Sherlock Holmes through the Microscope , livre ebook

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The life and career of Mr. Sherlock Holmes haves inspired the interest of many of the brightest intellects in the world. They have expended great efforts to penetrate beyond the glimpses afforded us in the 60 published adventures - to detect the real underlying character of "the best and the wisest man" Dr. Watson has ever known ("The Final Problem" by A. C. Doyle). To the hundreds of past and present day Sherlockians, Holmesians, Doyeleans, we owe a great deal of gratitude for helping to shred the veil which has been created to obfuscate the real character of our remarkable hero: from the sainted Christopher Morley and Vincent Starrett; to the renowned commentators Ronald A. Knox, William S. Baring-Gould, Edgar W. Smith, Sydney C. Roberts, Michael Harrison, Michael Hardwick, and many others too numerous to mention. Commentators have included bookmen, journalists and essayists, physicians, psychiatrists and pathologists, chemists, monsignors and vicars, barristers and solicitors, and automobile executives. All have brought their intelligence, unique perspectives, and, most of all, a very desperate need for knowledge to this quest, their labor of love. With great humility but stout heart, I feel highly motivated, even obligated, to attempt to add my voice to this ongoing effort. As a microbiologist, I hope to bring a different perspective to these studies. I am used to dealing with very minute objects that produce consequences much greater than their size would indicate. Is not this obsession with minutiae the perfect training and background for one who feels the need to participate in Sherlockian studies? I do hope that this makes me somewhat qualified to join in this important area of scholarly research.

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Publié par	Andrews UK
Date de parution	31 juillet 2018
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781787053083
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0300€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Sherlock Holmes through the Microscope
Carl L. Heifetz

2018 digital version converted and published by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
Copyright © 2018 Carl L. Heifetz
The right of Carl L. Heifetz to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of MX Publishing.
MX Publishing
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London, N11 3GX
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Cover layout and construction by
Brian Belanger

