Deductions

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

The Book of Life

It attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deductions appeared to me to be far fetched and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man’s inmost thoughts. Deceit, according to him, was an impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.
“From a drop of water,” said the writer, “a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the Science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can only be acquired by long and patient study, nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it. Before turning to those moral and mental aspects of the matter which present the greatest difficulties, let the inquirer begin by mastering more elementary problems. Let him, on meeting a fellow-mortal, learn at a glance to distinguish the history of the man, and the trade or profession to which he belongs. Puerile as such an exercise may seem, it sharpens the faculties of observation, and teaches one where to look and what to look for. By a man’s finger-nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boots, by his trouser-knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirtcuffs — by each of these things a man’s calling is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent inquirer in any case is almost inconceivable.”
"I have a turn both for observation and for deduction. The theories which I have expressed there, and which appear to you to be so chimerical, are really extremely practical — so practical that I depend upon them for my bread and cheese.”
"Those rules of deduction laid down in that article which aroused your scorn are invaluable to me in practical work. Observation with me is second nature. You appeared to be surprised when I told you, on our first meeting, that you had come from Afghanistan.”
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

I walked slowly down the path. There was clay or soft marl mixed with the chalk, and every here and there I saw the same footstep, both ascending and descending. No one else had gone down to the beach by this track that morning. At one place I observed the print of an open hand with the fingers towards the incline. This could only mean that poor McPherson had fallen as he ascended. There were rounded depressions, too, which suggested that he had come down upon his knees more than once. Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Mr. Holmes, this is the young lady I spoke of. This is my fiancee.”
“We were gradually coming to that conclusion, were we not, Watson?” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“For example, there is this revolver. Miss Dunbar disclaims all knowledge of it. On our new theory she is speaking truth when she says so. Therefore, it was placed in her wardrobe. Who placed it there? Someone who wished to incriminate her. Was not that person the actual criminal?” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“You are, of course, the Mr. John Garrideb mentioned in this document. But surely you have been in England some time?”
“Why do you say that, Mr. Holmes?” I seemed to read sudden suspicion in those expressive eyes.
“Your whole outfit is English.”

“I was wondering, Watson, what on earth could be the object of this man in telling us such a rigmarole of lies. I nearly asked him so — for there are times when a brutal frontal attack is the best policy — but I judged it better to let him think he had fooled us. Here is a man with an English coat frayed at the elbow and trousers bagged at the knee with a year’s wear, and yet by this document and by his own account he is a provincial American lately landed in London. There have been no advertisements in the agony columns. You know that I miss nothing there. They are my favourite covert for putting up a bird, and I would never have overlooked such a cock pheasant as that. I never knew a Dr. Lysander Starr, of Topeka. Touch him where you would he was false. I think the fellow is really an American, but he has worn his accent smooth with years of London.”

Holmes pointed as we passed to the small brass plate which bore the curious name.
“Up some years, Watson,” he remarked, indicating its discoloured surface. “It’s his real name, anyhow, and that is something to note.”

“Yes, it was bad English but good American. The printer had set it up as received. Then the buckboards. That is American also. And artesian wells are commoner with them than with us. It was a typical American advertisement, but purporting to be from an English firm.”

“Anyhow, he wanted to get this good old fossil up to Birmingham. That is very clear. I might have told him that he was clearly going on a wild-goose chase, but, on second thoughts, it seemed better to clear the stage by letting him go.”

“I think we may take it that Prescott, the American criminal, used to live in the very room which our innocent friend now devotes to his museum.”

“He wanted to get our amiable friend out of his room — that is very clear, and, as the collector never went out, it took some planning to do it. The whole of this Garrideb invention was apparently for no other end. I must say, Watson, that there is a certain devilish ingenuity about it, even if the queer name of the tenant did give him an opening which he could hardly have expected. He wove his plot with remarkable cunning.’’

“It has nothing whatever to do with our client, so far as I can read the situation. It is something connected with the man he murdered — the man who may have been his confederate in crime. There is some guilty secret in the room. That is how I read it.”

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

‘Will examine your case with pleasure.’ ”
“Your case!”
“We must not let him think that this agency is a home for the weak-minded. Of course it is his case.” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“It is this Harrow Weald case. It decides me to look into the matter, for if it is worth anyone’s while to take so much trouble, there must be something in it.” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Count me in, Holmes. I have nothing to do for a day or two.”
“Your morals don’t improve, Watson. You have added fibbing to your other vices. You bear every sign of the busy medical man, with calls on him every hour.” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“From South Africa, sir, I perceive.”
“Yes, sir,” he answered, with some surprise.
“Imperial Yeomanry, I fancy.”
“Exactly.”
“Middlesex Corps, no doubt.”
“That is so. Mr. Holmes, you are a wizard.”
I smiled at his bewildered expression.
“When a gentleman of virile appearance enters my room with such tan upon his face as an English sun could never give, and with his handkerchief in his sleeve instead of in his pocket, it is not difficult to place him. You wear a short beard, which shows that you were not a regular. You have the cut of a riding-man. As to Middlesex, your card has already shown me that you are a stockbroker from Throgmorton Street. What other regiment would you join?” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“I knew, also, that he (Baron Gruner) had come to England and had a presentiment that sooner or later he would find me some work to do.” (Sherlock Holmes) Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Well, as you seem to have made the discovery, whatever it may be, and the vicar to have had it second-hand, perhaps you had better do the speaking,” said Holmes. Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“But why Turkish?” asked Mr. Sherlock Holmes, gazing fixedly at my boots. I was reclining in a cane-backed chair at the moment, and my protruded feet had attracted his ever-active attention.
“English,” I answered in some surprise. “I got them at Latimer’s, in Oxford Street.”
Holmes smiled with an expression of weary patience.
“The bath!” he said; “the bath! Why the relaxing and expensive Turkish rather than the invigorating home-made article?” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Judging by its effect upon my brother, I should think it must be a most extraordinary one.” He snuggled down in his armchair. “Now, Watson, let us have the facts.”
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“It opens a pleasing field for intelligent speculation. The words are written with a broad-pointed, violet-tinted pencil of a not unusual pattern. You will observe that the paper is torn away at the side here after the printing was done, so that the s of ‘SOAP’ is partly gone. Suggestive, Watson, is it not?”
“Of caution?”
“Exactly. There was evidently some mark, some thumbprint, something which might give a clue to the person’s identity.”
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Pray sit down, Mr. Scott Eccles,” said Holmes in a soothing voice. “May I ask, in the first place, why you came to me at all?”
“Well, sir, it did not appear to be a matter which concerned the police, and yet, when you have heard the facts, you must admit that I could not leave it where it was. Private detectives are a class with whom I have absolutely no sympathy, but none the less, having heard your name —”
“Quite so. But, in the second place, why did you not come at once?”
“What do you mean?”
Holmes glanced at his watch.
“It is a quarter-past two,” he said. “Your telegram was dispatched about one. But no one can glance at your toilet and attire without seeing that your disturbance dates from the moment of your waking.”
Our client smoothed down his unbrushed hair and felt his unshaven chin.
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

