ATTENTION TO DETAIL IS ONE OF THE strengths of my work, but some people disagree. They want my research and writing to cover the complete story of the nation. They want me to write about the forest when I am more fascinated by the trees. What did Rizal eat for breakfast? Did Bonifacio dream in color? When I come up with answers, some people marvel at the ?painstaking? research, while others dismiss them as ?trivial? or ?chismis.?

Our hunt for such ?clues? or ?traces? in history is like Robert Langdon finding hidden meanings in signs and symbols. We are like investigators on ?CSI? unmasking a killer from the way a corpse is found.

Historians do not have exciting lives. Our investigations begin from stacks of books in a library or the musty documents in archives.

The closest I have come to a ?CSI? method was going over the manner Rizal fell in Bagumbayan and contemplating his backbone in Fort Santiago. I have pored through the autopsy report and photographs of bones found in the Maragondon range that were allegedly those of Andres Bonifacio. I have read the medical report on Apolinario Mabini?s disability and was rewarded with a lock of his hair. Then there was the much publicized pre-war operation on Emilio Aguinaldo who was admitted to a government hospital for an appendectomy. He complained of discomfort after the ?successful? operation.

Non-invasive probing equipment was unavailable then, so they opened him up again and discovered that one of the surgeons had left a towel inside the President of the First Republic. When I asked a doctor if this was sufficient cause for a malpractice suit, he replied defensively, ?Don?t be silly Ambeth, it?s only a towel. It could have been worse. Imagine if they had left a scalpel!?

Morbid souvenirs of Aguinaldo?s ordeal are displayed in the medicine cabinet of his home in Kawit, Cavite. Often overlooked in a profusion of blue bottles that once contained eye drops are two small bottles, one containing Aguinaldo?s pickled appendix and the other a piece of cotton gauze cut from the towel left by his doctors.

In the mass of documents once known as the ?P.I.R.? (Philppine Insurgent Records), now preserved in the National Library, are papers relating to the assassination of Gen. Antonio Luna in Cabanatuan in 1899. Luna is often referred to as ?the greatest Filipino general of the Philippine-American War? despite the research and writing of the late Teodoro Agoncillo who insisted that Luna was a great general who did not win a single battle. Luna was allegedly summoned to Cabanatuan for a meeting with Aguinaldo, but when he got there he was shot and stabbed?by Cavite soldiers serving as presidential guards, the same rowdy soldiers he had vainly tried to discipline for insubordination.

Often overlooked by historians is the inventory of Luna?s bags after the assassination. Unfortunately, these do not give us any clues as to the reason for his murder, but the objects listed give us an idea into his personality.

We presume the inventory is complete and correct. He had two traveling bags, two bauls (chests) and a box with an assortment of personal effects as follows:

?One leather traveling bag with toiletry case, one elastic sash, one alcohol lamp, curling irons, one packet Boric acid, one packet rice powder, two small boxes shoe polish, one shoe brush, one soap dish with soap, one pair spurs.?

Remember there were no hotels as we know them today. Luna would spend nights in the field or enjoyed the hospitality of homes with or without amenities, so he brought his own soap and shoe polish. The curling irons, depending on the size, could have been for his hair, or his famous handle-bar moustache. Rice powder reduced the sheen on the face. I don?t know what the Boric acid was for.

A canvas traveling bag contained: ?one pair charol half boots, one pair hazel-nut-colored leather buskins, one pair leather boots, one pair high canvas buskins, one astrolabe.?

?A baul with one black frock coat, one mirror de tres lunas, two white tunics, white pants, one blue wool band, one Ilocano bedspread, two bath towels, one pair unused slippers, one empty leather portfolio, one metal box with coat buttons, 32 small boxes cartridges, five cane fans, one general?s cap, one English straw hat, one Baliuag hat.

?One baul containing: one thick raincoat, one pair guignon pants with sashes, three striped Cuban pants, five calzoncillos, two khaki pants, five shirt collars, two cotton shirts, two pillow cases, one big towel, three colored handkerchiefs, six books and shoulder pads.

?One box with six books, four canes, one saber, two American bayonets, one pair hazel-colored buskins, one Japanese bath robe, two boxes with 20 handkerchiefs, six khaki mambisas [?], two khaki pants, one pair pantaloon de montar [?], one wool suit, one wool americana, wool pants, eight white pants, seven white americanas, 17 shirt collars, 12 shirts, five pillow cases, two camisas de chino, two wool socks and a kalasiao hat.?

Twelve shirts but only five pieces of underwear? Twelve books, but no titles? Curling irons and unused slippers? You will be surprised what historical secrets a dead man?s inventory will yield.

Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu