A doctor enjoys Sherlock Holmes

A number of references to the anatomy laboratory and to portions of the cadaver may be found in the tales. Shortly after Watson’s return from India, he met his old friend Stamford at the Criterion bar in London. This was a memorable occasion, for it was Stamford who introduced Watson to Sherlock Holmes. When Stamford was telling Watson something about Holmes, he said, “I believe he is well up in anatomy....” Stamford made it clear, however, that Holmes was not a medical student, but did have pronounced scientific interests. He emphasized the fact that Holmes had a cold scientific approach to problems which deeply interested him and that he had been seen “beating the subjects in the dissecting room with a stick....” When Watson evinced some surprise at this unbecoming behavior, Stamford explained, “to verify how bruises may be produced after death” (A Study in Scarlet).

At first glance, Holmes’ activity seems to be inexcusable and betokens a deplorable disrespect for the dead. His researches must not be regarded in this light, however, for it may be of distinct medicolegal interest to ascertain whether the bruises on a body were produced before or after death. This problem has been studied extensively, and information concerning it may be found in books dealing with medicolegal matters. Holmes’ early interest and study in this field are quite understandable, for at that time he was laying the foundation for his brilliant career as a specialist in the study of crime.

When Watson first started rooming with Holmes he found that the latter “Sometimes ... spent his day ... in the dissecting rooms....” (A Study in Scarlet). In one instance, reference is made to the preservation of bodies in the anatomy laboratory: “Bodies in the dissecting rooms are injected with preservative fluids.” The agents employed in the embalming fluid are given: “carbolic, or rectified spirits would be the preservative....” (The Adventure of the Cardboard Box).

Osteology must have appealed to Holmes, since bones are frequently mentioned. Once when Holmes was trying to analyze a difficult case, he made allusion to Cuvier, the famous anatomist and anthropologist: “Cuvier could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation of a single bone....” (The Five Orange Pips). In A Study in Scarlet, a description of the alkali plains of our great West is given; these pointed but gruesome sentences may be found:

In another instance, Holmes was consulted about a “charred fragment of bone” which had been recovered from a heating furnace in a private dwelling. He showed it to Watson, who without hesitation stated that it was the upper condyle of a human femur (The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place).

One early spring afternoon, Holmes and Watson upon returning from a walk found that a visitor had left his pipe on the table. Holmes picked it up and examined it carefully. Watson writes, “He held it up and tapped on it with his long, thin forefinger, as a professor might who was lecturing on a bone” (The Yellow Face). This is an apt allusion, for many medical students will remember the occasion when an instructor in anatomy held a bone in his hand, pointed out areas where muscles had been attached, and commented on other characteristic features. One is reminded of the story of the poet-physician Oliver Wendell Holmes, who was professor of anatomy at Harvard for many years. Once when lecturing on the sphenoid bone (a bone of the skull having an exceedingly complicated architecture), he is reputed to have said something like this: “Gentlemen, I have in my hand the sphenoid bone. Gentlemen, I say d—— the sphenoid bone!” Any medical student who has studied this bone will wholeheartedly agree with the remark.

Mention is made also of fossil bones. When Holmes and Watson visited the house of Nathan Garrideb, they noticed a large cupboard full of them. Holmes was invited to take a seat, but his host found it necessary to clear the chair of bones. Obviously, Garrideb was a most enthusiastic collector (The Adventure of the Three Garridebs).

Sherlock Holmes presumably enjoyed anthropology, for several references to this science may be found in the tales. In The Hound of the Baskervilles, when Dr. Mortimer first met Sherlock Holmes, the doctor rather facetiously said to him:

Holmes apparently was slightly annoyed at this frank but somewhat insensate disquisition, and remarked, “You are an enthusiast in your line of thought, I perceive, sir, as I am in mine.”

On another occasion when Dr. Mortimer was speaking of Sir Henry Baskerville, he stated: “A glance at our friend here reveals the rounded head of the Celt, which carries inside it the Celtic enthusiasm and power of attachment. Poor Charles’ head was of a very rare type, half-Gaelic, half-Ivernian in its characteristics.”

Dr. Mortimer obviously was a keen observer, a person of scholarly tastes and “a most learned man in his own line.” When he was telling Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson of his friendship with Sir Charles Baskerville, he remarked, “... and many a charming evening we have spent together discussing the comparative anatomy of the Bushman and the Hottentot.”

Interest in anthropology is evinced further by mention of prehistoric man. One day, while Dr. Watson was walking on the moor, he met the naturalist Stapleton, the villain in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Watson’s attention was attracted to the circular rings of stone on a hillside. He asked his companion whether they were the ruins of ancient sheep pens. Stapleton replied, “Prehistoric man lived thickly on the moor....” When Watson questioned him as to when the moor was inhabited; the answer was, “Neolithic man—no date.”

Another allusion to ancient man may be cited. In the house of Garrideb, as mentioned, Holmes and Watson noticed above a cupboard a series of plaster skulls; the names “Neanderthal,” “Heidelberg,” and “Cromagnon” were printed underneath them (The Adventure of the Three Garridebs). Not only the anthropologist but the trained biologist as well is, of course, quite familiar with the names of our early ancestors.

Once Holmes’ knowledge of anthropology helped him solve an important case. A maiden lady had received in the mail a small cardboard box containing two human ears—one that of a woman. Holmes was called in, and during the course of his investigations visited the receiver of the gruesome package. He noted the resemblance of one of the severed ears to those of the lady upon whom he was calling. Because of the striking likeness, he felt certain that the person whose ear had been dismembered was a close relative of the lady he had come to interview.

Somewhat later, he gave a lecture—a thing he was prone to do—to Dr. Watson on the surface anatomy of the ear:

This was an exceedingly astute observation on Holmes’ part. He was right when he remarked that as a rule each ear is quite distinctive, and cleverly pointed out the important anatomical features. In any event, the study he made of Miss Cushing’s ear aided him greatly in solving the mystery of the cardboard box, and we know that the murderer was promptly apprehended.

In the story just related, a newspaper of the day was supposed to have suggested that the preserved ears had been sent by medical students as a joke. It appears that the maiden lady at one time had had unpleasant dealings with medical students: “... she let her apartments in her house to three young medical students, whom she was obliged to get rid of on account of their noisy and irregular habits.... [The ears were sent] by those students who owed her a grudge and who hoped to frighten her by sending her those relics of the dissecting rooms.”

Although this theory was later proved to be false, it was not too farfetched. Indeed, many, many stories can be told about the behavior of medical students in the anatomy laboratory. A favorite minor prank, for example, is to cut off a finger or an ear and slip it into the pocket of an unsuspecting visitor. This bit of horseplay probably discourages future visits to the anatomical laboratory. Although anatomy instructors deplore such practices, they are likely to overlook them, because laymen are not encouraged to visit dissecting rooms.

In the opening of one of the stories, we find Holmes stooping over a low-power microscope (The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place). He explained to Watson that there were epithelial cells in the microscopic field. As far as I am aware, this is the only reference to individual body cells to be found in the tales. It appears, then, that Holmes was much more interested in gross structures of the body, especially osteology, than in microscopic structures.

We have seen that many pertinent allusions to anatomical science may be found in the tales. In one instance, at least, Holmes’ intimate knowledge of surface anatomy—that is, the configuration of the external ear—enabled him to solve handily a perplexing mystery. The allusions made to anatomical matters are of especial delight to those of us in the field of biology.