From: Grant Callaghan (grantc4@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri 01 Nov 2002 - 16:31:04 GMT
>
>
>On Thursday, October 31, 2002, at 07:27 , Grant Callaghan wrote:
>
>>part of his lecture included the idea that an awl shapes the hand of the
>>shoemaker and some other oddities about people and their work that was
>>revealed upon close examination.
>
>****
>
>"'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have
>really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed
>everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and
>you have a quick eye for color. Never trust to general
>impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My
>first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is
>perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you
>observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most
>useful material for showing traces. The double line a little
>above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table,
>was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type,
>leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side
>of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the
>broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and,
>observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I
>ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed
>to surprise her."
>
>****
>
>"Sherlock Holmes's quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook
>his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances.
>"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."
>
>Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger
>upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.
>
>"How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr.
>Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did
>manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's
>carpenter."
>
>"Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger
>than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more
>developed."
>
>"Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?"
>
>"I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that,
>especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you
>use an arc-and-compass breastpin."
>
>"Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?"
>
>"What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for
>five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the
>elbow where you rest it upon the desk?"
>
>"Well, but China?"
>
>"The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right
>wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small
>study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature
>of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a
>delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I
>see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter
>becomes even more simple."
>
>Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I
>thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see
>that there was nothing in it, after all."
>
>"I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake
>in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my
>poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I
>am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?"
>
>****
>
>[And, this, from the Holmes meme-ory, if I may-]
>
>"Well," [Holmes] said, "I say now, as
>I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic
>stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the
>rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he
>can get it if he wants it."
>
Good show, old man! To my mind, Conan Doyle was obviously a memeticist --
he just didn't know it.
Grant
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