes into the night. However, Van Dusen notes the amount the amount of blood on the broken glass, and states that one cannot crash through a closed window and fall 20 ft. to the ground without sustaining serious lacerations and injuries. He reasons the man would have had to seek medical attention, which is how he locates him.

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* SuperWindowJump: Averted in "The Ghost Woman". A cracksman jumps through a closed windows window and vanishes into the night. However, Van Dusen notes the amount the amount of blood on the broken glass, and states that one cannot crash through a closed window and fall 20 ft. to the ground without sustaining serious lacerations and injuries. He reasons the man would have had to seek medical attention, which is how he locates him.
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* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first story, "My First Experience with the Great Logician", is unusual in that is told in the first person, which none of the other stories are. (Futrelle seems to having been trying to ape the style of Creator/ArthurConanDoyles Literature/SherlockHolmes stories, as Van Dusen performs a SherlockScan on the narrator, a feat he never repeats. Following this, Futrelle apparently decided the stories worked better in the third person.) Additionally, the narrator is not Hutchinson Hatch, who acts as TheWatson in all the other tales.

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* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first story, "My First Experience with the Great Logician", is unusual in that is told in the first person, which none of the other stories are. (Futrelle seems to having been trying to ape the style of Creator/ArthurConanDoyles Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's Literature/SherlockHolmes stories, as Van Dusen performs a SherlockScan on the narrator, a feat he never repeats. Following this, Futrelle apparently decided the stories worked better in the third person.) Additionally, the narrator is not Hutchinson Hatch, who acts as TheWatson in all the other tales.

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Changed: 293

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* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first story, "My First Experience with the Great Logician", is unusual in that is told in the first person, which none of the other stories are. Additionally, the narrator is no Hutchinson hatch, who acts as TheWatson in all the other tales.

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* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first story, "My First Experience with the Great Logician", is unusual in that is told in the first person, which none of the other stories are. (Futrelle seems to having been trying to ape the style of Creator/ArthurConanDoyles Literature/SherlockHolmes stories, as Van Dusen performs a SherlockScan on the narrator, a feat he never repeats. Following this, Futrelle apparently decided the stories worked better in the third person.) Additionally, the narrator is no not Hutchinson hatch, Hatch, who acts as TheWatson in all the other tales.


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* SherlockCanRead: In "My First Experience with the Great Logician", Van Dusen performs a SherlockScan and is able to deduce his patient's name, address and profession; that he smokes; that he is wearing his clothes for the first time that winter; that he was widowed a few months earlier; that he kept house then; and that the house was infected with insects. After the narrator professes his astonishment, Van Dusen explains that the name, address and occupation he got from the man's business card, which he read while he was unconscious. The other facts were actual deductions, however.
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* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first story, "My First Experience with the Great Logician", is unusual in that is told in the first person, which none of the other stories are. Additionally, the narrator is no Hutchinson hatch, who acts as TheWatson in all the other tales.
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* FowlMouthedParrot: In "The Lost Million", [[NotInFrontOfTheParrot a parrot holds a vital clue to the mystery]]. However, the parrot had belonged to a misanthrope and constantly swears and is insulting. After a few days with the bird, the normally even-tempered Van Dusen hands it back to its new owner with the warning that if he ever sees it again, he is going to kill it.
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* NotInFrontOfTheParrot: In "The Lost Million", a bitter old hermit tells his heirs before he dies that he has hidden his fortune where they will never find it. The only clue is the old man's parrot, which constantly swears and spouts random calculations. Van Dusen takes the parrot and, by writing down everything the parrot says, works out the numbers are actually a set a measurements. The old man had repeated them over and over when planning the hiding place, and the parrot memorised them, and was repeating them randomly. Once Van Dusen places them in the correct order, he just has to deduce the starting place.

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