Holmes wrote a name upon a slip of paper and handed it to the Premier.
“Exactly. It was he.”
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Hopkins’s writing shows considerable agitation, and he is not an emotional man. Yes, I gather there has been violence, and that the body is left for our inspection.”
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Mr. Overton was evidently considerably excited when he sent it, and somewhat incoherent in consequence.” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

From his pocket Stanley Hopkins drew a small paper packet. He unfolded it and disclosed a golden pince-nez, with two broken ends of black silk cord dangling from the end of it. Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

Holmes stirred for the first time.
“The first page on the floor, the second in the window, the third where you left it,” said he.
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“I would only observe that there is a certain method in the gentleman’s eccentric proceedings. For example, in Dr. Barnicot’s hall, where a sound might arouse the family, the bust was taken outside before being broken, whereas in the surgery, where there was less danger of an alarm, it was smashed where it stood.” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Was the blood-stain above or below?”
“On the side next the boards.”
“Which proves, of course, that the book was dropped after the crime was committed.”
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“What Dr. Thorneycroft Huxtable, of the Priory School, near Mackleton, has to do with the matter, and why he comes three days after an event — the state of your chin gives the date — to ask for my humble services.” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

 “At least it cannot be your health,” said he, as his keen eyes darted over her: “so ardent a bicyclist must be full of energy.”
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“So, Watson,” said he, suddenly, “you do not propose to invest in South African securities?” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Beyond the obvious facts that you are a bachelor, a solicitor, a Freemason, and an asthmatic, I know nothing whatever about you.” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“I confess that you had one small surprise for me,” said Holmes. “I did not anticipate that you would yourself make use of this empty house and this convenient front window. I had imagined you as operating from the street, where my friend Lestrade and his merry men were awaiting you. With that exception, all has gone as I expected.”
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Yes, I have been using myself up rather too freely,” he remarked, in answer to my look rather than to my words; “I have been a little pressed of late.” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“I perceive that you have been unwell lately. Summer colds are always a little trying.” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“But the writing is not his own.”
“Precisely. It is a woman’s, and a woman of rare character.” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

The two men had stopped opposite the window. Some chalk marks over the waistcoat pocket were the only signs of billiards which I could see in one of them. The other was a very small, dark fellow, with his hat pushed back and several packages under his arm. Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“A doctor’s — general practitioner, I perceive,” said Holmes. “Not been long in practice, but has a good deal to do. Come to consult us, I fancy!”

Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Sorry to see that you’ve had the British workman in the house. He‘s a token of evil. Not the drains, I hope?” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“This writing is of extraordinary interest,” said Holmes, who had been examining it with intense concentration. Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“You are right, Watson,” said he. “It does seem a most preposterous way of settling a dispute.”
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Now, supposing that he broke away during or after the tragedy, where could he have gone to? The horse is a very gregarious creature. If left to himself his instincts would have been either to return to King’s Pyland or go over to Mapleton. Why should he run wild upon the moor? He would surely have been seen by now. And why should gypsies kidnap him? These people always clear out when they hear of trouble, for they do not wish to be pestered by the police. They could not hope to sell such a horse. They would run a great risk and gain nothing by taking him. Surely that is clear.” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Well, yes, of course the pay is good — too good. That is what makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some strong reason behind.”
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“I believe that he is coming here,” said Holmes, rubbing his hands .
“Here?”
“Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I think that I recognize the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?”
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink upon the outer side of his right little finger,” remarked Holmes as he folded up the epistle.
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, Mr. Hatherley.” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“It is perhaps less suggestive than it might have been,” he remarked. Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man’s watch, to prove that it had been wound up two hours before..... Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“To take the first example to hand, I very clearly perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand side, Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else.” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Wedlock suits you,” he remarked. “I think, Watson, that you have put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you.”
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

Hullo! that’s not your pipe on the table.... Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

Now, when young ladies wander about the metropolis at this hour of the morning.... Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“You can imagine, Watson, with what eagerness I (Sherlock Holmes)listened to this extraordinary sequence of events....

Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

‘I might suggest that you have gone about in fear of some personal attack within the last twelvemonth.’ Read More...