Show Conan Doyles Doyle's Master Sleuth Was an Edinburgh Professor Arthur Bartlett Maurice author essa essayist and literary explorer has discovered that Sherlock Holmes was wasa a real person who startled his friends by the amazing accuracy of his de de- de- de The real Holmes was Dr Joseph Bell a n lecturer in medicine at t Edinburgh university Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Dole conceived the he character of ot Sherlock Holmes while working with Dr Bell Doyle observed the thc doctors doctor's extraordinary powers of observation and his amaze jag ing ng success in forming correct deductions deduc- deduc ions from those powers His gifts along long these lines puzzled both the students and the professors of the university fa faculty cult Ordinarily physicians obtain a knowledge of oC their patients' patients symptoms symptoms toms oms through close questioning and front from rom such questioning a record is made for office records It forms the patients patient's medical history Dr Bell did not resort to any such method In Invariably Invariably Invariably In- In variably he was able to acquaint himself him- him sell self with the thc history of ot his patients by y means of ot his faculties for observation observation tion ion and deduction Many stories were told of ot the original nal inal Sherlock's keenness On one occa- occa sion ion Dr Bell BeB glanced at a man who came ame to his office and promptly named amed the disease from which the theman theman theman man was suffering Bell said to him You have served in the army and recently in the tropics You were a al noncommissioned officer until your our retirement only a short time ago Now you ou are arc a bank messenger How He Worked 1 When Dr Bell was quizzed on how howl he ic could possibly deduce these things at t a glance he hc replied with a touch ot of f impatience that it was all extreme extreme- ly Ily y simple He had instantly noted the soldierly carriage of ot his caller That meant of ot course that the man was or had lad been a soldier Also the caller did not remove his hat on entering the theoffice theoffice theoffice office and this under army regulations regula regula- ions was entirely proper The man was vas very deferential to him and therefore the deduction that he was or had been a private soldier or a noncommissioned officer was practically practically practically cally positive But the caller calter nevertheless nevertheless never never- spoke with a certain air of assurance and authority an air that the he doctor had noted usually went I with first rate noncommissioned of- of It was evident that he was no longer in the army because he wore no uniform As for being beins a bank messenger messenger mes mes- the doctor had noticed the shiny mark on the left shoulder of the mans man's jacket just jacket just such a mark markas as was left b by the strap of ot the regulation regulation regulation regula regula- tion bans bats carried by bank messengers Also it if was well welt known that banks preferred to employ reliable former noncoms as bank messengers The fact fad that the man had served in the tropics was apparent by two or three minute wounds in his forehead wounds forehead wounds pe peculiar peculiar pecullar pe- pe culiar cullar to the sting of at certain tropical insects What could be simpler j I Doyles Doyle's Own Deductions Deduction Followers of Sherlock Holmes may that Doyle must have been present In Dr Bells Bell's office when these I special deductions were made because because be be- cause ause the author himself in Sn several jOr of his stories about Holmes made ob- ob observations and deductions most exactly ex ex- similar to the thc foregoing Rather Sherlock Holmes made them about his friend Dr Watson at the time he first met Watson According to Maurice Doyles Doyle's s first tame name for lor the great detective was not Sherlock Holmes but Holmes This name occurred in the draft of the first story about Holmes Doyle had long been a close stud student nt of ot Poe Poc and Gaboriau and he decided that it might be interesting to apply the methods of both in a different way He Hc felt that Holmes could not tell of his own exploits but like Dr Johnson must have his Boswell Therefore he created the perfect foil for or his hero and named It Dr Watson Holmes' Holmes own acuteness was thrown into bolder contrast by the slow- slow mindedness of Watson and yet Watson Watson Wat Vat Vatson son was made likable b by his courage and md his loyalty to his friend Became Living Living- Character To this day 45 years after he was supposed to have been in the thick of ot othis his action against the criminals ls of London and of ot the continent Sherlock Holmes Is extremely real to many persons Sir Arthur Conan Doyle received re reo re- re an enormous mail concerning him and many of the letters inquire if It there are arc to be no more Sherlock Holmes stories Most of oC his dents pleaded for another mother series even if Lf it must be a final one According to Doyle Holmes if he had really hen been beena hena a living person would be fully CO years of at age now or maybe a year or two younger He was in the full tide of his career in the very early SOs and when Dr Watson met him he helas vas las as asno no longer a youth Perhaps it was the realization of ot how old his hero must be even in the shadowy world of or fiction fic lie tion that impelled Sir Arthur to end his career When he retired Holmes several elderly elderly el el- el derly ladles ladies wrote and quite seriously o offered ered to keep house for him hint They are sure that the famous flat in Baker flaker street needed a contented comfortable ble woman not too young oung and not too old eIther cither More extraordinary still tilt Doyle received many letters asking for the address of Holmes in order that he hc might be retained at lar large e fees for the solution of ot crimes that must needs be solved privately and without the intervention of ot Scotland Yard I |