Sherlock Holmes: Master of Espionage
Published in The Whitechapel Gazette Issue No. 4, Mid-1994; p 21–8; The Hounds Collection Vol. 3, 1998, p 40–5; Baker Street West 1 Vol. 13, No. 3, Winter 2007, p 12–18; Coppola, Joseph A. Ed.), ...Occasionally the British Government , August 2000, The Mycroft Holmes Society Press, Fayetteville, NY, p 109–19; the Communication of the Pleasant Places of Florida, #299, 2010, p 2–3: Practice Notes, The Friends of Dr. John H. Watson, Feb. 2013, pages 2–7.
The life and career of Mr. Sherlock Holmes have inspired the interest of many of the brightest intellects in the world. They have expended great efforts to penetrate beyond the glimpses afforded us in the 60 published adventures - to detect the real underlying character of “the best and the wisest man” Dr. Watson has ever known ( The Final Problem by A. C. Doyle). To the hundreds of past and present day Sherlockians, Holmesians, Doyeleans, we owe a great deal of gratitude for helping to shred the veil which has been created to obfuscate the real character of our remarkable hero: from the sainted Christopher Morley and Vincent Starrett; to the renowned commentators Ronald A. Knox, William S. Baring-Gould, Edgar W. Smith, Sydney C. Roberts, Michael Harrison, Michael Hardwick, and many others too numerous to mention. Commentators have included bookmen, journalists and essayists, physicians, psychiatrists and pathologists, chemists, monsignors and vicars, barristers and solicitors, and automobile executives. All have brought their intelligence, unique perspectives, and, most of all, a very desperate need for knowledge to this quest, their labor of love. With great humility but stout heart, I feel highly motivated, even obligated, to attempt to add my voice to this ongoing effort.
As a microbiologist, I hope to bring a different perspective to these studies. I am used to dealing with very minute objects that produce consequences much greater than their size would indicate. Is not this obsession with minutiae the perfect training and background for one who feels the need to participate in Sherlockian studies? I do hope that this makes me somewhat qualified to join in this important area of scholarly research.
All of us have been haunted by the same questions over and over and over again. They have disturbed our sleeping dreams and our daytime thoughts. Why was Sherlock Holmes so reticent to reveal his complete lineage, even to his long-term confidential comrade John H. Watson, M.D? Was he protecting relatives from some anticipated danger? Why did Mr. Holmes never allow records of his participation in the successful pursuit of justice to ever appear in the newspapers? Why did he not permit Dr. Watson to reveal the real location of his practice, rather than giving one which had never existed? Why did he make sure that he was never photographed, and why are there so many different illustrations of his visage, so that we may never know what he really looked like? Why, indeed, did he refuse to accept the offer of knighthood? Is this the way of a private consulting detective who has nothing to hide and who is seeking commercial success? It is true that a Victorian gentleman and professional man would never countenance advertising in newspapers or handing out leaflets, as is the accepted practice among some lady and gentleman professionals of today, but to hide his true identity and place of business is surely beyond the pale. He could, at least, have eventually installed a telephone and been listed in the directory, but no such record exists.
And what about his mysterious brother Mycroft? He “audited the books in some of the government departments, but in actuality, in Sherlock’s words, Mycroft occasionally was the British government” (Jack Tracy’s The Encyclopaedia Sherlockiana , a marvelous treasure trove of Sherlockian lore).
A scientist’s first effort must be to review whatever primary evidence is available. In this case, the original source of truth is the Canon itself. Following this, the investigations and opinions of other seekers of knowledge must be consulted for their insight. Then, a working hypothesis must be reached and a model constructed to fit all of the available facts. Unable to follow my instincts to don my tattered and stained lab coat and to perform marvelously constructed, controlled experiments to test my hypotheses, I was forced to enter foreign territory and apply the strange (to me) methods utilized by scientists in the fields of geology, anthropology, and archaeology. I was required to pick my way through the fossil traces of a previous epoch to seek support for my conjectures. The theory easily fell into place. Following the lead of my predecessors, who are much more experienced and skilled in such explorations, it seemed logical to me that Mr. Holmes’ main business was that of a super-secret agent for the British government, and that Mycroft, his older brother, was the first and original director of the very first and very, very underground British secret service. Their machinations in this regard were so well covered-up that only Her Majesty the Queen, her Prime Minister, and the Foreign Office were privy to these activities. His detective practice was an excellent cover for his more underground activities. As a detective he could perform most of the functions of a spy without revealing the true nature of his quarry. He could go anywhere day or night, follow people and keep track of their comings and goings, delve into classified official documents, and pursue many other practices which are common to both of these careers.
What is the basis for refuting Mr. Sherlock Holmes’ publicly professed practice as that of a private consulting detective as his only profession? Why should we instead insist on characterizing him as a master, undercover espionage agent? Let us first explore some of the evidence available in the Canon. In only four published accounts did Mr. Holmes perform services for the British government.
In three of his earlier cases, Mr. Holmes admitted that he provided services to Her Majesty’s government. Although they required some knowledge of foreign agents and their activities, they were, as far as has been revealed, more in the line of his publicly acknowledged profession and revolved around the retrieval of highly important stolen documents ( The Bruce-Partington Plans , The Naval Treaty , and The Second Stain by A. C. Doyle). Had these exploits been published after WWI, I am certain that Mr. Holmes would be portrayed, as is his due, as a much more active participant in these and related activities. In only one case, His Last Bow (published in 1917), was Mr. Holmes finally able to reveal his true calling, divest himself of the mantle of detective and tell the public how, in this particular instance, he served his government in the capacity of an undercover secret agent.
Also in the Canon, it is acknowledged that, during the Great Hiatus, Mr. Holmes traveled vast distances to far off exotic locations, at great risk to life and limb, to provide services to the British government. Acting undercover as the Norwegian explorer Sigerson, he said that he “paid a short but interesting visit to the Khalifa at Khartoum, the results of which I have communicated to the Foreign Office” ( The Empty House by A. C. Doyle).
The post-canonical apocrypha is well marked with suggestions which also lead to the same conclusions. For example, in his stirring account, Sherlock Holmes My Life and Crimes , Mr. Michael Hardwick proposed an interesting theory of the activities that took place during these famous travels. He suggested that the great detective and his foremost adversary Professor Moriarty jointly penetrated the secret German electromagnetic wave research facility. Although, unlike the Canon, this is a work of fiction, the story does help lend credence to the idea that espionage was Mr. Holmes’ main occupation during his career. Even Huret, the boulevard assassin and French anarchist, fell prey to the activities of Mr. Sherlock Holmes, acting in his capacity as a foreign agent (“Huret the Anarchists, and Sherlock Holmes” by Derek Hinrich in France in the Blood , 1993). In addition, in another exciting work of fiction, Son of Holmes , the admirable Mr. John T. Lescroart proposed the interesting concept that Mycroft Holmes “...ran the British government single-handedly, especially during World War I. As head of the secret service, among other things, he is known as ‘M,’ a title which I’m sure is familiar to all of you. His initials became the title for the head of British Intelligence.” I am not at all co