 Dupin 's method emphasizes the importance of reading and the written word . The newspaper accounts pique his curiosity ; he learns about orangutans from a written account by " Cuvier " — likely Georges Cuvier , the French zoologist . This method also engages the reader , who follows along by reading the clues himself . Poe also emphasizes the power of the spoken word . When Dupin asks the sailor for information about the murders , the sailor himself acts out a partial death : " The sailor 's face flushed up as if he were struggling with suffocation ... the next moment he fell back into his seat , trembling violently , and with the countenance of death itself . " 
