A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (ebook reader with highlighter txt) ๐
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A Study in Scarlet is the novel which first introduced Arthur Conan Doylesโ iconic characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. It was published in 1887 in a popular magazine, Beetonโs Christmas Annual. It attracted little public attention at the time, but interest in Holmes continued to build with the subsequent series of short stories Doyle wrote featuring the austere, analytical detectiveโnow one of the most well-known characters in all of English literature.
A Study in Scarlet is told from the point of view of Dr. John Watson, a medical doctor who has recently returned to London after suffering serious injury and illness as part of the Army Medical Department deployed to Afghanistan. In precarious health and even more precarious financial straits, heโs looking for cheap lodgings when a friend introduces him to Sherlock Holmes. The pair agree to share the rent of a flat Holmes has found.
Watson is baffled by his companionโs strange nature, his peculiar interests, his unusual breadth of knowledge in certain fields alongside his shocking ignorance in others, and his many strange visitors. Only eventually does Watsonb discover that Holmes has set himself up as the worldโs first โconsulting detective,โ and itโs not long before Watson finds himself assisting Holmes in a mysterious case. The body of a man has been found in an abandoned house, without wounds or other marks of injury. But on the wall, scrawled in blood, is the word RACHE. The subsequent unravelling of the mystery takes many unexpected turns.
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- Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
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โFrom a drop of water,โ said the writer, โa 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 enquirer 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 manโs finger nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boot, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt cuffsโ โby each of these things a manโs calling is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent enquirer in any case is almost inconceivable.โ
โWhat ineffable twaddle!โ I cried, slapping the magazine down on the table, โI never read such rubbish in my life.โ
โWhat is it?โ asked Sherlock Holmes.
โWhy, this article,โ I said, pointing at it with my egg spoon as I sat down to my breakfast. โI see that you have read it since you have marked it. I donโt deny that it is smartly written. It irritates me though. It is evidently the theory of some armchair lounger who evolves all these neat little paradoxes in the seclusion of his own study. It is not practical. I should like to see him clapped down in a third class carriage on the Underground, and asked to give the trades of all his fellow-travellers. I would lay a thousand to one against him.โ
โYou would lose your money,โ Sherlock Holmes remarked calmly. โAs for the article, I wrote it myself.โ
โYou!โ
โYes, 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 practicalโ โso practical that I depend upon them for my bread and cheese.โ
โAnd how?โ I asked involuntarily.
โWell, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. Iโm a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is. Here in London we have lots of Government detectives and lots of private ones. When these fellows are at fault they come to me, and I manage to put them on the right scent. They lay all the evidence before me, and I am generally able, by the help of my knowledge of the history of crime, to set them straight. There is a strong family resemblance about misdeeds, and if you have all the details of a thousand at your finger ends, it is odd if you canโt unravel the thousand and first. Lestrade is a well-known detective. He got himself into a fog recently over a forgery case, and that was what brought him here.โ
โAnd these other people?โ
โThey are mostly sent on by private inquiry agencies. They are all people who are in trouble about something, and want a little enlightening. I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and then I pocket my fee.โ
โBut do you mean to say,โ I said, โthat without leaving your room you can unravel some knot which other men can make nothing of, although they have seen every detail for themselves?โ
โQuite so. I have a kind of intuition that way. Now and again a case turns up which is a little more complex. Then I have to bustle about and see things with my own eyes. You see I have a lot of special knowledge which I apply to the problem, and which facilitates matters wonderfully. 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.โ
โYou were told, no doubt.โ
โNothing of the sort. I knew you came from Afghanistan. From long habit the train of thoughts ran so swiftly through my mind, that I arrived at the conclusion without being conscious of intermediate steps. There were such steps, however. The train of reasoning ran, โHere is a gentleman of a medical type, but with the air of a military man. Clearly an army doctor, then. He has just come from the tropics, for his face is dark, and that is not the natural tint of his skin, for his wrists are fair. He has undergone hardship and sickness, as his haggard face says clearly. His left arm has been injured. He holds it in a stiff and unnatural manner. Where in the tropics could an English army doctor have seen much hardship and got his arm wounded? Clearly in Afghanistan.โ The whole train of thought did not occupy a second. I then remarked that you came from Afghanistan, and you were astonished.โ
โIt is simple enough as you explain it,โ I said, smiling. โYou remind me of Edgar Allen Poeโs Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist outside of stories.โ
Sherlock Holmes rose and lit his pipe. โNo doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin,โ he observed. โNow, in my opinion, Dupin
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